KARACHI: Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor here Sunday said that the best option is to revive the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM); otherwise, its vast land should be used to establish a proposed industrial park.
He said that it is learnt that the federal government is seeking the cooperation of the Sindh government to set up an industrial park on 1500 acres of the PSM under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This idea was originally conceived by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government in 2017. It was approved by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) in 2021.
The PSM is spread out over an area of 18660 acres, including 10390 acres for the main plant, 8070 acres for the township and 200 acres for the 110 MG water reservoir.
Steel industry is amongst the most profitable industries in the world. The PSM was also a highly profitable mill, but a mafia in the guise of political leaders doomed it as per the plan of their anti-Pakistan masters to harm the Pakistani economy. Sadly, they became successful and the PSM was damaged and finally closed down. He said despite its closure the government still pays salaries of its employees, which means continuously bleeding the national economy.
He said the systematic doom of the Pakistan Steel Mills is a textbook example of how the economic hit men of anti-Pakistan forces work in this country in the guise of political leaders and political parties. However, our ‘establishment’ still relies on these hidden foreign agents. He said that we should now be able to recognize our friends and foes and unveil the faces of the economic hit men operating in Pakistan.
However, Altaf Shakoor welcomed the idea of setting up an industrial park on the land of the PSM. He said that some local and international real estate tycoons want to get the land of the PSM for the peanuts to make profits of trillions of rupees. He said the PSM is a national asset and it should be saved from the privatization mafia. He said the PSM could be revived with the help of Russia, which is reportedly still interested to help set up a modern steel mill on the site of the PSM.
