(Finance) – For the realization of Restart Plan elaborated by Steel mills of Italy for the factory Former Ilva of Taranto further will be allocated with the Agriculture Decree 150 million euros. The Extraordinary Commissioner announced it Giancarlo Forty this morning at Palazzo Carpegna at the hearing at the 9th Commission (Industry, commerce, tourism, agriculture and agri-food production) of the Senate in relation to the sections of the Agriculture Legislative Decree concerning the Apulian plant.
“ADI’s commitment to AS aims to re-establish production, reliability and quality of the Ex Ilva plant in Taranto as a crucial objective to guarantee the operation of the other plants linked to the production cycle. In this regard, the resources deriving from the allocated assets of 150 million euros will be directed towards the implementation of the Restart Plan developed by the company with the aim of allowing, on the one hand, the production recovery of the establishment and, on the other hand, guarantee the execution of themaintenance activities aimed at re-establishing safety and continuity in the plant’s production levels as well as ensuring the employment of the steelworks managers”, explained engineer Quaranta.
Quaranta then made it known that it had been extended until 2030 lease, expiring on 31 May 2024, between former Ilva in extraordinary administration and Acciaierie d’Italia in extraordinary administration. The company will now be able to “continue managing the plants from an industrial point of view”, underlined Quaranta.
“We have defined a industrial plan which operates in the direction of being able to demonstrate that what was estimated as the value of bridge loan of 320 million it can be returned by the company. As Commissioners, our role is to re-establish the conditions to create value at the plant. We found a company that out of three blast furnaces only had one operational. Let’s imagine recovering a second blast furnace to be able to put it into operation at the end of the summer season,” he added.
“Liquidity is necessary to get a giant that is now at a standstill back on its feet and make it salable in the eyes of the holding companies involved. Reconversion plan, new production cycles, if the work of the commissioners is effective, these will be the future challenges that will see us involved and will be addressed with whoever will inherit the factories at the end of this long and very intricate dispute which has now lasted for more than fourteen years”, declared deputy general secretary of the Fim Cisl Taranto-Brindisi, Biagio Priscianowho also spoke at the hearing.
“This additional 150 million allocated by the Government is good but it is not with commercials that we guarantee the restart of the plants. Greater and immediate resources are needed to act on the plants and to make workers and the environment safe and we need to restart the discussion on the industrial plan and decarbonisation – he commented in a note Loris Scarpanational coordinator of the iron and steel industry for Fiom-Cgil.
“We do not agree that in the event of a tenant showing up who wants to buy, the principles established for the extraordinary administrations concerning the integrity of the corporate complexes nor the guarantees on employment levels, guarantees that can be maintained if there is public capital in the companies of strategic interest – he added -. Like Fiom we believe article 15, paragraph 2 of the draft law on companies of strategic interest and we believe that in this phase it undermines trade union and industrial relations which are being rebuilt after the disastrous previous management”.
“However, the 2018 agreement that linked the growth of busy to that of volumes for us it remains a cornerstone and cannot be questioned. On the former Ilva, given the mistakes of the past, we cannot be in a hurry to sell, it is not enough to offload the company to someone, the workers deserve their dignity”, she concluded.