MoU for $100m billet plant tomorrow

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Liaquat Ali Jatoi, the federal minister for industries and production, has said that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) would be signed Friday with Al-Tuwairqi group of Saudi Arabia to set up a steel billet plant in Karachi with an investment of $100 million.

He said this while launching three books Wednesday namely “ Prospects of IT Industry in Pakistan”, “Investment Oriented Study on Minerals and Mineral Based Industries” and “Pakistan Investment Guide-2004” published by the Experts Advisory Cell (EAC).

The EAC of the ministry has been asked to do the job and publish the books/guides with complete data, investment prospects and incentives by the government.

Mr Jatoi said GSP of the US would also invest $500 million and a German firm is interested to set up a pipe mill. He said that due to policies of the government serious investors are coming to Pakistan where their investment is safe without any restrictions.

He said the government is identifying potential and risk free industrial sectors to facilitate the foreign and local investors and to attract investment in the country.

He said the books will be sent to the Pakistani foreign missions abroad, chambers and to the potential investors and would also available on the website of the EAC. The main objective of the ministry is to facilitate the prospective investors through an integrated and coordinated approach.

The ministry shall extend preferential treatment to potential investors, so that pace of industrialization could be accelerated.

Mr Jatoi said the EC has approved setting up of “investors facilitation center” where all the facilities would be provided to the foreign investors under one roof. Initially four centers would be set up at Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad and Quetta and then it will be extended to other major cities. The work on these centers have been started and soon will be inaugurated, he added.

He said the book “Prospects of IT Industry in Pakistan”, described IT as key enabler of change in today’s rapidly evolving business climate and highlighted its role in converting the entire world into a global village.

The second book entitled “Investment Oriented Study on Minerals and Minerals Based Industries”. It said that geological evidence show that Pakistan has excellent mineral potential but the sector is inadequately developed due to its vast, complex and risky nature resulting in its less than one percent contribution to GNP.

The new edition of “Pakistan Investment Guide 2004” attempts to facilitate potential investors through provision of comprehensive and consolidated information on investment climate and opportunities in Pakistan.

Source

What was claimed last year is becoming a reality this year.

I was thinking that Pakistan is MashaAllah going quite good in terms of exports. Our export base is expanding and already we have exported fertilizers and Cement to Afghanistan and there is a chance that we export Cement to UAE. These products are quite Medium-Tech and are a proof of our growing economy.

Now that this steel plant is going functional, we in 2 years time would be also exporting steel worth 250 Million $$$ and if the plant expands as said we might export even 1 Billion $$$ worth of Steel Billets (Blocks).

We are precisely where Germany was in the late 1960's.

Now we export:

Textiles
Food Items
Light Engineering Goods
Petrochemical products
Sports
etc
etc
etc
etc
&
& THE NEWEST MEMBERS OF THIS FAMILY:::

Fertilizers
Cement
Copper
&
& COMING SOON

Steel Billets

Now let's wait to hear the expansion details of Pakistan Steel.

I believe Russia, Austria, China are in the running!