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INDUSTRY and Commerce Minister Mike Bimha has said progress is being made to make New ZimSteel (formerly Ziscosteel) operational by the end of this year.Minister Bimha was responding to a question in the Senate last week on what the government was doing towards addressing the long standing crisis at the Redcliff-based former steel giant.
New ZimSteel has failed to commence operations after the takeover by Indian giant Essar Africa Holdings in early 2011 following the signing of a $750 million deal.
Minister Bimha said an implementation committee, made up of officials from his ministry, that of Mines and Mining Development and Essar was making progress towards recommencing operations at the company.
“They will be meeting next week to see the implementation (of the revival plan) through. We are trying to ensure that it comes into fruition by year end.”
He said officials from the two ministries had met on several occasions to address some of the issues stalling the deal. Allocation of mining claims, presumably sold to Essar Holdings when the initial deal was penned, is one of the major sticking points which have slowed down implementation of the revival deal.
The Mines Ministry objected to Essar acquiring all the claims which were previously owned by Ziscosteel. Minister Bimha said a lot of work needed to be done to re-establish the steel giant.
“This is a big investment and as a result, its implementation has taken long,” he said.
To address the plight of the over 3 000 workers who have not been paid in over two years, Minister Bimha said talks were going on with Essar to at least pay part of the salaries to alleviate the dire situation.
He said revival of the steel giant would not only create jobs for the workforce but for thousands of people in downstream industries. – New Ziana
Online Reporter