Global Steel negotiates P1.5-B debt

MANILA, Philippines - Indian firm Global Steel Philippines Inc (GSPI) is in the process of negotiating its P1.5-billion debt to its electricity provider saying that the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corp. is overcharging them.

An industry insider who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that Global Steel is insisting that their electricity bill should only be P1 billion.

In a related development, Global Steel has not yet complied with the directive of the Board of Investment (BOI) to submit an operations report.

The BOI has been investigating the mothballed Iligan plant of Global Steel because the facility has been closed for a year.

In an earlier interview, BOI managing head Cristino L. Panlilio said they are concerned with the operations of Global Steel because the only manufacturer of hot rolled coils (HRC) and cold rolled coils (CRC) in the country has been closed since last year.

 “We are worried that our steel industry is being left behind,” Panlilio said. “We are very concerned.”

Panlilio has formed a BOI task force to investigate Global Steel. For his part, Raul V. Angeles, the head of the task force and an executive director of the BOI said they met with representatives of the Indian led firm before the Holy Week break.

“They told us they can operate in July. They said they will be restructuring their payables,” Angeles said in a separate interview.

According to Angeles, they gave Global Steel one month to come up with a status report. He said they have already issued a show cause order that will force Global Steel to give a report.