ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry said on Tuesday that a special meeting of the cabinet has been called tomorrow [April 17] to further discuss the Assets Declaration and Amnesty Scheme, 2019 — which was earlier expected to be formally cleared today.
Briefing the media about the cabinet meeting, Chaudhry said that the members were not able to sufficiently discuss the scheme today and that there was still room for further talks, “which is why the prime minister has called a special meeting tomorrow to finish the discussions before it is sent for clearance.”
The minister further said that the government is planning to make the Pakistan Steel Mills profitable again on the basis of public-private partnership.
“Steel Mills used to be a profitable entity up until the Zardari government [came into power] — they were the ones who drove it into the ground.”
“Now six major international companies are interested in helping us run the project,” Chaudhry told the media.
“The mill’s current capacity is 1.1 million tonnes that will be brought up to 3m tonnes. The country’s total need is 9m tonnes at the moment, so there is still ample room for improvement. We will ensure that the business of private steel mill owners is not affected in any way.”
Chaudhry said that Prime Minister Imran Khan will launch the first phase of Apna Ghar Housing Scheme tomorrow. “The first phase will facilitate the creation of 135,000 houses.”
He added that the cabinet discussed the National Testing Service and the various complaints against it. He also said that the Public Service Commission would be revamped and jobs at the lowest levels would be provided on the basis of merit rather than through the “previously used quota system”.
