*As Steel Melting Shop caves in

By Emma  Amaize

WARRI – PRODUCTION at Delta Steel Company, DSC, Owvian-Aladja,  Delta  State has been halted following the collapse of the Steel Melting Shop, SMS, a vital production unit of the company.

It was gathered that the melting shop collapsed, last week, causing extensive damage to the operations of the company, which is currently being managed by an Indian firm. The chairman of  Global Steel Nigeria Limited, which took over the company from the Federal Government, visited Aladja, weekend, over the incident.

A source told Vanguard, “since May 30, when the incident took place, production has stopped, but the management is doing everything possible to repair the collapsed roof of the Steel Melting Shop, which caused extensive damage to the structure.”

The source said the damage could have been averted if the management had taken precautionary measures to maintain the SMS, which had technical defects.   “The Indians, who own the company do not maintain the structure, they believe in just making money out of the available facilities they met on ground and that is the problem we are facing here,” the source said.

Acting General Manager, Public Affairs, DSC, Mr. Kesiena Agbosa, confirmed to Vanguard when contacted that the SMS  was partly damaged by rainstorm, saying  there was no need for  hue and cry over the incident , as it was a natural disaster.

He said a similar incident occurred, some years back, when the Central Maintenance was damaged, and it was fixed, adding that efforts were on to repairs on the SMS.