Cash injection in PSM, other projects: Russian and Chinese SOEs want State''s rules waived

State Owned Enterprises of Russia and China have conveyed to the Board of Investment that they are ready to inject money in the Pakistan Steel expansion plan and other projects provided the government waives the State''s rules followed by private companies in general. This was stated by Board of Investment Chairman Saleem H Mandviwala in an exclusive talk to Business Recorder.
Mandviwala said some SOEs of Russia, China, Japan and the US are willing to invest in Pakistan but not under the terms and conditions applied in general. These SOEs also say that they would not be liable to participate in any international bidding or fulfil other procedural obligations. He suggested that in order to bring the economy back on track, it was necessary to let these SOEs start rolling in investment without putting them under the pressure of the State''s rules.
On a question regarding his recent meeting with High Commissioner of India, he said he would soon leave for India. He said investment between India and Pakistan was a bilateral issue. "If India allows Pakistani businessmen to invest in India, it would be possible for Pakistan also to let the Indian investment come to the country," he said.
He said that Chinese investment in Pak Steel Mills and Railways might be discussed in a meeting on March 3, 2011 when BoI would start taking first review of the progress being made in 18 Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) signed between Pakistan and China recently.
"We will have a meeting on March 3 with the Chinese embassy in this regard while the other 56 MoUs that were signed between both the countries would be reviewed latter," he added. He said BoI made an agreement with the Russian Investment Agency and its technical delegation is expected soon.
About his visit to Sri Lanka, Mandviwala said that the Sri Lankan government has requested Pakistan to provide $100 million credit to rescue its sinking industries of cement, sugar and dairy. When the case was brought to President Zardari, he decided to provide them $200 million credit. In this connection, a delegation from Heavy Mechanical Complex (HMC) would visit Sri Lanka to explore the possibility of installing sugar and cement plants there.