Russian experts to help modernise steel mills

KARACHI: On the request of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Russian experts have agreed to submit their proposals for modernisation of the Pakistan Steel Mills. This emerged on Tuesday when a Russian delegation, led by Adviser Andrey Zubal, called on Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and discussed different projects with him.

The Russian government has shown its interest to work with the Sindh government on Public-Private Partnership mode in hydro-treatment facilities, waste processing and waste-to-energy sectors.

The chief minister said the Russian government had constructed a huge project of Steel Mills in Karachi. Now, the mills needed not only to be overhauled but also had to be modernised to fulfill the present steel production requirements. The delegation decided to send their team to visit the mills to assess the requirements for its modernisation. The chief minister said he has already constituted a provincial ministers’ committee to study the issues of the mill and recommend solution to its problems.

Murad said with the closure of the mill, the employment of a large number of its employees had been affected badly. “The mill was established with the personal efforts of the-then Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and we want it to flourish,” he said.

The meeting decided to take up the modernisation of the steel project on a priority basis as its feasibility and mode would be studied and shared with the provincial government. The meeting also decided to study the feasibility of establishing a 50MW power waste-to-energy plant in Dhabeji. The chief minister told the delegation that there was a railway line from Karachi to Dhabeji where a power plant can be installed, adding another site for the project could be Jam Chakro. The Russian experts would visit the sites to finalize the project.

The other projects which came under discussion was the establishment of water distribution system in Karachi and installation of treatment plants. The Russian experts would hold more meetings with the provincial government’s concerned departments and visit the sites to choose the projects of their choice.

The delegation has submitted a conceptual proposal to the provincial government for a solid waste management system. The provincial government would also study their proposal for further action.

Meanwhile, Consul General of Kuwait Salem Yousif AlHamdan called on Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and offered his government’s support against coronavirus. Murad said he has established an Institute of Infectious Diseases at NIPA in Karachi. “The institute is serving as a hospital for Covid-19 patients, but it would start research against different kinds of infectious diseases,” he said and added he wanted to establish a similar facility in Hyderabad. The visiting diplomat told the CM that his government would support the provincial government to establish another institute of Infectious Diseases.

Murad Ali Shah recalled that the Kuwait government has invested in the hotel industry during the tenure of former prime minister the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Kuwait had established a five-star hotel in Karachi. Bhutto had engaged a large number of skilled and unskilled people of Pakistan to be sent to Kuwait, therefore, we respect the Kuwait government and its people.