About Us

Stronghold Pakistan Private Limited was established in 1985 as a licensee of CTT Stronghold SA, a renowned Spanish company that has now been integrated into the VSL Group – a member of Bouygues Construction.

The company founder Tahir Karamat who holds Masters degree in Structural Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and is in the post-tensioning field since the 1960’s, pioneered the use of multi-strand post-tensioning system in the country with local manufacturing of anchorages under a license agreement with CTT Stronghold with the founding of Stronghold Pakistan. Under his leadership, the company grew rapidly within the early years of its founding and became market leader in the post-tensioning field. The company enjoyed near monopoly for over twenty years with almost 100% of the post-tensioning market with us in Pakistan.

Stronghold pioneered local production of trumpets, anchor blocks and sheaths for its multi-strand market. In our state-of-the-art production facility, we have developed innovative methods of production that have led to cost competitiveness of our products while maintaining highest industry standards meeting all relevant code requirements and specifications.

Stronghold introduced the incremental launching method (ILM) of bridge construction in Pakistan. As a joint venture partner with CTT,    we helped Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co to construct six long span box girder bridges using ILM on the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway Project, a 375 KM dual carriage motorway – the first project of its kind in the country. We locally fabricated steel nose, form work  and some other items that were required for launching the bridges to completion. The project was successfully completed within the set budget and time. The steel nose used in the project was later exported after modification carried out by us for launching a few other bridges in Portugal.

ILM Bridge on Motorway Project. Lifting and pushing equipment during launching operation visible.

On the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway Project Stronghold provided all post-tensioning related supplies and services single-handedly for all of its over 150 bridges to Daewoo. In fact, Stronghold has already been involved in over 10,000 bridges completed to date in Pakistan where our products and services have been used. Live and dead anchorages, and couplers for cables up to 37/0.5″ and 31/0.6″ locally produced by Stronghold have been delivered successfully in these projects. In addition, the company has also supplied a large number of imported elastomeric bearings, pot bearings, and modular expansion joints capable of accommodating up to 510mm of movement. 

Star Coupler produced by Stronghold Pakistan for the Motorway Project. Test in Barcelona showing broken strands with no distress to coupler. 

Throughout our history, we have been at the forefront of providing prestressing services and supplies on almost all major projects completed across Pakistan. From the mega metro projects like the Lahore Metro and Green Line to power projects like the Gulpur Hydro Power in AJ&K, Stronghold has been a key sub-contractor for the prestressing works, and in most cases delivered all prestressing related services and supplies on the given projects. 

New Khairabad Bridge Attock

Stronghold has successfully completed a range of projects requiring different methods of bridge construction – construction with pre-tensioned girders, post-tensioned cast-in-situ, segmental balanced cantilever method etc.  For example, in the New Khairabad Bridge both segmental as well as conventional cast-in-situ construction method was employed. All the post-tensioning services and supplies were rendered by Stronghold.  

Stronghold has made several contributions to rehabilitation projects in Pakistan. We are the first local company to carryout external tensioning to strengthen an existing bridge super-structure. We have also successfully completed a number of projects where we have lifted bridge decks for bearing replacements with our locally developed flat jacks. In some cases we have lifted bridge super-structure directly through the girders. In these projects diaphragms that are generally employed for lifting were found under-capacity for jacking the decks.  

Lastly, Stronghold has been pivotal in the development of the post-tensioning industry in Pakistan. From the production of PT supplies to providing stressing and grouting services, a number of companies in operation in this line are founded by former employees of Stronghold. While we take pride in our role as seen by many as an institution, we look forward to continuing with our ambition of the development of newer sectors in the construction industry in Pakistan.