The plan also targets the establishment of a solid and diverse manufacturing base that will help diversify the emirate’s resources and contribute to the nation’s income through the development of substantial industrial units, primarily in the basic industry sector.
According to Emirates Steel’s Chairman, Engineer Suhail Mubarak Musallam Athaeeth Al Ameri, Phase 3 will comprise a steel melting plant, a hot rolled coil (HRC) mill and ancillaries, which will primarily service GCC demand for HRC across a range of downstream segments, including: pipe producers; cold rolling producers of galvanized coil and coated sheeting products; boiler, tank and pressure vessel producers; and structural steel fabricators.
The Company has already completed, over a period of five years, a two-phased expansion program costing approximately AED 9 billion. The program consists of new rolling mills, steel manufacturing and direct reduction plants, together with a heavy and jumbo sections mill, due to come on stream by the end of the year. The new plants increased the Company’s rolling output capacity from 650,000 metric tons per annum (MTPA) to approximately 3 million MTPA at present.
Bin Athaeeth said that Emirates Steel plans to award the contracts for Phase 3 by December 2011. He stressed that the project has attracted significant interest from various internationally-renowned bidders. The project is expected to be completed within 30 months from contract award, with commercial production of HRC anticipated in mid-2014, adding an additional production capacity of 1.6 million MTPA of product to the Company’s portfolio.