One of the largest Saudi private sector steel and value added products manufacturing groups, Al Tuwairqi Group of companies (ATG), is investing over $820 million in major steel projects in the UAE.

These are a 1.2 million square meter steel complex, ATG Heavy Industries, at Sharjah's Hamriyah Free Zone consisting of a profile factory for automatic fabrication and welding, and a DRI plant, a billet plant, and a rolling mill, each of the three with one million tons per annum capacity, and a 300 MW power generation plant. Another 40,000 sq. metre facility in Dubai Investment Park will produce steel cut and bend products.

The under construction ATG Heavy Industries in Hamriyah will cater to customers' requirements for heavy steel structures which are not produced by regular pre-engineering facilities in the region. The products are custom designed heavy steel structures used in high rise buildings, bridges, oil rigs, airports, and other load bearing structures requiring special architectural designs. It will also support the group to produce in-house steel equipment for its manufacturing facilities in the region.

The construction order for Cut and Bend Factory in Dubai was finalized this month with a local UAE firm. With a capacity of 300,000 tons of cut and bend steel and 30,000 tons per annum of fabricated heavy steel, the group will further add to existing combined capacity of 3 mtpy.

The profile factory at the steel complex in Hamriyah and the steel cut and bend factory in Dubai will become operational by January next year. The DRI plant and the billet plant will go on stream by end-2006 while the rolling mill will start rolling its products by mid-2007.

Aamir Barlas, director of Al Tuwairqi Group, told local media in an exclusive interview that as part of their long-term growth strategy, they are in the process of establishing steel manufacturing facilities in the Gulf region, and in other Islamic countries.

"Our group’s vision is to have 5 million tons of steel produced by year 2010," Aamir said, adding that the UAE sets a practical example of investor friendly policies and professional standards which in turn attract all types of investors that generates local employment and helps the economic cycle.

Other projects of ATG group, currently in progress include Direct Reduction Iron (DRI) plants in Dammam, and DRI and Steel Melt shop in Karachi, Pakistan. The group acquired billet-making plant in Britain, in 2003, and turned around the closed unit to produce 700,000 tons of billets per annum.

ATG, established in Saudi Arabia a little over 25 years ago with the registration of Al Tuwairqi Trading and Contracting Establishment, is currently engaged in diversified manufacturing and trading activities, including steel and value added products manufacturing, electrical products manufacturing and trading of medical and precision testing equipment and building materials.

From a very humble beginning, ATG has emerged as the largest privately owned group of companies engaged in manufacturing of steel and value added products. Starting from a single rolling mill with a production capacity of only 12,000 metric tons per annum, in just 15 years ATG has achieved the current leading position in the AGCC steel industry. At present the group owns two billets manufacturing facilities, one hot rolling mill and one downstream facility for cut and bend, wire mesh and epoxy coating etc. The down stream facility is the largest of its kind in the AGCC region.