NSC body studies bids to open steel plant

The National Steel Corp. (NSC) Evaluation Committee has started studying the offers/ proposals to lease, rehabilitate, and reopen NSC’s plant in Iligan City.

Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II said yesterday the Evaluation Committee has laid out a working timetable to evaluate the proposals. He said, Trade Undersecretary Adrian Cristobal Jr. has reported that the three proposals being studied are those from Voest Alpine Industrial Services (VA) of Austria: Allengoal Steel Fabrication and Trading and Cathay Pacific Steel Corporation.

Each member of the Evaluation Committee was provided an original copy of the three proposals.

The Evaluation Committee Cristobal reported to Roxas, listed down the issues that need to be clarified by the proponents before the committee begins evaluating the formal offers to lease and operate the Iligan mill.

The Evaluation Committee will invite Allengoal, CAPASCO and Voest Alpine to the committee’s next meeting scheduled on Nov. 8.

On that date, the Evaluation Committee will hold separate closed-door consultations with the three firms to seek clarification on certain aspects of their proposals.

After completing the clarificatory consultations, the Evaluation Committee will formally begin assessing which among the offers are most responsive to the planned lease, rehabilitation and return viable operations of the NSC Iligan mill.

Roxas hopes that the committee will be able to complete its evaluation by the end of November.