Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Federal Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar on Wednesday announced that the government was not privatizing the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) instead they would bid for running it on a joint venture.
“We will be running the steels mills in cooperation with the private investors,” he said while giving a briefing to a Senate standing committee on industries and production, headed by Senator Ahmed Khan.
He said that they had discussed the possibilities of a joint venture with 12 international organizations and six even visited to analyze over the possibility.
He said that in 2008, the steel mills had a fund of Rs 10 billion but it suffered losses after steel prices witnessed a decline in the international market in the following years.
Hammad Azhar said that in 2010, 4500 employees of the Pakistan Steel Mills got permanent status despite an already influx of employees and its average production came down to 40 percent and later further declined to six percent.
