Govt to restructure loss making firms

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has said that the government will restructure eight organisations that had become white elephants and were eating up Rs220 billion of public resources annually.

Addressing the participants of a course at the National Defence University on Tuesday, he said that Pakistan Steel Mills, Railways, PIA and Wapda are among the organisations which get government’s assistance to function despite incurring huge losses.

He said these organisations had been running in losses for years and will be restructured and run on economically viable basis.

“I have tasked the Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh with the responsibility to personally monitor Steel Mills and Wapda affairs. Restructuring would take place without any political interference and job cuts,” he said.

“We will not allow anyone to challenge the writ of the government.

The whole nation is united behind armed forces to get rid of terrorism and extremism. Pakistan does not need a certificate from anybody in the US or the UK about the ongoing war on terrorism,’’ Gilani stated.

He said that the government is working on short, medium and long-term strategies to resolve the energy crisis. Many projects are in the pipeline which will start functioning soon, he added.

Published in the Express Tribune, June 16^th, 2010.