Massive shake-up: New heads, board members appointed to nine Discos

ISLAMABAD: Except for two power distribution companies, the government has dissolved the boards of nine Discos and approved the names of new chairmen and members of Board of Directors. Federal Minister for Finance & Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb presided over a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on State-Owned Enterprises (CCoSOEs) at the Finance Division on Thursday.

The summary presented by the Power Division to consider the recommendations of Board Nominations Committee (BNC) regarding boards of Electricity Distribution Companies (Discos) was approved by the Cabinet Committee, which contained nominations for boards of 9 electricity distribution companies.

The CCoSOEs was informed that deliberations were held in June 2024 and decided to recommend to the government for removal of independent directors and chairmen of all Discos for reasons that included poor performance against Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), contained in their performance agreements.

After detailed deliberations, the appointment of independent directors/chairman of the Board of Directors of various Discos were recommended.

For Fesco, Omar Farooq Khan was appointed as Chairman while Ms Zoe Khurshid Khan, Eng Pervez Iqbal, Adil Bashir and Amir Zia as member of BODs.

For Gepco, Imran Zaffar has been appointed as chairman/independent director and Tahir Masood, Zoe Khurshid Khan, Ilyas Ahmed and Mohammad Siddiq appointed as independent directors.

For Hazeco Board, the government appointed Hamayat Ullah Khan as Chairman and other members of BoD included Tahir Aali Khan, Fazal-e-Khaliq, Ms Saima Akhtar Khatak and Saud Azam.

For Iesco, Dr Tahir Masood has been appointed as Chairman/Independent Board member. Other members included Syed Aly Murtaza, Aamir Matin, Ms Amna Abbas and Rana Abdul Sattar. For Lesco, Amer Zia has been appointed as Chairman and other members included Zafar Mahmood, Zoe Khurshid Khan, Asad Shafi and Tahir Bashrat Cheema.

For Mepco Board, the government has appointed Amir Zia as chairman while Imran Zafar, Zainab Janjua, Khawaja Jalaluddin Roomi and Tahir Basharat Cheema are members.

For Pesco Board, Hamayatullah Khan is Chairman and other members include Tahir Ali Khan, Fazal-e-Khaliq, Ms Saima Akbar Khattak and Saud Azam. For Qesco Board, the government has appointed Mahfooz Khan as Chairman and other members included Rehmat Ullah Baloch, Tahir Rasheed, Roshan Bharucha and Ahmed Ur Rehman.

Tesco Board will have Hamayatullah Khan as chairman while Tahir Ali Khan, Fazal-e-Khaliq, Saima Akber Khattak and Saud Azam will be members.

The committee also asked the relevant authorities to come up with fresh names of two remaining Discos in the next meeting.

The Ministry of Finance in its official statement said that the committee considered the summaries presented by different ministries/divisions for the categorization of their relevant State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) as strategic/essential or otherwise.

The Cabinet Division presented summaries related to Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) and Printing Corporation of Pakistan (PCP). The Cabinet Committee directed the Cabinet Division to initiate the process for winding up of PTDC by clearing the ongoing litigations, etc. The committee also directed that PCP’s Board be reconstituted in line with SOE Law & Policy & and business viability plan presented to the committee, before a final decision is taken on the future of entity.

The CCoSOEs also considered the summaries of the Ministry of Housing & Works relating to PEPAC & National Construction Limited (NCL). The committee approved the proposal for winding up of PEPAC. It also directed the authorities to complete the ongoing projects of the NCL and prepare the plan for winding up its operations.

The committee further approved the proposals presented by the Ministry of Maritime Affairs regarding categorisation of the Port Authorities i.e. Port Qasim Authority (PQA), Karachi Port Trust (KPT) and Gwadar Port Authority (GPA) as essential. The committee was informed that port operations were already outsourced in a number of cases and this policy will continue.

The committee directed M/o Maritime Affairs to ensure that the governance framework of port authorities is in compliant with the SOE law. To this end, the ministry will initiate amendments to their respective statutes.