Name change for Tuwairqi okayed.

ISLAMABAD -- Despite pending litigation in the international court of arbitration and the objection raised by the Law Division, the caretaker government has granted in-principle approval for changing the name of Tuwairqi Steel Mills Limited to National Steel Complex Limited.

However, the approval is subject to endorsement by the Law Division.

In a summary moved by the Ministry of Industries and Production, it was claimed that the Law Division had endorsed the proposal of changing the name of Tuwairqi Steel Mills to National Steel Complex.

However, during a recent meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), it was pointed out that the Law Division had not yet endorsed the proposal.

The Ministry of Industries told the ECC that Tuwairqi Steel Mills, a subsidiary of Al-Tuwairqi Group of Companies of Saudi Arabia, was notified as a unit of the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) on October 15, 2005.

Tuwairqi Steel started production in early 2013 but it went into shutdown mode in September 2013 due to financial losses and asked the government of Pakistan to announce a concessionary gas tariff, which was not granted. Later, the Al-Tuwairqi Group went to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. The case is pending final adjudication.

Meanwhile, Tuwairqi Steel requested for the change of its name to National Steel Complex. The Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA) and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) did not object to the request.

The Ministry of Industries claimed that the Ministry of Law also endorsed the proposal and requested the ECC to approve the change of name, as proposed in the summary. During discussion, it was pointed out that the Law Division, through its letter attached with the summary, did not endorse the change of name. It rather advised the Ministry of Industries to examine the proposal from the policy perspective and in light of the Implementation Agreement.

The ECC considered the summary submitted by the Ministry of Industries, titled 'Change of name from Tuwairqi Steel Mills Ltd to National Steel Complex Ltd' and approved the proposal, in principle, subject to endorsement by the Law Division.

Tuwairqi Steel, set up through foreign direct investment by the Al-Tuwairqi Group in collaboration with a South Korean firm, was established on a sprawling 220-acre site at Bin Qasim, Karachi. The Saudi firm ceased operations at the plant when then Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government turned...