After independence in 1947, it did not take long for Pakistan to come to the realisation that progressive industrial and economical development would be impossible without the possession of a self reliant iron and steel making plant. The dependance on imports would cause serious setbacks to the country along with an extortionately high import bill which would be impossible to support.

The initial idea for a domestic iron and steel mill was put forward in the first five year plan of Pakistan (1955 – 1960). Debates over the manufacturing process, supply sources of the requisite machinery and raw materials, plant site, domestic ore versus imported ore, ownership pattern, product mix and above all foreign financing credit kept the project on hold for a considerable time.

In 1968 besides other factors, it was considered by the Government of Pakistan that a basic steel industry should be established in the public sector, as public sponsorship of the project would enable intergrated development of the steel industry in the country. In light of this, the government decided that the Karachi Steel Project should be sponsored in the public sector for which a separate Corporation under the Companies Act be formed. As a result on the 2nd of July, 1968 Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation was setup as a private limited company in the public sector in accordance to the Companies Act of 1913, with the objective to establish and run steel mills at Karachi and other places in Pakistan.

In January, 1969, Pakistan Steel concluded an agreement with V/O Tiajproexport of the then USSR for the preparation of a feasibility report into the establishment of a steel mill at Karachi. Subsequently in January, 1971 Pakistan and the USSR signed an agreement under which the latter agreed to provide techno-financial assistance for the construction of a coastal based intergrated steel mill at Karachi.

The foundation stone for this gigantic project was laid on the 30th of December, 1973 by the then prime minister Mr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. The mammoth construction and erection work of the intergrated steel mill, never experienced before in the country, was carried out by a consortium of Pakistani construction companies under the supervision of Soviet experts.

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Pakistan Steel did not only have to construct the main production units but a host of infrastructure facilities involving unprecendented volumes of work and expertise. Component units of the steel mill numbering over twenty and each a big enough factory in its own right were commisioned as they were completed between April, 1981 to August, 1985 with the Coke Ovens and By Products Plant coming online first and the Galvanising Unit last. Commissioning of Blast Furnace Number 1 on the 14th of August, 1981 marked Pakistan’s entry into the elite club of iron and steel producing nations. The project was completed at a capital cost of Rs. 24,700 million. The completion of the steel mill was formally launched by General Zia-Ul-Haq the then President of Pakistan on the 15th of January 1985.

Today Pakistan Steel is the country’s largest industrial undertaking having a production capacity of 1.1 million tonnes of steel. The enormous dimensions of the project can be visualised from the construction inputs which involved the use of 1.29 million cubic meters of concrete, 5.70 million cubic meters of earth work (second to Tarbela Dam), 330,000 tonnes of machinery, steel structures and electrical equipment. Its unloading and conveyor system at Port Qasim is the third largest in the world and its industrial water reservior with a capacity of 110 million gallons per day is the largest in Asia. A 2.5km long sea water channel connects the sea water circulation system to the plant site with a consumption of 216 million gallans of sea water per day.

The above figures illustrate the massive civil works, intricate erections, installations of sophisticated electrical and mechanical equipment. With the completion of Pakistan Steel, the local contractors gained the technical ability till then unknown, which they utilised later to undertake million dollar projects both within the country and abroad especially the Middle East.