ISLAMABAD – Foreign investors from China, Russia and Korea show interest in the revival of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), which has been closed since 2015.
The government announced that it will run PSM through a Public-Private Partnership to revitalize the Mill. It was reported yesterday at a high-level meeting of meetings with potential investors regarding the recovery of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM). These investors / parties are from China, Russia and Korea, and meetings are held almost daily.
Federal Privatization Minister Mohammed Mian Soomro chaired a meeting on transaction updates, legal issues and the e-office in the Ministry. The Federal Secretary of Privatization and other senior officials of the Ministry and Privatization Commission attended the meeting. The Federal Minister was informed that detailed discussions were held with potential investors regarding the revitalization of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSMC).
These investors / parties are from China, Russia and Korea, and meetings are held almost daily. The minister was also told that PSM’s land valuation will be completed by the end of January and the Statement of Interest (APC) for PSM will be sought in March this year.
It is worth noting here that the mill was closed in 2015. Loans and liabilities increased to Rs 230 billion and losses to Rs 200 billion. The federal government must pay Rupees 750 million for the salaries and pensions of PSM employees. The federal government paid Rs 35 billion for salaries of the closed PSM. The government had already decided to fire all employees of PSM. First, of the total PSM’s workforce, 4544 employees were laid off by PSM management, with Rs 11,012 billion released. Successive governments continued to pay the wages and pensions of Değirmen’s unproductive workforce.
The Pakistani government has been providing PSM employees with a net monthly salary of approximately Rupees 36 billion as of June 2013. Issues related to privatization / divestment of shares and options for management control of DISCOS were also discussed. The final decision on this matter will be taken after receiving proposals from the Ministry of Power and other relevant forums.
The Federal Minister said that in order to work more efficiently, we need to move to data / e-office / e-filing digitization without further ado. The minister also said he would prefer using e-files rather than manual files. He also stated that legal and political issues related to privatization should be taken into account and legal cases should be disposed of in a transparent and efficient manner.