Textile company to sell 200 acres land to K-Electric

Islamabad

Pakistan Textile City Limited (PTCL) Karachi is planning to sell around 200 acres of land to the K-Electric to retire its outstanding debt to the National Bank which has ballooned to Rs2.4 billion, officials told the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Textiles on Wednesday. 

The committee which met here with MNA Ghulam Rasool Koreja in the chair was informed that K-Electric has expressed interest in buying of 200 acres of land of the textiles city to install two coal fired power generation plants of 350 megawatts each. The project of PTCL was initiated in 2004, as a public sector company registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) under Companies’ Ordinance 1984. 

As selling the land independently is not in the ambit of the memorandum of the company, so it sought comments of the stakeholders before it send a summary to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet.

But so far, no reply has been received from the Ministry of Water and Power, Sindh government, Port Qasim Authority (PQA) and Exports Processing Zone Authority (EPZA) that has delayed forwarding the summary to the ECC. Officials said that the sale of land will help clear the company’s liabilities and strengthen its financial position. The company has also approached the NBP, Finance Ministry and Textiles Ministry for rescheduling of the loan, as it has inched up to Rs2.4 billion after the state-run bank blocked its accounts for failing in paying the first principal instalment.

In 2004, the company acquired 1,250 acres of land on 50-year lease from PQA for the development of textile city, but over last 11 years it was unable to sell the land due to lack of infrastructure on it.

The committee also expressed concern over delay in setting up of Karachi Garment City (KGC) for which the Land Utilisation Department (LUD), Sindh allotted 300 acres of industrial land at Deh Pipri in Port Qasim town on 99 years lease in the name of Ministry of Textile Industry on March 29, 2007.

Export Development Fund (EDF) paid an amount of Rs300 million as cost of land. Possession of land was taken over by KGC on 6th August, 2009. Right from the very beginning the project went into the doldrums. After the payment of the cost of land the LUD referred the land allotted to KGC to its Review Committee on July 16, 2008 to review all allotments made during six months prior to the announcement of the general elections held on February 18, 2008. The LUD ignored fact that the land of KGC was allotted almost a year before the holding of general elections 2008.

After constant persuasion, the secretary LUD ultimately decided on April 9, 2012 to decide that the allotment of 300 acres of land for KGCC will remain intact and that it will be excluded from the purview of the review committee. Besides, the LUD also demanded a sum of Rs4.356 million as annual ground rent of 300 acres of land which was paid to the government of Sindh for the preceding three years on May 3, 2012. It took three years and eight months for LUD to clear the allotment of the land and to exclude it from purview of the Review Committee.

However, in a suo moto case, the Supreme Court decision dated April 16, 2013 imposed a ban on the disposal of state land including the land of KGC. As a consequence, the LUD issued a notice to the KGCC cancelling the allotment of land and forfeiture of the amount paid as cost of the land. On October 03, 2013, the Sindh government filed a CMA and the Supreme Court vacated the stay with a clarification that there was no ban on the allotment of land to the project of public interest including allotment of land to KGCC.

The committee was further informed that there is another stay order issued by the Sindh High Court to Pakistan Steel Mills against the allotment of land in Deh Pipri and Deh Bakran by secretary Land Utilization Department Sindh to 10 private persons in the area. Whether this stay orders still exists or not and whether it applies on our land or not, it is not sure. However, the company secretary has approached office of the DC Malir and Sindh Land Utilisation Department to provide a challan for the deposit of transfer fee in the favour of Ministry of Textile Industry but their reply is not forthcoming.

The KGCC has received necessary funds from the Export Development Funds (EDF) for the payment of dues regarding the transfer of land and for the construction of boundary wall. As soon as they receive the challan form demanding dues for mutation of land in KGC name the amount will be paid and further development work will be commenced.

The committee showed its displeasure over the absence of the deputy commissioner, Malir, Karachi and also directed for making efforts to vacate stay order that land may be allotted to the Garment city.