Allengoal, 2 others submit bids for National Steel plant

Allengoal Steel Fabrication and Trading Corp. decided to participate in yesterday’s final deadline for the submission of lease/operation proposals for the mothballed National Steel Corp.’s plant in Iligan.

Allengoal’s participation was still uncertain up to the 6 p.m. deadline set by the evaluation committee. The company had earlier threatened it would not participate because of its claim that it already had a valid contract to operate the closed NSC plant.

It had also asked for a revision of the terms of reference (TOR) for the bidding, specifically the submission of a $1 billion cash and guarantee bond.

Those who submitted their proposals yesterday along with Allengoal were Voest Alphine and Cathay Pacific Steel Corp. (Capasco).

Although the evaluation committee accepted and opened the proposals, the formal evaluation of the proposals will start only on Monday, Oct. 29.

No definite date has been given for the announcement of who would be awarded the right to operate the Iligan plant of NSC.

Hopes have been expressed that once the evaluation committee agrees to accept a proposal, NSC would finally be able to reopen and benefit the workers who have been sidelined due to the steel plant’s closure.

The submission of the proposals had been reset at least three times. The first call for proposals was made in May this year, while the second was made in September.

The third call was for Oct. 23, but Allengoal asked for an extension which the evaluation committee granted up to 5 p.m. yesterday.

While the evaluation committee is supposed to evaluate the various proposals, Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II had previously said that nothing would be binding.

All parties involved in NSC — from the government, the Malaysian investors and the creditor banks — only agreed to evaluate the proposals, but the final decision rests on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).