ArcelorMittal revival attempt fails

Efforts to revive defunct steel company, ArcelorMittal Steel failed to materialise after stakeholders and creditors failed to arrive at a solution at a meeting convened by the Couva/ Point Lisas Chamber of Commerce at its Camden Road, Couva offices last Friday.

Another meeting is expected be held to discuss the issue.

In a statement, chamber president Ramchand Rajbal Maraj said the shut-down of the Point Lisas Industrial Estate based company on March 30, 2016 was “heart-breaking” as over six-hundred workers lost their jobs.

“The closure of ArcelorMittal, a company in which we were all stakeholders, was like a death blow to this community.

He said requests were received from members, some of whom were creditors and all of whom were stakeholders, to host a forum to discuss the situation and possibly chart a way forward.

The meeting was attended by the Steel Workers Union, a state enterprise and Macarri Steel Holdings Ltd, which was represented by Unanan Persad.

“There is no one operating the plant and this is why we called this meeting to ascertain what are their current positions, somehow try to influence the receiver and the government to have the plant back up and operating.”

A chamber official said Persad indicated that Macarri possessed both the capability and the financial wherewithal to restart the plant. However the meeting concluded without any agreement as the receiver did not attend.