AAMIR SAEED

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Steel Mill (PSM) has been incurring monthly loss of Rs509 million despite injection of billions of rupees by the government for clearance of its critical liabilities, restructuring and tax incentives on import of raw material.

Minister for Industries and Production, Ghulam Murtaza Khan informed this to the National Assembly on Monday in written response to a question during the Question Hour.

He informed the House that the present government has taken a number of steps for the revival of the PSM, which include approval of a package of Rs2.9 billion by the ECC on September 7, 2013 for payment of salaries, clearance of critical liabilities and working capital of the PSM.

On April 25, 2014, the ECC of the Cabinet considered the summary on “Restructuring options of Pakistan Steel Mills” and approved Rs18.5 billion for the revival of PSM, he said.

The minister said that the ECC also approved funding for PSM duty payments at customs on imported iron ore to be released as and when it is received. Facility of deferment of 17 percent sales tax for three months on import of raw materials was also provided basically to meet liquidity crunch to the PSM, he added.

Relief on payment of 6 percent income tax on import of raw material was also extended to the PSM, he said, adding that the government has enlisted Pakistan Steel Mills for privatization and the process of due diligence is being carried out by the financial advisors appointed by the Privatization Commission.

He also informed the House that the government is paying net salaries to the PSM employees and they have been paid their salary up to the month of May 2017.

The Privatization Commission is in the process of submitting a summary at the ECC forum for releasing of four months salaries i.e. June-September 2017 for the PSM employees, he said.

To another question, Minister for Water Resources Syed Javed Ali Shah informed the House that the country is facing water shortage due to hydro-meteorological conditions which have resulted in below-average flow of water in rivers.

The current water inflow in four major rivers of the country has been recorded to be 48,300 cusecs, compared to the average water inflow in these rivers of around 57,900 cusecs at this time of the year, he said.

The minister said that the prevailing water crisis in the country first surfaced in September 2017, adding that the situation is feared to remain the same until the end of this year.

To reduce the adverse impacts of the shortage, the minister said, the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) is managing the distribution of the full share of water to provinces by supplementing river flows with water stored in the Mangla and Tarbela reservoirs.

According to the documents submitted, the IRSA had previously anticipated a 20 percent shortfall for the Rabi season of 2017-18, he said.

The minister also informed the House that Diamer-Bhasha Dam Project will store 6.4 MAF and it is located on Indus River near Chilas (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa & Gilgit-Baltistan).

The PC-I of the project amounting to Rs894.257 billion was approved by the ECNEC on 20-08-2009, he said, adding that land acquisition works started in 2010 and preparatory works are in progress.

The minister said that the main project will be commenced after arrangement of financing and it will be completed in nine years after commencement.