Okowa Assures of Reviving DSC, Bendel Glass, Delta Moribund Companies

Okowa Assures of Reviving DSC, Bendel Glass, Delta Moribund Companies

Wednesday, November 4, 2015 10:36 pm


Governor-Ifeanyi-Okowa

Governor-Ifeanyi-Okowa

By Jethro Ibileke/Asaba.

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State, on Wednesday, gave assurance of his administration’s commitment towards resuscitating moribund companies in the state.

Okowa gave the assurance while addressing journalists after a closed door meeting with the management of Stallion Group, led by Mr. Sunil Vaswani and the Chief Executive Officer of Premium Steel and Mines Limited, a subsidiary of Stallion Group, Mr. Prasanta Mishra at the Government House in Asaba.

He reiterated that his administration was committed to job and wealth creation for Deltans and this could be achieved if the ailing companies were functional, adding that he had to assemble some of his team to share ideas with the company which is taking over the DSC.

“The meeting was very successful, we had the opportunity to ask questions as the group (Stallion Group) has taken over the Delta Steel Complex, they are already in the process of re-developing the plant in an effort to restart it by December, 2016, we asked a lot of questions to ensure that stakeholders are carried along.

“We are satisfied with their responses and we know that the Stallion Group is a strong group and their presence in Nigeria has been positive, they have manufactured a lot of great products,” he said, adding, “we will monitor the activities of the company because, it is very important to the state and we need to create an economic hub and the DSC has the capacity of boosting economic activities within the Udu/Warri area.”

He further stated that “the Steel Company aligns with the state agenda because, the first thing is employment generation for our youths, and we also believe that there is a lot of multiplier effects beyond the issue of employment as they are diversifying into power generation and petro-chemical production.

“We are also looking at the resuscitation of Bendel Steel Company, the Glass Company and other companies as ways of creating job opportunities and contributing to the economic growth of our state,” the Governor said.

Earlier while addressing journalists, the Chief Executive of Stallion Group, Mr. Vaswani, lauded Governor Okowa’s commitment to speedy industrialization of Delta State, assuring that all processes have been put in place for the quick resuscitation of the moribund multi-billion naira Delta Steel Company.

Vaswani disclosed that the governor has shown commitment towards speedy industrialization of the state which has inspired the company to work towards making the DSC operational in December, 2016, adding that despite the dilapidated nature of DSC, the December, 2016 date was feasible for the company to come on stream as the company which set it up in the 1970s has been contacted to be involved in its resuscitation.

According to him, “we had a very fruitful meeting with the government of Delta State, it was encouraging and we will like to start operation December, 2016. The plant is in a very bad shape, but we are engaging a very good company that was there when the company was built in the 1970s and 1980s, to make the plant functional.”


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