950820

Ittehad Chemicals

New owners, PC to

share Rs 270m golden

handshake expense

MUZAFFAR QURESHI

KARACHI: Rs. 270 million will be paid to 1250 workers of the newly privatized Ittehad Chemicals by way of golden handshake. Half of the amount will be paid by the new owners, Chemi Group of Industries, and half by the Privatization Commission.

The golden handshake ceremony will be held at the plant site at Kala Shah Kaku in Lahore on August 31. The ceremony will be presided over by the Chairman of Privatization Commission, Naveed Qamar.

The Director of the Chemi Group, Usman Ghani told Business Recorder that out of the 1300 employees of the Ittehad Chemicals 1250 workers, who have a long tenure of service, have opted for the golden handshake.

The Ittehad Chemicals, which has a daily production of 150 tonnes of caustic soda, used in soap and textile industries, has been bought by the Chemi Group of Industries for Rs. 500 million.

The new management plans to set up a power generating plant at a cost of Rs. 700 million to meet the power of needs of the plant. It will save the new management from the huge power bill of Rs. 4.5 crore, presently, paid to Wapda. The self-generating power plant will help reduce the existing production cost.

The main raw material consumed by the chemical plant is power and the salt brought from Khewrah. Usman Ghani maintained that production at the plant will not be economical unless it has its own generating power system. The present cost of power is five times more than the entire cost of the raw material consumed by the plant. The power plant will be of 42 MW.

The Chemi Group of Industries also plans to set up a polyester fiber plant at the newly established industrial estate at Nawabshah at a cost of Rs. 1500 million including an NDFC financing of Rs. 500 million.

The Credit Committee of the NDFC has approved the loan which will now be presented to the Board of Directors meeting for approval.