The Pakistan Steel Story
By the mid-60s our economy was booming by comparable Asian standards but it was clear to the Pakistani economic planners that without a heavy industry we could never hope to become an industrial and/or economic giant. Therefore it was necessary to have our own integrated steel mill. 1968, the last year of Ayub Khan’s “Decade of Reforms”, saw the first concrete step taken towards that goal by registering The Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (PSM) as a private limited company. In January 1971, an agreement was signed with the USSR by the much-maligned Yahya Khan Regime for technical and financial assistance in the construction of a coastal-based integrated steel complex. The events of 1971 interrupted further proceedings and it was not till almost three years later that the foundation stone of the single largest industrial complex in the country was laid in December 1973. As the Minister for Production in the Bhutto cabinet of the early 70s, PPP party theoretician, Secretary General and elder statesman J.A.Rahim guided the process towards early establishment. While there was no doubt that late Z.A.Bhutto was breathing down everyone’s neck in his enthusiasm and impatience to get the Steel Mills Project off the ground, it was late J.A.Rahim who successfully managed the inception to implementation stage, almost single-handedly ensuring the move of the location from Hawkesbay area to its present position at Pipri, thus avoiding an environmental disaster for Karachi. Late J.A.Rahim’s unceremonious exit as Party Secretary General and Minister for Production in 1975 threw the project off balance and it was not till 1976 that the construction work on the main plant was started. Looking back on it one must give credit to the first PPP regime for conceptual brilliance in bull-headedly pursuing this project against the analysis and professional advice of economic doomsayers.
