aigham Adil Rizvi isa �gure well knownand respected in theindustrial and

corporate sectors of Pakistanand is among distinguishedpersonalities in the engineeringcommunity. He is currentlyworking as Director (Projects)of Tuwairqi Steel Mills Limitedand Director of TIEPCO, bothsubsidiaries of Al TuwairqiHolding. He has worked forvarious top-notch public andprivate sector organizations,both in Pakistan and abroad.

Moonis Ahmad: Tell usabout your educationalbackground.Zaigham Adil Rizvi: Idid my master's in ElectricalEngineering. I also have amaster's degree inEconomics and in ComputerEngineering.

MA: How long haveyou been associatedwith TSML? ZAR: I have been servingTSML since the launchingof the project. Currently Iam working as Director(Projects) of TSML andDirector of TIEPCO, bothbeing subsidiaries of AlTuwairqi Holding. I am adown-to-earth vibrantperson and have a �rmbelief in value system,which makes me stand�rmly against every odd,both in my personal andprofessional life.

MA: What do you likethe most about yourjob? Do you feelsatisfied with yourachievements?ZAR: The thing I like mostabout my job is that this isa big challenge for me andwe at TSML are trying toexplore potential in the�eld of steel in Pakistan. Iam very much satis�edwith the progress we havemade, as the coldcommissioning of theproject's �rst phase hasbeen done. About 95percent work of the �rstphase has been completed.Its hot commissioning willbe done in July 2010.

MA: How do youforesee the future ofthis sector in Pakistan?ZAR: Well, there is a greatpotential in the steel sectorin Pakistan and the direneed is to explore it.According to statistics for2009, the world crude steelproduction stood at 1.2billion tonnes, whereinPakistan's share is merelyabout 0.24 percent. Thisspeaks volumes of a hugepotential of investment andgrowth opportunity in thesteel sector of Pakistan.

MA: Do you believe ingrooming your staff? ZAR: I �rmly believe ingrooming my sta�. We havean outstanding team ofmultidisciplinary engineers,whose cumulativeexperience can bene�texternal clients in theindustrial sectors in Pakistanand UAE. Most of our sta�is young and energetic. Ourmarketing team isvigorously engaged inmaking people aware of thebene�ts of Direct ReducedIron (DRI) across Pakistan,and as a result of thee�orts made so far, somereputable names in the ironand steel industry ofPakistan have showninterest in signing businesscontracts with TSML.

MA: What are thehighlights of yourprojects?ZAR: TSML is the country's�rst private-sector integratedenvironment-friendly steelmanufacturing project of AlTuwairqi Holding, Kingdom

of Saudi Arabia. Its complexspreads over an area of 220acres at Bin Qasim, Karachi,and employs the world'smost advanced DRI (DirectReduction of Iron)technology based on theMIDREX process, owned byKobe Steel of Japan. In the1st phase, a 1.28million tonne peryear MTPYDRI plant isabout tocomplete ata cost of$245million(excludingworkingcapital). Inthe 2nd phase,as forwardintegration, for theproduction of 1.28MTPY billets, an electric arcfurnace will be set up withan investment of $380million and the technologymight come from Germany.As backward integration,pelletization technologyfrom China will be usedwith an investment ofaround $300 million.

MA: What benefits willthis project bring tothe economy ofPakistan?ZAR: Being a base for theengineering and

construction industry,TSML will not only be asource of transfer of thelatest technology of qualitysteel making, it will also behelpful in giving impetus tothe industrial progress inPakistan. It will open upnew avenues of investment

in similar plantsbesides giving a

boost to thedownstream

industries ofthe country.In thecontext ofhumanresource

develop-ment, TSML

will createaround 1,000

direct and about3,500 indirect job

opportunities. It stronglybelieves that Pakistan has agreat human resourcepotential, and intends toexploit it e�ectively.Pakistan is among thosecountries that rely mostlyon imports, when it comesto heavy mechanicalstructures and engineering

goods. By producing high-quality steel withinPakistan, we canmanufacture suchequipment locally by valueaddition, with the help of

downstream industries.

MA: What is DirectReduced Iron (DRI)and what is itsdemand in Pakistan? ZAR: DRI is one of themost preferred raw materialsfor quality steel making,globally. According to thelatest statistics, DRIproduction, worldwide, hasincreased from 84.6 milliontonnes in 2000, to over132.9 million tonnes in2008. There is a consistentgrowth in the production ofDRI over the years, owing toenvironment-friendlyproduction processes andconsistent quality of theproduct. Foundries and meltshops in Pakistan have notyet fully realized the bene�tof using DRI. Actually, DRIcontains around 94 percentiron with very littleimpurities, which areremovable. As comparedwith the conventional steelmaking processes, usingDRI gives a very goodcontrol over composition ofvarious types of steels, andseemingly DRI is steel'smost versatile form. Wehave recently signedagreements with someIndian and Malaysiancompanies for selling ourDRI to them.

MA: What is thecurrent status of steelproduction and percapita steel consumptionin Pakistan? ZAR: The annual demandfor steel in Pakistan stands atapproximately 8.4 milliontonnes, while the currentsteel production is about 4.9million tonnes per annum.TSML will be playing apivotal role in bridging thegap between demand andsupply of steel in Pakistan.The per capita consumptionof steel in United States isaround 394 kg and for anemerging country like China,it is 338 kg. The average percapita consumption of theentire world stands at around175 kg. In comparison,Pakistan has a per capitaconsumption of steel of onlyaround 38 kg. If we considera very modest increase in percapita steel consumption(say about 100 kg) in thenext 10 years, the steelrequirement would be 20million tonnes per annum fora population of around 200million by the year 2020.

MA: What makes DRIenvironment-friendly?ZAR: The MIDREX processuses clean raw material to

produce DRI withoutmelting, unlike blast furnace(BF) / BOF based steelplants, which face problemsof emission of heavy metaland toxic chemicals. Weadhere to NationalEnvironment QualityStandards (NEQS) andconduct audits of itsEnvironment ManagementSystem periodically. We

are committed to achievehighest environmentalstandards. In addition,TSML will continue tostudy various options torecycle/reuse its productionwaste in the second andthird phase of the projectas well. I am glad toinform you that theEnvironmental ProtectionAgency (EPA),

Government of Sindh, hasapproved theEnvironmental ImpactAssessment study of TSMLand granted us NoC.

MA: Tell us about theengineering companyworking under theumbrella of TSML? ZAR: We have launchedTuwairqi Steel Mills Limited

Engineering (TSMLE) too�er services inEngineering, Procurementand Construction (EPC)market in Pakistan and theMiddle East. TSMLE hasevolved from our in-houseteams of Technology Centre(design, fabrication andCMD). It undertook over 50percent of the fabricationworks for our DRI project.

TSMLE has also signeda contract for technicalcollaboration with SPECOLimited, one of the top �veengineering and fabricationcompanies of South Korea.Under this collaboration,SPECO will provide itsexpertise in materialhandling, dust collection,wind mill manufacturing andso on, while TSML willprovide its fabricationfacilities and engineeringmanpower to execute jobs.This partnership will alsohelp transfer cutting-edgetechnologies to Pakistan.

MA: What are theactivities goingon at TSML? ZAR: We have recentlysigned an agreement withKESC to provide 14MW ofelectricity to the powerutility. This initiative ofcontributing electricity toKESC's network is in linewith the vision of AlTuwairqi's management inSaudi Arabia to help meetthe growing demand forenergy in Pakistan. We arealso exploring alternativemodes of electricitygeneration like wind andsolar resources.

Of late we have alsokicked o� the coldcommissioning of our Plant'sDistributed Control System(DCS). The coldcommissioning will becompleted in about twomonths, followed by the hotcommissioning of 1.28million tonnes DRI Plant.

Your Right to KnowDAILYTIMES.COM.PK Sunday, May 2, 2010

Daily Times

By producing high-quality steel within Pakistan,we can manufacture suchequipment locally by valueaddition, with the help of

downstream industries

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Making Pakistan steel-strongMoonisAhmed isDailyTimes’BusinessReporter

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We have anoutstanding teamof multidisciplinaryengineers, whose

cumulative experiencecan benefit externalclients in the industrialsectors in Pakistan andUAE. Most of our staffis young andenergetic ”

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Al-Tuwairqi’s1.28 MTPYDRI Plant

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