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       ISLAMABAD: The Board of the Privatisation Commission has sought a detailed presentation from the Ministry of Power for divesting electricity distribution companies (Discos) to address outstanding issues in advance.

       The decision to speed up the privatisation process came a day after the release of the annual performa-nce reports by the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), which spoke about the poor performance shown by Discos in 2023-24, resulting in the loss of over Rs660 billion to the national exchequer.

       The government has listed nine power distribution companies — IESCO, FESCO, GEPCO, LESCO, MEPCO, HAZECO, HESCO, PESCO, and SEPCO — for the privatisation programme 2024-29.

       Chairing the meeting in Lahore, Privatisation and Investment Minister Abdul Aleem Khan directed the acceleration of the pace of work on all privatisation projects and the completion of these projects quickly and transparently.

       He observed that reputable consulting firms should be hired to complete the process more efficiently.

       The meeting took decisions on technical issues for transactions in the pipeline, deliberated on the appointment of financial advisors for various state-owned companies, including Discos, and heard suggestions from the participants.

       Published in Dawn, December 12th, 2024