ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to give Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) on lease to foreign investors after failing to privatise or revive the industrial giant despite injecting over Rs26 billion over the past two and a half years.
“Based on some interest expressed by the Chinese and Iranians, we are exploring the option of giving PSM on lease,” said Privatisation Commission (PC) Chairman Mohammad Zubair while giving a policy statement in a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Privatisation on Wednesday.
PSM is the largest and the only integrated steel plant in the country with installed production capacity of 1.1 million tons per year. However, it has been closed for the last one and a half years due to government’s mismanagement and lack of interest in resolving the issues.
The government has not paid salaries to PSM employees for five months, making it difficult for over 15,000 workers to make both ends meet.
Zubair said the commission was at final stage of offering the mill on lease and the plan would be taken for approval first to the PC board and then to the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCOP) in the next two to three weeks.
“PSM is not running, bleeding heavily and liabilities are piling up with each passing day and something has to be done urgently,” said Zubair.
