960415

Bids worth

over Rs 433m

received for

Peco land

RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Engineering Company (Peco) property in Badami Bagh Lahore put to auction in three lots by the Privatisation Commission here today fetched a total of Rs 433.7 million.

The Peco lands were sold previously in one lot at a total price of Rs 361 million. The sale was not accepted by the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation which noted that the valuable prime land was going at a very low price.

T_he three pieces of land - Lot A consisting of over 100 kanals, Lot B of 157.3 kanals and Lot C over 6 kanals - went to one group, under two names. Patrick Enterprises of Glasgow and Asif Enterprises of Lahore owned by son and father respectively. At previous bidding they had made the highest bid of Rs 361 million but it was turned down by the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCOP). This time their bidding for a total of Rs.433.7 million is better by Rs.72.5 million.

Abdus Salam, Technical Member of the Privatisation Commission assisted by Joint Secretary Sajid Hassan Khan conducted the bidding.

In lot A of 100 kanals, four parties were present for the bid, but only two parties took part. The bidding started at Rs.90 million by Patrick Enterprises. The other bidder Minawa Group offered Rs. 100 million, but it was excelled by Patrick Group's bid of Rs 110 million. No other offer was made and the formality was completed in less than 10 minutes.

For lot B, there were three contenders namely Asif Group, Mohammad Iqbal Group and Friends International. Here too Iqbal group made no significant calls, while the other two tried to outmatch each others. Starting at Rs 230 million, the highest offer came from Asif Group after both parties outdid each other by a margin of five to ten million each for sometimes.

Lot C which comprised only six kanals of land had the "employees group" led by Mohammad Sarwar, and found some keen contest between Patrick Group and three others, namely Javed Ahmed Group, Friends Group and Sarwar Group.

At the outset of the bid, Sarwar had raised the issue that since he represented the workers they would get the first right and that there should be no bidding. This plea was however rejected by the Chairman Abdus Salam on the ground that the workers had already been given golden handshake and it was the land which was on sale and not any unit. As such he asserted that there would be no representation of the workers but it is the individuals who are making the bid.

Salam also made it clear to the participants that vacant possession of the land would be given to the new owner. The workers had no right to its possession because the factory had already been moved to Kot Lakhpat and the workers discharged. It is only the security staff which is posted and they too would be moved away from it.

A representative of the Peco management Mohammad Niaz stated that water and electricity connection of the colony in which some of the workers still resided were cut off and that the management was duty bound to give a vacant possession of the premises to the new owner.

After these clarifications, the bidding started in which all the four parties contested keenly outbidding each other for over half hour during which more than 25 offers were made. The bidding started at Rs 7 million and ended at Rs 18.7 million offered by Patrick Enterprises.

According to the bid condition total payment of the prize is to be made within 60 days after the issue of letter of intent. Five percent of the cost is to be deposited within seven days and the remaining in instalments.

The deal is subject to the approval of the Cabinet Committee to which the matter will be forwarded shortly.