Slowly and steadily, our tangible assets are transforming into intangible assets. PIA, KESC, Railways, once earning units, are now running out on bail-out packages of government. These institutions have totally failed to generate revenue and hence, sapping their own foundations. Eventually, adding to the misery of worsening overall debt situation of the country.
Established in 1985, Pak Steel was a major metallurgical unit of Pakistan with most of its organs widely considered to be some of the best in the world. Unfortunately, the downfall of Pak Steel Mills began when the government’s endeavour to privatise PSM was confronted and ultimately checked by Apex court. Thereafter, the downhill journey hastened.
Inefficient management, power outages, overstaffing, political manoeuvring, underutilisation of resources compounded the problems and the economic health quickly deteriorated. The sharp increase in revenue was neither investigated, nor controlled by management, which ultimately exhausted PSM resources. As reported in the press, the havoc done with the coal batteries to extend their running time from 28 hours to 40 hours to avoid closure ended up in repair expenditure of Rs. 2.5 billion. Furthermore, the liabilities of organisation continued to inflate extraordinarily. The swelled up figure of liabilities of Rs 110 billion, can fairly be interoperated as another bid to sale out PSM, by declaring it a white elephant.
Irony of fate is that our large organisations are falling out one after the other leaving economy in lurch and paving way of complete economic disaster.
Now the plummeting economic condition of PSM has forced the management to ask the federal government for a bailout package of Rs 12 billion. Today is the era of competition and survival of fittest is possible, what to speak of poor crawling industrial units? The plethora of menaces these large organisations are facing today cannot be overcome just by financial bail-outs.
IFTIKHAR S MIRZA
Islamabad
