Pakistan Steel Mills remain shut since 3 weeks with no sign of resumption

Poor maintenance and operational procedures have led to the shutdown of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) for the first time in three decades. The country’s largest industrial complex has remained closed for the past three weeks with no immediate signs of resumption.

The industrial complex had been shut down on October 8, 2014 after one convertor was damaged during operation and an emergency was declared. Earlier this year, PSM had received Rs. 18.5 billion from the government and the management had claimed that 50% production capacity would be reached by October, and the mills would make Rs. 250 million in profit by 2015.

However, in the month of October, the plant was only able to produce 1870 tons, which is only 2% of its daily capacity of 91,667 tons.

The government has also invited applications from financial advisors in regard to PSM’s privatization plan. According to officials, operations were shut down for repairs and cleaning, but the plant is not likely to restart production in the near future.

It was also reported that the malfunction and damage was due to the plant not being run in accordance with operational instructions and the poor quality of raw material being used.

The government is yet to order an investigation into the matter, and while PSM remains closed, the production of iron and steel is suffering along with the human resources which are not being utilized.

Currently the PSM has around Rs. 300 billion of debt, which is only going to mount unless production capacity is improved and profitability is achieved by the PSM management.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=49563

Posted by Hunain Naseer on Oct 27 2014. Filed under Latest News, National. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.