ISLAMABAD: Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar said on Friday the 9,350 Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) employees being laid off under a retrenchment plan will get salaries of five years and a half.
Speaking on the floor of the Senate, he said the employees will get an average amount of Rs2.3 million each while some even higher amount of Rs7 million on account of salaries.
Hammad Azhar said the Steel Mills that started production back in 1985 slipped into deficit in 2009 and was finally shut down in 2015, forcing the government to take steps to privatise it.
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He said the previous governments failed to revive or privatise Pakistan Steel Mills. “Today, the debt of Pakistan Steel Mills stands at Rs230 billion,” he revealed. He said the government has now decided to lease out the core steel mills operations to revive it.
The minister said the government wants to run the PSM with private partners as it would privatise the national entity after subjecting it to a complete overhaul.
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Speaking at a presser a day earlier, Hammad Azhar had said the government decided to privatise the national entity to bring it out of losses. “The Pakistan Steel Mills is a huge burden on taxpayers,” he said.
The minister said a Rs90 billion bailout package was given to the mill in the past in an effort to revive it but to no avail. He added the federal government has been doling out Rs700 million every month to pay salaries and interest as the debt of the Steel Mills has ballooned to Rs230 billion.
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