He expressed these views while presiding over a meeting to discuss matters relating to the restructuring and modernizing of Pakistan Steel Mills at the Prime Minister's House here.
The Prime Minister said expansion of the PSM would generate thousands of job opportunities, help save substantial foreign exchange and provide impetus to industrial sector in the country.
Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said that Pakistan Steel Mill is a legacy of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and a symbol of friendship and cooperation between Pakistan and the Russian Federation.
The Prime Minister said that his government desires that work on reconstruction, modernization and expansion of Pakistan Steel Mills be also undertaken by the Government of Pakistan Peoples Party. The expansion of the Pakistan Steel Mills is need of the hour, he said.
The Prime Minister directed the management of Pakistan Steel Mills to come with a concrete technical and financial plan for the expansion of the Pakistan Steel Mills so that the proposal can be taken up during the forthcoming visit of Vladimir Putin, President of Russian Federation who will be visiting Pakistan soon.
The Prime Minister also directed that the proposal should include suggestions for financing of the expansion project including time lines.
Major General Muhammad Javed, CEO of Pakistan Steel Mills briefed the Prime Minister about the need for expansion of the Mills and the salient technical and financial features of the proposal prepared by the Management of the Steel Mills. Major General Javed said that the annual demand of iron steel products is estimated at 7.5 million tons per year whereas the local production is about 4 million tons per year.
Pakistan, he said, imports 3 million tons of iron steel amounting to an estimated 2 billion dollars. He said that Steel Mills which presently has a capacity of 1.1 million tons has a provision for increasing the production of 3 million tons per day.
The meeting was attended by Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Minister for Finance, Chaudhry Anwar Ali Cheema Minister for Production, Syed Naveed Qamar Minister for Defence, Hina Rabbani Khar Minister for Foreign Affairs, Abbas Khan Afridi Minister of State for Commerce, Nawabzada Malik Aman Khan Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Saleem H Mandviwala Chairman BOI, Secretaries Ministries of Commerce, Foreign Affairs, EAD and other senior government officials.