Lancashire Steel to resume operations GOVERNMENT has announced plans to resume operations at struggling Lancashire Steel Company soon as the State finalises the takeoff of the much delayed $750 million Essar Africa Holdings-Ziscosteel deal. Addressing delegates at the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries breakfast meeting in the Harare yesterday, Industry and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha said Essar executives met government officials on Tuesday to finalise the implementation of the deal, which was once heralded as the biggest during the tenure of the just ended inclusive government. “Very soon, we will have Lancashire Steel commencing operations more as a signal that things are happening,” Bimha said. The company requires $4 million in working capital to resume operations. In March 2011, government sealed the $750 million deal with Essar that resulted in Ziscosteel being unbundled into two companies, NewZim Steel and NewZim Minerals. The deal gave Essar 54% control of the new company New Zim Steel. As part of the deal, Essar was also awarded 80% ownership of NewZim Minerals with the government holding the remaining 20%. It is understood the deal made a false start following a tiff between former Industry minister Welshman Ncube and former Mines minister Obert Mpofu over iron ore deposits resulting in Cabinet later making a series of resolutions on the issue. The Cabinet is finalising a new law on public-private partnership (PPPs) in a bid to plug the country’s infrastructure deficit. According to the African Development Bank, Zimbabwe required at least $15 billion to rehabilitate its infrastructure. “Cabinet is seized with the issue of PPPs and I think very soon we should have an existing legislation,” Bimha said.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 14:07:19 +0000