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ISLAMABAD: The Privatisation Commission (PC), Government of Pakistan, announced on August 29, 2026, that it has extended the deadline for submission of Expressions of Interest (EOI) for private sector participation in the Islamabad Electric Supply Company Limited (IESCO), pushing the cut-off to September 21, 2026. According to the Commission, the extension is meant to give local and international investors more room to take part and to make the privatisation process more competitive and transparent.
Background
IESCO is one of three power distribution companies — alongside the Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) and the Gujranwala Electric Power Company (GEPCO) — that the federal government is offering for sale to the private sector, with the state seeking to divest between 51% and 100% of share capital together with management control in each. The push to privatise the loss-making DISCOs sits within a broader reform agenda that Pakistan has pursued to satisfy International Monetary Fund loan conditions, a program that has also driven the sale of the national airline, PIA, and plans to offload assets such as the Roosevelt Hotel in New York. The Commission said all other terms and conditions of the EOI process for IESCO remain unchanged, and that the added time is intended to let prospective bidders complete technical and financial due diligence before submitting their interest.
Public and Investor Reaction
Reaction to Pakistan’s power-sector privatisation drive has historically been mixed: business groups and some economists have welcomed the sell-offs as a way to attract foreign exchange and modernise chronically inefficient state utilities, while opposition politicians and segments of the public have in the past voiced concern that national assets could be sold too cheaply or that job losses could follow a change in ownership. Given the fresh deadline extension, similar debate is expected to resurface among stakeholders watching the DISCO sale process, including power-sector unions and consumer groups in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and the wider IESCO service area.
Expert Analysis
Analysts tracking Pakistan’s privatisation programme note that deadline extensions of this kind are a common feature of large state-asset sales, often reflecting the scale of due diligence required before serious bidders commit, rather than a lack of interest. Given that the government has set power-distribution company sales as a milestone under its IMF-linked reform commitments, observers expect the Commission to keep the EOI terms otherwise unchanged in order to preserve investor confidence and comparability across FESCO, GEPCO and IESCO. The eventual success of the IESCO sale, they suggest, will hinge less on this timeline shift and more on the valuation, debt structure and regulatory clarity investors are offered once the EOI stage closes.
