KARACHI: Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) Chief Executive Officer Maj Gen (r) Zaheer Ahmed Khan, during his visit to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), has said that PSM’s production capacity will be enhanced 77 per cent by April 2015.
Zaheer Ahmed Khan said that the production capacity was likely to improve up to 50 per cent in February, 60 per cent in March and PSM’s capacity will be raised further to 77 per cent or even more by April making it a profitable organisation. The supply chain of raw material has been streamlined with the help of recent financial restructuring package, he added.
Vice Chairman Businessmen Group and former KCCI president Zubair Motiwala, KCCI President Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra, Senior Vice President Muhammad Ibrahim Kasumbi, former presidents Majyd Aziz, AQ Khalil and KCCI managing committee members were also present at the occasion.
The CEO said the government had been granting bail-out packages during the period of crisis which began in 2008-09 but all these untimely bail-out packages were not effectively utilised, resulting in creating more and more cash-flow problems. Consequently, the PSM has remained in trouble during the past five years but was now all set and well-positioned on its path to revival owing to the overall revamping of the mill by its existing staff who have all the capabilities, expertise and skills to transform the PSM into a profit-making organisation.
The CEO also invited a delegation from Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) to visit Pakistan Steel Mills in order to explore the possibility of setting up downstream industries on a 200 acres land available near the Mill. He urged the iron and steel dealers to play their part for development and progress of this national asset to bring it back on track of prosperity by procuring the PSM products instead of relying on import.
Speaking on the occasion, Zubair Motiwala underscored the need to effectively utilise the dedicated workforce of PSM in order to make it a commercially viable organisation which would surely help in creating more employment opportunities and play its role in the development of economy.
Earlier, while welcoming the CEO PSM, President KCCI Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra, said that a KCCI delegation’s visit to PSM would soon be organised so that issues being faced by businessmen and industrialists associated with this important sector could be discussed in detail.
