The Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) while showing concern over the deteriorating state of the affairs of Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (PSMC) has urged the government to chalk out a plan to revive the corporation.
The LCCI President Abdul Basit, Senior Vice President Amjad Ali Jawa and Vice President Muhammad Nasir Hameed Khan while highlighting the importance of the PSMC said that the corporation is not only an important public sector enterprise but also serves as an important strategic asset of the country.
They said that policy makers should draft an effective policy to revive the PSMC not only because it is a major source of steel products supply to the various domestic industries but is of vital importance for defence industry also. They termed the Pakistan Steel Mills crisis a national tragedy, warning that this could be very dangerous for the defence sector.
The LCCI officials also said that since the PSM is not operational, the domestic industry has to rely heavily on imported hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanized steel etc that calls for huge amounts of foreign exchange to be spent for this purpose.
They said that keeping in view the massive loss of around Rs600 billion annually being caused by the PSEs, the government needs to make radical changes to make these organisations profitable.
They further added that the importance of PSEs cannot be undermined since they remain the most employment-intensive and capital-intensive organisations.
