Engro Chemical Pakistan says it is in talks with potential partners from the US and Asia concerning the establishment of a polypropylene resin facility. Engro is planning to build the plant at Port Qasim, near Karachi. With production scheduled to start in 2000-2001, the facility will have a capacity of 100,000 tonnes a year. The plant's main market will be local packaging and textile industries. Costs are estimated at $90 million and Engro is expected to take a 50 per cent stake in the project.

Engro is expected to award an engineering, procurement and construction contract for the project next year. Consultancy is being carried out in- house. Engro says that it may award contracts for specialised work like soil testing at a later stage.

The plant is one of a number of downstream industries being developed by the company. These include a naphtha cracker, which Engro plans to establish within eight years, and a monoethylene glycol facility. Engro currently produces fertilisers and urea and is developing a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plant at its Port Qasim site.