Chairman, Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC), Chaudhry Amjad Ali Warraich has expressed his firm resolve to end corruption from the organisation and make it a more profit-earning entity.
The chairman, who took charge about five months before, said that he has found massive corruption, embezzlement and irregularities in the corporation, which is causing a loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer. Talking to APP, Warraich said that he was going to apprise all the concerned quarters about the loot and plunder.
He said contracts of salt and coal excavation were awarded to relatives of the PMDC officials at throw away prices, without open biddings, adding, 'not a single contract has been awarded through auction.' The chairman said six out of nine ongoing projects were running in loss and according to an estimate this year the PMDC's annual profit would decline by Rs 100 million.
He said the cost of mining salt per tonne was Rs 722, while it was being sold at Rs 475 per tonne in connivance with the officials. Besides, vehicles of the PMDC were not being used in accordance with the entitlement, which amounted to 'serious misuse of the assets'. Warraich said that the PMDC has potential to generate about $1.5 billion foreign exchange reserves every month, besides making the country self-sufficient in the power sector in two to three years. 'I guarantee, if proper attention is given to coal and salt sectors, about $1.5 billion can be generated every month,' he observed.
Warraich said there were sufficient reserves of coal in the country to meet the requirement of 400 years and with the upgradation of coal, both the financial and power crisis could be overcome. He said Rs 22 billion were spent on the import of furnace oil used in power generating units, adding "this foreign exchange can be saved by upgrading quality of coal."
He regretted that despite having such huge reserves, the country was importing 145,000 tonnes of coal every year to run its power generating units. Commenting on the production of edible salt, he said Pakistani salt is of the best quality in the world, adding last year the country earned Rs 160 million by exporting the commodity. He underlined the need for aggressive marketing of salt at international level.
The chairman vowed to take the corporation to new heights with the focus on generation of substantial foreign exchange reserves, saying, 'I will make the PMDC a model institution.' He reiterated his commitment to uproot the menace of corruption from the PMDC and make it one of the major contributors towards strengthening of the national economy.
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