Iligan City Mayor Celso Regencia has acknowledged last week the intent of a foreign-funded consortium in the amount of 4B euros for the rebirth of the new National Steel Corporation.
The development came as a big surprise after a series of failed investment proposals — mostly from Chinese groups — were presented before the pandemic to Mayor Regencia for the plan to rebuild the defunct NSC.
Mayor Regencia had expressed optimism the latest investment proposal would push through as it were considering the seriousness of the consortium to proceed amid the growing threat of Covid-19.
“We are bullish with the development to re-construct the mothballed NSC as this would place Iligan City once again in the country’s industrial map”, Regencia said.
The reconstruction phase is set to start late this year by a European supplier of equipment and physical plants to the metal industry.
National Steel Corporation (NSC) was the Asia's Largest Steel Factory before it was sold by former President Fidel V. Ramos to Malaysia and was become so controversial for the alleged Corruption but Ramos denied the accusation.
The 400-hectare property of the old NSC is now owned by the city government of Iligan after undergoing a series of legal battles with bank liquidators.
Settlement for the buy-out of the property is now in the last ditch of negotiations with the consortium group.
As a driver of economic growth, the new NSC is expected to generate thousands of jobs to the people of Iligan and the rest of the region.
The country has lost its presence in the steel industry sector after the old NSC had experienced a series of downfalls, latest of which was in the hands of Global Steel, a Malaysian manufacturing group.
With the revival of the old NSC into a modern steel making plant, the economy of Iligan City and the rest of Mindanao will definitely shoot up to an unprecented level of progress, Regencia added.
From Ruffy Magbanua of Mindanao Daily News
