Tuwairqi Steel Mills Limited (TSML), Pakistan's first private sector integrated environment-friendly steel manufacturing complex - a joint venture of Al-Tuwairqi Holding (ATH)/ISPC of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the world's third largest steelmaker POSCO, has recorded the highest-ever production of an iron making plant in Pakistan during the Plant Demonstration Test (PDT) conducted in the expert supervision of MIDREX, USA.
Dr Asif A. Brohi, President, National Bank of Pakistan was the guest of honor, while Chang-Hee Lee, Council General of South Korea; Rahat Kamal, DMD, SSGC; Major General M. Javed (Retd), Chairman Pakistan Steel Mills; Zubair Motiwala, Chairman Sindh Board of Investment; Waqar Ahmed Hashmi, DMD KW&SB and Ghulam Rasool Shiekh from EPZA were also present.
It is pertinent to note that during the PDT, the plant ran at 100 per cent of its rated capacity ie producing 160 tons of high quality Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) per hour for 72 hours achieving all of its operational targets. This development comes at a crucial juncture when Pakistan's current per capita steel consumption is only 40 kilogram, which is exuberantly low, when compared with the global average of 215 kilogram.
This establishes a dire need and increased emphasis on achieving international benchmarks to become a modern and an efficient economy. Dr Asif A. Brohi congratulated the entire team of Tuwairqi Steel Mills on achieving this milestone and appreciated their enthusiasm and technical expertise.
He said: "It is heartening to observe that TSML has already increased the production capacity of Pakistan by 1.28 million tons per annum, which would help meet the ever growing demands of steel in Pakistan and with its massive expansion and modernisation plans, Al-Tuwairqi is poised to transform the country into an industrial hub."
Zaigham Adil Rizvi, Director (Projects), TSML while expressing his gratitude said: "We are committed to our vision to participate in the development of national economy in order to have a long sustaining growth of Pakistan." During the PDT, Chang Hee Lee, Council General of South Korea; Rahat Kamal, DMD, SSGC; Major General M. Javed (Retd), Chairman Pakistan Steel Mills; Zubair Motiwalla, Chairman Sindh Board of Investment; Waqar Ahmed Hashmi, DMD KW&SB and Ghulam Rasool Shiekh from EPZA were also present.
Al-Tuwairqi kicked off the commercial production of TSML's 1st phase in January this year - a Direct Reduction of Iron (DRI) making plant with the capacity to produce up to 1.28 million tons per annum of high quality Direct Reduced Iron (DRI), which is evidently steel's most versatile metallic and a preferred raw material for quality steel making world-wide.