ISLAMABAD: There is a serious human resource crunch in Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) as current manpower is set to retire in the coming years, said PSM CEO Maj-Gen (retd) Zaheer Ahmed Khan.

In a briefing to Senate Standing Committee on Industries and Production here on Tuesday, the new CEO said that the mills had the potential to become a profitable and commercially-run entity, but fresh recruitment was required to make a turnaround.

He said that there was a need to appoint 300 engineering and management trainees between 2014 to 2018, apart from 100 diploma-holders and regularisation of 100 artisans.

He further stated that fresh batch of 200 trainee apprentices is also required each year through the Pakistan Institute of Institute of Technology.

The plant is a great technological asset. If lost it will never be replicated for decades until we become an industrialised country.

However, the mills needs revamping to put the plant back to life, the CEO added.

The PSM has a working strength of 15,274, including 14,426 regular employees.

The production capacity of the mills is 1.1 million tonnes per annum and the output had even dropped to 1pc in April. Between 2000 and 2008, the production was above 90pc.

Senator Saeed Ghani said that the need for fresh human resource in PSM has proved that our stance was correct, but he pointed towards lacuna in worker-officer ratio, which was 2:1.

However, Senator Saeed Ghani and Fateh Mohammad Hassani opposed the move to privatise the mills.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2014