PAC wants report on PSM losses

Public spending watchdog also seeks details of mill's administration, board of management

KARACHI:

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of parliament has sought a report on the performance of the administration and board of management of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) and the losses incurred by it.

According to sources in the federal  industries and production ministry, PAC Chairman Noor Alam Khan demanded a report on the billions of rupees lost due to corruption, criminal negligence and poor performance in the PSM during the tenure of the same PTI government he had remained a part of.

The sources added that on the directions of the PAC chairman, the federal industries and production ministry had called for a report from the chief executive officer of the PSM till July 15.

The report has been sought on the appeal of Pakistan Steel People's Workers Union CBA's self-notice.

The Union in a letter sent to the PAC chairman on June 27, 2022, had accused the board of directors and management of the PSM of causing a loss of Rs284 billion due to alleged criminal negligence and poor performance.

The CBA had taken suo motu notice against the management and board of directors of the PSM from 2018 to April 2022 and appealed to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to investigate the matter.

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In a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCOP) held last month, the chairman of the Privatisation Commission had presented the government’s plans for revival of the PSM.

The plan focuses on revival through significant foreign direct investment and technology transfer generating significant employment opportunities for qualified workers.

The commission had given an updated status on the privatisation of the PSM. The CCOP had discussed the modalities of the privatisation transaction as many issues remain unresolved.

The draft indenture of core lease deed had not yet been finalised for the core land of 1,229 acres to the newly created subsidiary, Steel Corp.

In Pakistan, while in the opposition, politicians criticise the policymakers for taking the decisions (fuel price hike) they would have themselves taken and force them to enact the economic reset (privatisation) that they themselves refrained from.

Ping-pong continues to an extent that the brains drain away from the country – only to send valuable remittances back – giving a lifeline to the next set of policymakers. The bar is deliberately kept low in this doom loop.

Pakistan has been relying on luck for longer than necessary. Unforced errors have helped in 2014-16 (due to lower oil prices) and 2020-21 (Covid-led lower oil prices and interest rate cuts).

Again, this is not earned but is a mere stroke of luck. The feel-good factor in these periods has given us a false sense of governance supremacy without addressing the root causes.

The root causes remain inefficiencies in the system. In the last 13 to 14 years, losses in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), such as energy distribution companies, Pakistan Railways and PSM, have added the dead weight to the system, which could have been utilised for constructive education, healthcare, infrastructure and debt repayment.

(With input from our correspondent in Islamabad)