Creating awareness: Lots to show for Rs285m, but not in work

Source: Express Tribune

Date: December 28, 2010

ISLAMABAD: The Privatisation Commission has spent Rs285 million on its publicity campaign over the past 17 months, which is five times the size of its entire budget for the current year, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Sources within the commission said this expense had been incurred since August 2009, with the monthly average coming to Rs17.8 million.

The expenditure had been made under the pretext of an advertising campaign for the Benazir Employees Stock Option Scheme (Besos), city branding and a flood relief campaign. A part of this amount was used for Besos publicity but most of it was spent on the campaign related to floods.

Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour aptly remarked that the money spent on publicity could have bought the Railways nine locomotives as the cost of manufacturing one engine is Rs30 million.

The money belongs to the Privatisation Fund, which is pooled by deducting two per cent of the proceeds from privatising public sector entities. This fund can only be utilised to meet expenses specific to the privatisation process. Since 1991, Pakistan has privatised 167 entities worth Rs476.5 billion.

Senior officials from the Privatisation Commission confirmed that Rs285 million had been spent but none of them was willing to speak on record due to a possible  “backlash from certain quarters”. They all said that the management was in a fix over how to deal with the issue. However, one of the officials said that the Besos campaign did fall under privatisation-specific spending.

For more details: http://tribune.com.pk/story/95808/creating-awareness-lots-to-show-for-rs285m-but-not-in-work/