Work on 2nd phase of Khan Steel Mill begins

KABUL (Pajhwok): Work on the second portion of Khan Steel Mill was inaugurated in Kabul on Tuesday. The project will cost $20 million and take five months to complete.

Khan Mohammad Wardak, head of the Khan Steel Mill who laid the foundation stone of the project, said the factory currently produced 200,000 tons of steel annually, meeting 30 percent of country’s steel need.

India has dismissed reports that the SAIL-led consortium had decided to scrap the project altogether after developing cold feet over the proposed $10.8 billion steel Hajigak iron ore mine project in Afghanistan.

The Financial Express reports that an inter-ministerial group is learnt to have come to the conclusion at its latest meeting that it would be prudent not to pursue the project.

Narges Nehan, acting minister of mines and petroleum, told the launch of the second phase of the Khan Steel Mill, that investment in Afghanistan needed courage.

Referring to the Haji Gak Iron mine exploitation, she said the bidding process for the natural reservoir had completed and possibly an Indian company might win the bidding as it met the standards.

She said during negotiations with the Indian company, the interest of local steel mills, including the Khan Steel Mill, would be protected to make sure Afghan industrialists also benefited from the deal.

She said 80 percent of the Afghanistan’s imports comprised steel which was imported from Iran, Pakistan and China. She asked investors to further invest in the sector.

nh/ma