News
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Cabinet approves PSM revival plan
* Govt will constitute committee for PSM revival, appoint a professional CEO and fill three vacant posts of BoD
PESHAWAR: Federal Cabinet on Wednesday approved a revival plan for Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) to make it a profitable national entity.
The meeting of the cabinet was held here at the Governor’s House with Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani in the chair. Briefing the media regarding the decisions taken in the meeting, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdaus Ashiq Awan said the Ministry of Production presented suggestions and priorities for the revival of PSM. The officials of Ministry of Finance and PSM were also present in the meeting and gave their input for the improvement of the institution.
The cabinet directed constitution of a committee for the PSM, appointment of a professional and competent Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and filling of three vacant posts of the Mills board of directors (BoD), which consists of 12 members but presently has only nine. In order to overcome the financial losses of PSM, Dr Firdaus said the government has already given two packages of Rs 30 billion. But for sustained growth it also required some organisational and professional reforms, she added.
She said that the holding of the meetings of federal cabinet in the provinces was a vision of the prime minister to strengthen federating units and promote national harmony. The minister said that credit of renaming the NWFP as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa goes to President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and all the coalition partners. She added that the purpose of holding the federal cabinet meeting in the provinces was to recognise provincial autonomy and address and resolve the problems of the provinces.
She said that the governor and the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were especially invited to give their feedback on the issues related to the province. The cabinet discussed a seven-point agenda and reviewed the implementation of the decisions taken in previous meetings. The meeting also reviewed the implementation of the decisions regarding Finance Division.
The minister said that the cabinet has so far taken 114 decisions of which 100 have been implemented while the remaining will be implemented soon. The cabinet also approved decisions taken in the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) meeting, and also reviewed the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The prime minister directed the department concerned to bring down inflation to single-digit in order to provide maximum relief to the masses, Firdaus added. Gilani directed commerce secretary for preparation of priorities to check rising prices of essential items. Briefing the meeting, the finance secretary said that 19 items had registered increase in price while 10 had become cheaper. He informed that PSM was established by former prime minister ZA Bhutto and had registered highest profits in 1993-94. But gradually it declined to its current despicable state.
The cabinet ratified Technical Assistance Agreements recently signed with Brazil and Egypt. An important decision taken during the cabinet meeting was related to 270 million Saudi Riyal loan for the rehabilitation of infrastructure in the militancy-affected areas in FATA and Malakand Division. Firdaus said that the PPP has decided to meet all challenges with the active support of the country’s masses. She said that the problems of state corporations, including PIA and Pakistan Railways, were reviewed in the cabinet meeting, and decisions taken in these weekly meetings would help these entities stand on their own feet. agencies
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk