pakistan geographical review 1954 - University of the Punjab

1943, the state installed an iron and steel plant including 42 coke ovens at
Karabuk with 30,000 tons' annual capacity, one open hearth furnace having an
annual production of 150,000 tons ingots, three rolling mills and one plate mill,
the annual capacity being 110,000 tons of steel. The five year plan inaugurated
in 1946, aimed at increasing the output. One new open hearth and one electric
furnace have been built along with an iron foundry and forge shop. Total
output is 59,332 metric tons of pig iron, 90,786 metric tons of steel, 78,446 tons
of rolled steel products, 8,592 tons of pipes and 314,762 tons of coke. Based
upon this iron and steel, there are subsidiary industries preparing agricultural
machinery, automobiles and aircrafts. As the total production is small, most
of the machinery is imported.
Light engineering and metallurgical industries have been developed in
Egypt Iran, Turkey and West Pakistan with a view to produce light armaments.
It is significant that the largest single industrial plan in Iran, after the
Anglo-Iranian oil installation, is the state Arsonal. A similar trend exists in
other countries. Local industries are confined to breach loading guns, machine
guns and amunition. Heavy armaments Iike tanks, bombers and fighter
aircrafts and naval equipments have to be purchased from abroad.
Turkey leads in the number of metallurgical and light engineering
industries. They are private owned and produce iron and steel wires, tools,
stones and an indeterminate quantity of other products. In Iran is a blast
furnace in the province of Mazandran, but it is not working to its full capacity.
With imported iron bars and steel plates some light engineering works are being
carried on. Iraq is now producing 5,000 tons of steel scrap per year. It is
proposed that a small hand operated mill and an electric melting furnace should
be set up to convert this scrap into bars, window shapes etc. which are in 'gceat'
demand. The site recommended is Baghdad so that the power problem may be
solved. In West Pakistan iron and steel works are centred in Lahore and
Karachi. There are two electric furnaces in Lahore producing 300,000 tons of
steel which is imported semifinished. There are 29 rolling mills with a total
capacity of 70,000 tons per annum, 35 foundries and 53 small engineering plants.
Moghalpura Railway workshop is the most important concern. Two small
mills are under construction in Karachi. In Palestine there is a rail way repair
shop and small-scale production of spare parts of electric batteries and
household implements. In view of the difficulty of obtaining cast steel
replacement parts, Cairo Tramway Company constructed a steel furnace
electrically operated and produces 20 tons per month of steel castings.
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