Minister urges banks to finance power plants privatization

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Privatization Muhammad Mian Soomro met with the heads of commercial banks and discussed their role in facilitating the privatization process of two power plants.

The federal minister along with Special Assistant to Prime Minister Nadeem Baber met with the heads of international and local banks in Karachi at the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). The meeting was attended by SBP’s board members, deputy governor, members of financial advisory consortium (FAC), presidents and group chiefs of several private banks.

The federal minister said that assistance from banks was necessary to encourage investments in the country. “We need support in the availability of cash for possible bidders of the power plants,” he said while discussing the availability of long and short-term loans from banks to investors.

The heads were to asked to raise the requisite long-term financing within the benchmark approved by NEPRA, and also support potential bidders in obtaining NOCs for long-term financing of of Balloki Power Plant and Haveli Bahadur Shah Power Plant.

He said the Privatization Commission would appreciate the cooperation of commercial banks and lenders to facilitate a successful transaction, considering the importance of the privatization of these power plants for the government.

SAPM Nadeem Babar apprised that the government in its reform process to address the issues of circular debt, however, due to pandemic the process remained stalled for some time. It was also discussed that negotiation with the IPPs is in progress to address the cost of generation.

The banks proposed that the government may consider the terms of tariff to encourage bank interest in the subject transaction. The investors could bid for the project with a facility of 70 percent loans from banks. The bank owners asked the government to reconsider terms and conditions for power plants tariff.

In the meeting debt arrangement for two R-LNG power plants of National Power Parks Management Company Limited. (NPPMCL) was discussed. These banks were asked to participate as lenders to successfully complete the subject transaction.

NPPMCL was formed with an objective to reduce the electricity/power demand and supply gap in Pakistan. The government is considering divesting up to 100% of its shareholding in NPPMCL to a potential investor, along with management control.