950823

Malam Jabba

sale bid

proves

abortive

RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: Malam Jabba, a ski resort located at Sawat valley, failed to Attract a buyer on Wednesday when it was placed on the floor by the Privatization Commission here.

The highest bid offered by the PSL for the resort was Rs 25 million against its reference price of Rs 50 million. Though the Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCOP) is the competent authority for final decision, it is obvious that offer could not be honoured', commented an official.

Only two bidders PSL and Parks Pakistan participated in the bid whereas Avari Hotels Ltd did not turn in.

Park Pakistan Ltd put forth their conditional bid which was outrightlly dishonoured by the Privatization Commission.

The Commission has pre-qualified three bidders for Malam Jabba as it was decided by the Cabinet Committee on Privatization to give the unit to a party that had experience in running such resorts in order to save it from further ruining.

Malam Jabba is one of those units whose sale has become the Achilles heel for the Commission as all attempts for disposing of the unit have proved abortive.

It is relevent to mention that the experts are of the view that the unit requires approximately Rs 21 million to get the resort operational and a capital investment of Rs. 100 million more in five years to bring the resort of 4-star standard.

Like the previous rounds of privatization, this time too the Commission is witnessing a low turnout of the bidders and it is being felt that all the money spent for the projection and publicity of units like Malam Jabba would go unrecoverable.