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Dawood asks PS to improve management, marketing efficiency

KARAHCI: The Minister for Commerce and Industries Abdul Razak Dawood on Thursday asked the management of Pakistan Steel to improve its marketing and management efficiency putting the organisation back on sound track.

Speaking after a presentation by the Steel Mills Chairman and Directors of Production and Finance at the plant here, the Industries Minister told the management, to set targets for themselves to improve the efficiency 'step by step'.

"I am confident that Pakistani engineers are very good and you can achieve any targets," he said while asking the management to be prepared to meet the challenges of the market.

He said closure of Pakistan Steel Mills will not be in the national interest.

"We have got no choice, but set our targets and standards for improvement in our quality and marketing," he remarked.

Good management is the essential element for survival of an establishment, he added.

He pointed out that the quality of steel of other countries, which started the production even after Pakistan Steel has improved, but no attention was paid to improve the quality of Pakistan Steel products by any previous management.

He also asked the Steel Mill management to pay more attention to maintenance of the plant and appreciated its plans for future expansion.

The minister expressed disappointment over the condition of the plant, saying without maintenance, quality cannot be improved.

He said he had visited the mills in the past, but the condition of the plant is even worse.

The government has not enough funds, but through making tough decisions and achieving targets, positive results can be achieved, he added.

Pakistan Steel Mills can be a great institution, if its management set targets and achieved it step by step.

He said "we have to work together to eliminate corruption, inefficiency and improve our quality."

The Industries Minister said that he is well aware of the problems of the Steel Mills, and being a private sector entrepreneur in the past, he was also dealing with the management of the mills.

"Don't blame a single person for problems of Steel Mills," he said adding that it is series of failure of the past management and lack of good governance in the corporation.

He said the problems of Steel Mills can be solved through improvement in quality of its products.

Abdul Razzak Dawood pointed out that Pakistani engineers are much better than engineers of any developed nation. He said he has faith in Pakistani engineers and Steel Mills can also be turned around with good governance.

He gave an example of his private company, Dawood Hercules, where a problem occurred in gas turbine and the German company's engineers asked not to run it, but a team of Pakistani engineers made the turbine in running.

He said he is ready to discuss each and every problem of the mills to make it a viable organisation.

Earlier, in his presentation, the Pakistan Steel Chairman, Lt. Col. M. Afzal Khan (Retd) said that the Steel Mills needed expansion for its survival. Its present capacity is 1.1 tonnes per year (MTPY), whereas it is expandable up to 3.0 MTPY.

The contemporary mills in other countries like Iran, Egypt, China, Korea and Turkey have increased their production by manifold, but Pakistan Steel Mill's production capacity is still the same.

He pointed out major problems being faced by the mills. He suggested remedies and urged the government to provide help in this regard.

Director of Production Tariq Beg said that due to bad financial management in the past Pakistan Steel could not be able to increase production.

Director Finance, Shakel Ahmed said at present Pakistan is not in 'steel-producers map of the world.'

He said Pakistan is not included in the list of 40 countries with more than 2 MTPY production the world over. APP