Work on $50m steel mills launched

PESHAWAR: The construction work was launched on the 50 million dollars steel mills at the Gadoon Industrial Estate.

An official communiqué said on Monday that Al Haj Asia Star Steel Company (Al Haj Group) had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Xinjiang Steel Group during the ‘Road Show’ in Beijing in China in April.

It said the companies had agreed to establish a direct hot roll steel rebar industry in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It added the technology used in the project has not been used by any other steel industry in the country. 

The communiqué said the project would have the capacity to produce 500,000 tonnes of steel annually and would create 2,500 new jobs.

It said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Economic Zones Development and Management Company (KPEZDMC) had provided 17 acres of land for the project at the Gadoon Industrial Estate.

The China First Metallurgical Group was executing the project to be completed by October 2018.

Meanwhile, KPEZDMC asked the federal government to include the Comprehensive Special Economic Zones (CSEZs) in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

A press release said the company had also dispatched a proposal to the Federal Board of Investment, Islamabad, for the same.

It said the company on behalf of the provincial government asked the federal government to include the industrial zone at Rashakai on priority in the CPEC framework under the scheme ‘One Project – One Concern’ and two others KP CSEZ and Hattar SEZ for synergistic, simultaneous, synchronized and balance development/ operation of the two district SEZ. It said these SEZs were offered along with associated rail cargo centres/ logistic hub, and with dedicated power plants, adding engagement agreements had been signed with Chinese state companies to achieve the objective.