ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has constituted an Assets Management Committee (AMC) to oversee the sale process of 45,000 state owned properties including 4600 acres of land of Federal Board of Revenue.
The committee comprises five ministers and Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Zaidi has been made the chairman of the committee. The other members of the committee include Communication Minister Murad Saeed, Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar, Minister of Kashmir Affairs Ali Amin Gandapur and Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukhari. Privatization Secretary Rizwan Malik is also the secretary of the Assets Management Committee. Interestingly, Privatization Minister Mohammad Mian Soomro has not been made the chairman of the committee.
The sources told that the Privatization Ministry had refused to take the job and instead proposed that the government should set up a Land Development Authority through an Act of the Parliament. The proposal was opposed by the Ministry of Law, which opined that only the Privatization Ministry has the mandate to sell state assets.
It is important to mention here that the Federal Board of Revenue owns more than 4,600 acres of land at a prime location in Karachi, however, except for 300 acres, the rest of the land is illegally occupied.