Govt expedites efforts to end deadlock with Etisalat

Aftab Ahmed

Islamabad:  Several attempts have been made during the last 12 years but the deadlock with Etisalat still continues over pending $800 million payment from the sale of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd (PTCL).

Pakistan and UAE-based firm Etisalat have failed to resolve disputes due to the provision of flawed records of properties by PTCL management. Past governments have also made effort to resolve this issue but the dispute remains still unresolved.

The present government is also trying to resolve this issue Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance & Revenue Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh has called for an early resolution of all outstanding issues regarding the PTCL privatization with Etisalat and asked the stakeholders to finalize proposals on the subject within the next couple of weeks.

PTCL’s asset management wing had provided inaccurate and flawed records on 3384 properties at the time of privatization in 2006 against 3,248 properties.  Due to the failure of Pakistan to transfer PTCL properties, Etisalat did not pay US$ 800 million to Pakistan.

The remaining 33 properties had not been transferred to PTCL. Etisalat had paid $1.4 billion upfront but did not pay the remaining installments worth $800m. This dispute relating to all the properties was a bone of contention for the last 12 years.

Dr. Hafeez Shaikh on Thursday chaired an Inter-Ministerial Committee constituted by the Prime Minister to discuss and resolve the issues related to the PTCL’s Privatisation. Minister for Privatisation Muhammad Mian Soomro, Minister for Information Technology Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Secretary Finance, Secretary Privatisation, Secretary Information Technology & Telecommunication, and other senior officials were also present.

During the meeting, the Adviser was given a detailed briefing on the issues concerning the transfer of properties to Etisalat and the pending payments still to be made by Etisalat. The Adviser called for greater efforts to resolve the outstanding issues in a smooth and amicable manner and asked the government team to contact the senior management of Etisalat to listen to their viewpoint and decide the unresolved issues at the earliest as any further delay was not in the interest of both the parties.