The government has admitted that the Karachi Shipyard has completely failed, as all the efforts to make it functional did not bear fruit. Now a committee has been formed to ascertain whether or not Karachi Shipyard can be made profitable.
Major Tanvir Hussain Syed (Retd), Parliamentary Secretary for Defence made this statement while responding to a calling attention notice here on Wednesday.
Lawmakers including Muhammad Hussain Mehanti, Liaquat Baloch, Abdus Sattar Afghani, Muhammad Laeeque Khan and Aisha Munawar drew his attention towards non-payment of salaries to the employees of Karachi Shipyard for the last four months.
Tanvir Hussain Syed said that Karachi Shipyard project is in disarray and he will not defend government on this issue. He informed the House that the project, which was started in 1970, has produced no results so far and termed it a "white elephant." He further said that the government is trying hard to improve working conditions there adding that finance ministry had allocated Rs 325 million in 2001-02 in this regard.
Pakistan Navy also provided loan of Rs 250 million in 2002-03 but it could not make any difference. He said that Rs 61 million were also allocated for the maintenance of the rusty machinery.
There is dire need of Rs 300 million annually to revive this project but still there will be no guarantee either it will become profitable or not, he stated.
Tanvir Hussain informed the House that Karachi Shipyard has failed to receive any manufacturing order due to its rusty machinery. It has the capacity of manufacturing only 26,000 tons vessels while 80,000 tons are being produced at shipyards of international standard.
Not a single motor boat has been manufactured at Karachi Shipyard so far. How can we receive manufacturing order of huge ships, he asked.
Parliamentary secretary said that the government has formed a committee comprising high ups of Pakistan Navy and Defence Division to look into the matter.
He went on to say that the government is also considering utilising this machinery for the repair work of Pakistan Navy's ships.
He admitted that the employees of Karachi Shipyard are suffering a lot and have not been received for salaries of last four months. He disclosed that high rank officials are getting lucrative packages there. He requested the ministry of finance to release more funds for the salaries of workers.
Tanvir Hussain proposed that if all parliamentarians give Rs 3,000 from their salaries, matter could be solved amicably.
He was of the view that a person like Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Minister for Privatisation or Senator Javed Ashraf Qazi should be nominated to prepare a feasibility report of this project.
Opposition members urged the government to solve the matter and release salaries of workers as soon as possible.