12 January 2004	Monday	19 Ziqa'ad 1424

KARACHI, Jan 11: A 10-member delegation of Al-Tuwairqi Group of Companies, Saudi Arabia, which owns the largest billet-making plant in the private sector, arrived here.

The delegation is scheduled to have a follow-up meeting in Karachi with industries and production minister Liaqat Ali Jatoi on Tuesday for the setting up of a steel billet plant near Pakistan Steel Mills.

Established in 1971, the group is one of the leading business concerns in Saudi Arabia. It made phenomenal growth in the last two decades and in the year 1999 it was rated among the top hundred companies of the kingdom.

It had agreed to invest in the Port Qasim area. The investment is likely to top $100 million. In 1989, the group had acquired an ailing re-rolling mill from Saudi Industrial Development Fund - a government-owned financial institution that provides loans to set up manufacturing units in Saudi Arabia.

The owners named the unit as Al-Ittefaq Steel, re-furbished the production facilities and started operations in the year 1990, at a meagre 12,000 tons per annum. Over the years, the rated capacity of the re-rolling mills increased to about 750,000 metric tons per year.

Today, Al-Tuwairqi group operates the largest steel re-rolling mills in the private sector in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) area. The delegation is headed by the group's vice-chairman & CEO Tariq Barlas.-APP