Govt Decides to Permanently Shut Down Pakistan Steel Mills

The federal government has decided to permanently shut down the state-owned Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) after failure to privatize it. In a statement, the Secretary Industries & Production said that the Sindh government is interested in setting up its own Steel Mill and the government has offered around 700 acres of land for this purpose. PSM’s Chief Financial Officer said that the financial burden of the Mill’s employees is Rs. 3.1 billion annually. He highlighted that in the last ten years, an amount of Rs. 32 billion has been paid in terms of salaries to the employees. Moreover, gas worth Rs. 7 billion has been used in the last decade, he added. He pointed out that thousands of political appointments in PSM alongside the decision to regularize temporary employees have resulted in PSM’s bankruptcy. The government also intends to lease 4000 acres of land of PSM to set up a Special Economic Zone.