The Voice (Francistown)
Chedza Simon
29 April 2008
Francistown — Privatisation of Government Employee Motor Vehicle and Residential Property Advance Scheme (GEMVAS) and Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) is scheduled to be complete end of this year.
This was revealed by the Chief Executive Officer of Public Enterprise Evaluation and Privatisation Agency (PEEPA) Joshua Galeforolwe who expressed confidence that privatising GEMVAS and BTC, will proceed smoothly.
Galeforolwe said at a press briefing this week that privatising GEMVAS, which is a self insurance scheme established to protect government's interest as a guarantor of loans provided by financial institutions to civil servants for the purchase of motor vehicles and houses, does not mean that civil servants won't continue enjoying financial benefits from the scheme. "They will continue to enjoy the package. What we are saying is that the administrative function of GEMVAS and sale of insurance portfolio should be outsourced to a competent private sector service provider. The Guaranteed Loan Insurance Fund which has been administering GEMVAS as a cover for the cars and houses bought by civil servants has grown above P250 million. This is a huge portfolio and it is better managed by a private partner," he said.
Galeforolwe went on to indicate that PEEPA has already appointed an advisor on the implementation of GEMVAS transaction. "PriceWaterHouseCoopers has been appointed as advisor on the implementation of GEMVAS transaction. The advisor is expected to carry out detailed financial, operational and technical as well as legal assessment to determine the environment in which GEMVAS operate. They will also prepare tender documents, manage tender processes, develop tender documents and ensure transaction closure. They will at the end of this September hand over GEMVAS to a private sector company," he said
On BTC, Galeforolwe said that although plans to privatise the corporation had been ongoing for the past two years, they are confident that its privatisation will be completed this December. "We placed a tender seeking a qualified consultant to lead the privatisation of BTC but later withdrew it because conditions were too stringent. We feared losing the best of all the consultants. We placed it again because we want, say, an investment bank for a transaction like BTC," he revealed.
He went on to indicate that privatisation of BTC involve sale of shares to strategic equity partner; allotment of small proportion of shares to citizen employees of BTC on deferred payment terms; warehousing of shares in privatisation Trust Fund for sale to Botswana at a later date and retention of shares for sale to public through the stock market listing.
Furthermore, Galeforolwe also briefed the media on the state of Air Botswana privitisation. He said Air Links SA Pty (Ltd), a company that was cited, as a preferred bidder for Air Botswana will take over the national airline in June 2007, if the company and government strike an agreement.
He said: "Air Link was approved for the takeover of Air Botswana and they are still negotiating with government. They will take over the airline in June 2007 if all goes well."
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