ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Wednesday urged the Shehbaz Sharif government to implement the agenda of privatisation, particularly in the energy sector, as the greater involvement of the private sector is the key to addressing economic crisis.

He was addressing as the chief guest at the inaugural session of the 16th CSR Summit and Awards-2024 organised by the National Forum for Environment and Health (NFEH) at a hotel on Wednesday.

On this occasion, 77 companies were given awards for their outstanding philanthropic work in the last year for the welfare of the deprived communities in the country.

While eulogising the role of private companies in the development of underprivileged communities, the former PM said that privatisation was the only way forward for the new government to overcome the economic crisis as the rulers and bureaucracy couldn’t run the economy as per the requirements of the present day world.

He said that energy sector problems massively accounted for the current economic crisis, and the agenda of privatisation should be implemented without any further delay to resolve these issues.

Abbasi was of the view that privatisation should be carried out in the energy sector in a speedy manner to save it from sheer bankruptcy.

He said the power and energy sector companies were unable to clear their liabilities for long against the electricity, oil, and gas they purchased as they had already been on the brink of bankruptcy.

He urged the new federal government to urgently roll out the agenda of privatisation of the loss-making distribution companies in the power sector whose ownership shouldn’t remain with the state any more.

The former PM said that precedent was available to the government in the form of Karachi Electric, which, as a DISCO, was being efficiently run after privatisation. Other DISCOs should be privatised in the same manner, he said.

He lamented that the bureaucracy in Pakistan couldn’t implement such market-driven modern solutions to save the national economy as the bureaucrats were still reliant on decades-old administrative options that don’t work anymore.

Speaking as the guest of honour, Ambassador of Denmark to Pakistan, Jakob Linulf, shared with the audience the Danish success story of effectively tapping renewable energy sources in the country to decrease its reliance on fossil fuels for power production.

He informed the audience that Danish companies took with them the same vision of protecting the environment and fighting the issue of climate change when they went overseas to do business.

Speaking as the other guest of honour, the High Commissioner of Sri Lanka, Admiral Ravindra C Wijegunaratne, informed the audience about the massive global welfare initiative launched by the Sri Lankan nation by donating their eye cornea after death to restore the vision of blind people around the world.

He said that out of 88,000 eye corneas donated by people from Sri Lanka, some 35,000 were used to benefit Pakistani people with impaired vision, showing the strong bond between the two countries.

He said that a 38,000-strong workforce was available in Sri Lanka, comprising doctors, para-medical staff, and volunteers, to safely perform the cornea donation will of the deceased Sri Lankans.

MNA Nafisa Shah called for the adoption of a legal framework to formalise CSR initiatives in Pakistan.

She assured the audience that the relevant standing committees of the new house of the National Assembly would hold formal hearings to encourage and promote CSR work in Pakistan.

NFEH President Naeem Qureshi said the CSR summit organised every year went a long way in promoting the causes of community uplift, reforestation, poverty alleviation, skill development, healthcare, and educational projects for the deprived people in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2024