GMA leads NSC reopening rites today

The National Steel Corp. (NSC) will finally reopen today with President Arroyo witnessing the revival of the Iligan-based steel plant which was forced to close down in 1999.

The reopening of the steel firm follows the formal signing last Thursday of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between NSC’s creditor banks and Indian’s Global Infrastructure Holdings Ltd., which will lead the rehabilitation of the mothballed steel plant.

GIHL is the principal holding company of Ispat Industries Ltd. which was founded by Mohan L. Mittal.

Ispat Group chairman Pramod Mittal said he has great expectations on the re-operation of NSC which is Ispat’s first major industrial investment in the Philippines. Mittal said that the Filipino-Indian partnership in NSC would promote Filipino talent and ingenuity as well as create ancillary industries in the locality.

Furthermore, Mittal said "winning the right to operate NSC is a fulfillment of a dream which started 10 years ago, in 1994, when the founding chair, Mohan Mittal, bidded for NSC."

Mohan Mittal, for his part, assured that NSC’s rehabilitation would be a major factor in the growth of the Philippine economy. The elder Mittal also revealed that a major market of NSC’s products would be China.

NSC has a capacity of 1.5 million metric tons per annum and at a price of $500 per ton in the world market, the steel plant could generate $750 million in revenues annually.

With its reopening, NSC is also expected to contribute about P4 billion to the country’s gross domestic product, P130 million to Iligan City in the form of a real estate taxes, P27 million in local taxes and P1 billion in taxes to the national government.

Aside from President Arroyo, also invited to the reopening of NSC are House Speaker Jose de Venecia, Sen. Noli de Castro, Trade and Industry Secretary Cesar V. Purisima, former Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II, Iligan Rep. Alipio Cirilo Badelles, Gov. Imelda Dimaporo and Iligan Mayor Franklin Quijano.