ISLAMABAD: The total losses of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) have increased to Rs426 billion, from the Rs200 billion in Musharraf tenure.
Privatisation Commission (PC) Chairman Mohammad Zubair revealed this, while giving a presentation to the senators during a Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue meeting, which was held under the chairmanship of Senator Saleem Mandviwalla at the Parliament House.
Zubair also disclosed that the accumulated losses of PIA stood at Rs226 billion. Senator Mohsin Aziz of the PTI asked during the meeting to open up the minutes of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) in which they approved privatisation of the PSM and PIA.
In the presentation, the PC chairman said that the operating capacity of the PSM had sharply declined, dropping from 76 percent a few years back to just 20 percent in 2014-15. The total accumulated losses of the PSM had gone up to Rs200 billion. He said that there were 4,600 officers working in the mills out of whom 60 percent were either just matriculates or studied up to Class XIII only, so expecting a turnaround in the PSM seemed unfeasible.
Senator Mohsin Aziz said that if the PSM were to be run at the capacity of 77 percent, it would transform itself into a profitable concern.
On the PIA’s privatisation, PC Chairman Mohammad Zubair said that few options were under consideration to privatise the national flag carrier as it was being run in accordance with the 1956 act of Parliament. Total liabilities of PIA stood at Rs295 billion while the accumulated losses went up to Rs226 billion.
