ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Industries and Production secretary on Friday informed that it is virtually impossible to revive the Pakistan Steel Mill (PSM).
This was stated by the secretary, while briefing the second meeting of the Standing Committee on Industries and Production held here on Friday under the chairmanship of Syed Hafeezuddin, MNA at Parliament House.
The secretary briefly apprised the committee about working and performance of the ministry and its attached departments.
Against closure, PSM board says Cabinet is ill-advised
While briefing about the PSM, he said that in the meetings of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) headed by the prime minister was decided to declare the PSM as scrap as it was nearly impossible to revive the PSM with existing infrastructure and out-dated technology; however, they further decided that the land of PSM would be utilised for establishment of Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
He further stated that two SEZs on 500 and 700 acres of land was established respectively and on the request of the Sindh chief minister, the 700 acres additional land was allocated to the provincial government for the re-establishment of state-of-the-art steel mill with modern technology and infrastructure.
He also stated that the ministry has accorded approval for disconnection of gas supply to the PSM on 30th June 2024 in order to prevent the national exchequer with the additional cost of approximately Rs2.5billion. On the request of the Federal Minister for Industries and Production, the committee decided to hold the separate meeting on the PSM.
The MD Utility Stores Corporation (USC) briefly apprised the committee about the functions, performance and problems faced the management of the USC. He stated that USC was established in 1971 under the Companies Act, 2017, with the mandate to provide subsidised food items to the targeted beneficiaries.
He further stated that USC has opened approximately 6,000 stores all over the country, out of which, 4,775 are functional in all the provinces of the country.
He further stated that in the last financial year as per Prime Minister’s Relief Package of Rs22.53 billion was allocated to USC; however, Rs12.47 billion was reserved for Ramzan Relief Package. Now, this year around Rs60 billion was allocated for the USC for the provision of subsidised food items to the beneficiaries and it is likely to be approved by the federal cabinet.
After listening to the briefing of the USC, the committee came to the conclusion that this is a huge subject and need to look into things in depth. The committee; hence, decided to hold a separate meeting on USC in which all matters will be reviewed in detail and the committee has issued instructions to the MD USC to submit all its audit reports before the committee in the next meeting.
The committee expressed concern over the taxes levied on the industry by the federal government and said that chairman FBR should be called in order to brief the committee about the taxes levied on the industry and also sought support of the government to waive off the taxes on the industrial sector for its revival.
Besides the Federal Minister for Industries and Production, the following MNAs namely, Shahid Usman, Sajid Mehdi, Kiran Imran Dar, Dr Mahesh Kumar Malani, Muhammad Saadullah, Rana Atif, Muhammad Arshad Sahi, and the officials of the ministry attended the meeting.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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