Core investors mull N600bn revival facility for moribund Delta Steel
As part of new drive to resuscitate the moribund multi-billion naira privatized Delta Steel Company, Ovwian-Aladja, the new investors Premium Steel and Mines Limited (PSML), have started move to return the plant to productivity.
PSML is currently looking for about N600 billion to revive the over years redundant factory.
United States and Moroccan investors who toured the plant recently carried out assessment of the facilities, and expressed hope that Premium Steel and Mines Limited (PSML) has done well within the period they took over the company.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of PSML, Prasanta Misha, the N600 million would be used for broken down equipment as well as renovating the buildings and a host of many others.
He disclosed further that the investors were conducted round the various units and departments of the Steel Complex with the assurance of imminent resuscitation to boost the local economy.
The international investors were said to have been taken to the DSC harbor, Direct Reduction (DR) plant and the pellet plant, Lime Plant, Rolling Mill, Electric Arc Furnace, and the Continuous Caster. They also went to the other auxiliary units of the plant such as the foundry, electrical and mechanical maintenance workshops and water supply system.
The investors equally inspected the fire and safety, heavy equipment workshops, the rolling mill section, the SMS section, the Nigeria Gas Company, NGC, the major supplier of gas to the plant, the DSC schools and hospitals among other assets in the complex.
The team of American investors led by Sekar Rejendran, in a chat expressed confidence with the management and ingenuity of PSML since they took over the company.
However, the issue of salary arrears for company staff is causing some levels of anxiety as workers say they are not ready to allow for any renovation until all their salaries are cleared.
The teams of investors from the two countries include M. Ahmed Mssali, Debbrah Mohammed Amine, SekarRejendran (from America), Rajesh Devarajahn, Tilak Raj Chaudhry and Subrahmanyam Paparaju.
Mishra had earlier expressed delight with the coming of the investors, assuring that Udu, Delta State and Nigeria at large would soon experience a boom in the steel sector with the resuscitation of the Aladja Steel Plant.
He said the host communities to continue to cooperate with the management, as thousands of unemployed youths from the area would soon have reason to smile as the company is poised to employ qualified persons soon.
