Prime Minister''s Advisor on Commerce, Textile, Industries and Production and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood and M/s M/s Tuwairqi Steel Mills Limited (TSML) discussed the revival plan and the possibility of further investment of $ 700 million, well informed sources told Business Recorder. The financial and technical experts and officials who are closely monitoring negotiations between the government and M/s TSML are of the view that this could be a potential case of National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
However, Abdul Razak Dawood, the chief negotiator, argues that he is a professional and is dealing with the case of M/s TSM professionally. "You think I am afraid of NAB. Nobody is my enemy and nobody is my friend. I am a professional and I take decisions after careful deliberations," Dawood replied to Business Recorder a couple of days ago. The sources said M/s TSML is seeking relaxation in duty on billets and subsidy on gas after three years of operating the Mills.
Abdul Razak Dawood also met with the representatives of M/s TSML Ashraf Qazi chairman/CEO of CIENA Group (new investor) and a couple of his other colleagues in Washington DC and in Islamabad wherein the matters related to the mills came under discussion. The officials of Ministry of Industries and Production also held meetings with the representatives of M/s TSML. "Differences have narrowed down to some extent with M/s TSML but a lot of work is still to be done," said an insider.
M/s TSML which is already in arbitration against the GoP has written several letters since the PTI government took over. "We asked the representatives of TSML to send a one pager as to what they actually want," said an insider. Prime Minister''s Advisor, sources said, has very close contacts with Zaigham Rizvi and the two have also held meetings in the past but it is unclear if the issue of TSML came under discussion or not.
Al-Tuwairqi Steel Mills Limited (TSML), a foreign direct investment project by Al-Tuwairqi Group of Companies is a joint venture with a South Korean firm, and was established at Bin Qasim, Karachi over an area of 220 acres. There were apprehensions in the PML-N government that in case of extending concessions to this project, other stakeholders would approach the courts and the case may be investigated by NAB. TSML maintains that a complete revival of the steel sector of Pakistan is essential through a fully integrated steel complex (state-of-the-art) with a capacity of 1.28 MTPA extendable to 1.5 MTPA. On completion of the backward integration of TSML (with 100% indigenous raw material), the project can produce semi-finished/finished steel products at international quality standards predominantly for phenomenal import substitution (may go upto $.1 billion per annum) and ultimately almost fully meet Pakistan''s strategic needs.
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