Government grants steelworks zl.320 million credit

The government yesterday decided to grant the Huta Sendzimira steelworks in Krakow credit guarantees worth zl.320 million to support the upgrading of its rolling shop. This amount represents just 50% of the total credit sought by the steelworks. Its management and trade unions had originally asked the government to meet 60% of its needs. The tender for modernizing the rolling shop was launched in 1998 and won by Austrian company Voest-Alpine, but Huta Sendzimira subsequently struggled to find financial backing for the project. The government' s credit plan envisages the funds being repaid over a ten-year period, starting in 2005. The upgrading of the rolling shop is the plant' s most important planned investment, designed to significantly improve product quality. The work will be carried out between 2001 and 2004. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p.22) M.T.