THE Cabinet Committee on Privatisation, meeting in Islamabad, with PM's Finance Adviser Shaukat Tarin in the chair, approved a new list of enterprises for privatisation under the policy of public-private partnership, which the CCOP also approved. Perhaps the CCOP decision with the most immediate impact was its approval of the privatisation of Lahore's famous Faletti's Hotel, subject to conditions made at the time of sale. Though the CCOP approved a new policy, it gave the old reason for the privatisation of these state enterprises, that they would be more efficiently run if in private hands. The efficiency of the market has been illustrated by the very crisis that makes the privatisation programme such a non-starter, the global economic crisis, as a result of which there is simply no longer the money floating around that would help pay for the privatisation. Because of this, the chance of getting a good price for any enterprise goes down correspondingly. Though the new policy contains high-sounding phrases about public-private partnership, it is basically the old policy warmed over, with the workers' share in any privatisation enhanced to 12 percent, probably after the spate of privatisations running into trouble because of workers. However, the privatisation that ran into the most trouble was that of Pakistan Steel Mills. That was simple, though it had to go all the way to the Supreme Court, and it involved the highest reaches of government. This was because of a lack of transparency, which the CCOP must ensure in any future privatisation. This is especially true now that the CCOP has approved the sale of such core state enterprises as Railways and Pakistan Post, as well as four power companies. After the Karachi privatisation, the CCOP, or rather the lead organization, the Privatisation Commission, cannot claim great success. The Commission needs to be very careful in its execution, but the CCOP must also be careful in its supervision, so that the mistakes of the past may be avoided.