ISLAMABAD
\nJust days after publicly opposing the government\u2019s plan for privatising loss-making public enterprises, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Monday set up a committee for talks with the Centre on the issue.
\nThe committee comprises Sherry Reh\u00ad\u00ad\u00adman, Syed Naveed Qamar and Saleem Mandviwalla, according to a statement issued by the party\u2019s central secretariat. The committee will \u201cengage with the government over privatisation issues\u201d.
\nWhile attending a Labour Day event last week, Mr Bhutto-Zardari said his party would take up the issue of privatisation with the federal government and convince them to opt for public-private partnerships to restore entities like PIA and Steel Mills.
\nThe statement indicated differences between PML-N and PPP \u2014 allies in the federal government \u2014 over the issue of privatisation, which is one of the main provisions of the structural reform programme agreed with the IMF by the previous government.
\nMr Mandviwalla, one of three committee members, told Dawn that there wasn\u2019t much clarity on privatisation yet.
\n\u201cWe would engage with the government, seek details of their [privatisation] programme and definitely look into its pros and cons.\u201d
\n\u201cWe believe that it\u2019s not that simple to announce and execute privatisation of any institution,\u201d the PPP leader told media. As an alternative to privatisation, he suggested public-private partnerships, including outsourcing of entities\u2019 operations.
\nMr Mandviwalla said the idea of selling shares of a government entity and offering management control to private buyers \u201chasn\u2019t worked\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD Just days after publicly opposing the government\u2019s plan for privatising loss-making public enterprises, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Monday set up a committee for talks with the Centre on the issue. The committee comprises Sherry Reh\u00ad\u00ad\u00adman, Syed Naveed Qamar and Saleem Mandviwalla, according to a statement issued by the party\u2019s central secretariat. The committee […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325865,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-405382","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n