The federal government’s move to privatize the Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC), the sole state-owned mining company, has perturbed the employees working across the country.
Sources told ProPakistani that the cabinet last week approved the privatization of PMDC even though the company is billions of rupees in profit besides depositing billions in revenue to the Federal Board of Revenue.
It is pertinent to mention here that PMDC is the sole federal government-owned mining company with over 50 years of experience and operations across all provinces.
The corporation manages 18 mining ventures including five salt mining projects, four coal mining projects, seven Joint Ventures, and two exploration projects nationwide.
Among its operations, the historic Khewra Salt Mines stand out for rock salt production and tourism while Sor Range Quetta is recognized for having Pakistan’s best underground coal mine.
PMDC employs 2,101 individuals directly and supports approximately 8,000 families across 13 field formations. as a self-sustaining and profitable state-owned enterprise. PMDC has contributed Rs. 7.29 billion to the national exchequer over the past five years along with CSR contributions of Rs. 735 million.
Major Initiatives
- Exploration: 1000 sq Km of antinomy blocks in Balochistan potentially transformative for Pakistan.
- Acquisitions: 40,000 acres for Iron Ore mining in Balochistan, placer gold blocks in Punjab, and base metal projects in Chitral.
- Foreign Investment of $200 million for a Pink Rock Salt Grinding and Packaging plant in partnership with MSCI USA.
- Value Added Ventures; development of projects such as Coal to Coke, Humic Acid Production, Coal Briquetting, and coal bed methane.
Sources said that the above-mentioned ventures aim to generate significant foreign exchange and socio-economic benefits, creating employment opportunities in underprivileged regions.
Privatization at this stage would result in a one-time financial gain whereas ongoing and planned initiatives would lead to widespread job losses, directly impacting thousands of families who rely on PMDC for their livelihood.
As a profitable and growing organization, the privatization of PMDC is not justified and the government should revoke this decision.
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Best decision ever. Salt mines salt goes to india to be bottled and sold in higher margins to western markets, a private entity will definitely think of profits and will make it better (fingers crossed). Well lets see how long this privatising takes to happen, if happens at all….
Why Pakistan minerals development is being privatized,as it’s not loss
Making entity.Rather govt should ask state-owned petroleum companies to enter in joint venture with Pakistan minerals development corporation to develop local company to utilize local resources . that company get listed on stock exchange.
The Era of blissful corruption is ending, the leisure work ethic they are accustomed to is threatened. This is nothing but a bunch of people whining they cannot get their anymore.
The article mentions 7.29 bn pkr over 5 years with an employee base of 2101. Is this 58kpkr per employee per month? Is it good enough?