Chinese, Russian, and Korean investors are showing interest in the revival of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM).
The government-owned organization is closed since 2015. The incumbent government has already announced plans to revive the company through Public-Private Partnership.
According to the news reports, meetings are being held with potential investors for the same purpose almost daily. These investors and interested parties are from China, Russia, and Korea. ------------------------------
A high-level meeting of the ministers and officials from the privatization segment was informed that the land valuation of PSM would be completed by the end of this month while the Expression of Interest (EOIs) for PSM will be sought in March this year.
The loans and liabilities of PSM have climbed to Rs. 230 billion, and the accumulated losses of PSM amount to Rs. 200 billion. The federal government also has to pay Rs. 750 million for salaries and pensions of the PSM employees.
Despite being non-operational, the federal government has had to pay Rs. 35 billion in salaries since June 2013. However, now the government has decided to lay off the entire workforce of the mill. In the first phase of this plan, 4,544 employees of PSM have already been terminated.