KARACHI
Chief Executive Officer of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), Maj Gen (r) Zaheer Ahmed Khan has sought Karachi Chamber’s assistance in convincing the government to ensure a level playing field to PSM so that it could regain its previous status of a profitable organisation.
“Efforts were underway to enhance PSM’s production capacity to 77 per cent by April 2015. If we lose Pakistan Steel today, we will never be able to get back this marvel of Pakistan”, he added.
Speaking at a meeting during his visit to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Saturday, he said that the production capacity was likely to improve to 50 per cent in February, 60 per cent in March and by April, PSM’s capacity will be raised further to 77 per cent or even more, making it a profitable organization.  CEO PSM also invited a delegation from Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) to visit Pakistan Steel Mills in order to explore the possibility of setting up downstream industries on a 200 acres land available near the Mill.
He urged the iron and steel dealers to play their part for development and progress of this national asset to bring it back on track of prosperity by procuring PSM products instead of relying on import. The supply chain of raw material has been streamlined with the help of the recent financial restructuring package, he added. He said that the government has been granting bailout packages during the period of crisis which began in 2008-09 but all these untimely bail-out packages were not effectively utilized, resulting in creating more and more cash-flow problems.  Consequently, PSM has remained in trouble during the past five years but was now all set and well-positioned on its path to revival owing to the overall revamping of the mill by its existing staff who have all the capabilities, expertise and skills to transform PSM into a profit-making organization.
He informed that PSM was in the process of repair and maintenance and improvements of its main plants and soon, they will be able to run the plant at high capacity with full efficiency.
Responding to concerns expressed by iron and steel dealers over notices issued by National Accountability Bureau over price fixation issue, CEO PSM said that a suo-motto notice was taken by the honorable Supreme Court and PSM has got nothing to do with these notices.
However, Zaheer Ahmed Khan, while proposing KCCI to hold a meeting with Chairman NAB in order to discuss this pressing issue, assured that he will also attend this important meeting along with all stakeholders.
Earlier, while welcoming the CEO PSM, President KCCI Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra said that a KCCI delegation’s visit to PSM will soon be organized so that issues being faced by businessmen and industrialists associated with this important sector could be discussed in detail. KCCI delegation’s visit would also provide an opportunity to look for ways and means of how KCCI can play a role in the revival of Pakistan Steel.
He was fairly optimistic that enhanced interaction and cooperation between the business community and PSM management would surely pave way towards transforming PSM into a lucrative organization.
Speaking on the occasion, Vice Chairman Businessmen Group and Former President KCCI, Zubair Motiwala underscored the need to effectively utilize the dedicated workforce of PSM in order to make it a commercially viable organization which would surely help in creating more employment opportunities and play its role in the development of economy.
Senior Vice President KCCI, Muhammad Ibrahim Kasumbi, Former Presidents KCCI, Majyd Aziz, A.Q. Khalil and KCCI Managing Committee members attended the meeting.