Pakistan Steel Mill's revival suffers major blow

ISLAMABAD: The last hope for the revival of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) also suffered a blow as its gas supply has been shut off from June 30, 2024, ARY News reported.

The Ministry of Industries and Production directed not to pay the gas utility charges after 30^th June.

The decision was taken in the meeting of the federal cabinet’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) chaired by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb.

The decision came as a blow to the revival hopes of PSM, which has been unfunctional since 2015.

The PSM’s production was affected by a sudden drop in gas pressure in January 2015, and only the blast furnace had been operational with limited gas supply since June 2015.

It is pertinent to mention here that the PSM had assets worth billions, including land.

Earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed concerned officials to expedite the privatisation process of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), PSM and other loss-making state-owned institutions.

Presiding over a high-level meeting in Islamabad to evaluate the privatisation process, PM Shehbaz also directed that immediate measures should be taken to strengthen the ability of the institutions in charge of privatisation in order to resuscitate the economy and speed up the process of delivering assistance to people.

The meeting reviewed the progress made so far and the challenges in privatising loss-making state-owned enterprises including Pakistan International Airlines, First Women Bank, Roosevelt Hotel, Heavy Electrical Complex, power plants, and power distribution companies, as well as Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation.

During the meeting, a committee was also formed to review the idea to transfer power businesses to the provinces. The committee has been tasked to present its recommendations to the prime minister.

PM Shehbaz said that the Pakistani people are compelled to bear the enormous cost of keeping loss-making businesses functioning.