As part of an expansion pro- gramme, Safal Investments (Mauritius) has approved an investment of about $100-million for the development of a steel-coating facility in Cato Ridge, KwaZulu-Natal.



“As soon as the environmentalimpact assessment (EIA) is done, construction of the facility will start. Early in the second half of next year, we should be turning on the first machines,” says Safal Investments South Africa regional CEO Ronnie Graham.



He comments that the Industrial Development Corporation and the International Finance Corporation have expressed interest in the project.



The proposed date for the completion of the EIA is in October. Safal Investments has already held a community meeting and has engaged with tribal leaders and the relevant government departments. Graham says that traffic assessments still need to be done, and the company is hoping to bring completion of the EIA forward to the end of August, if possible.



The project manager for the construction of the facility will probably be Durban-based AfroProp. The company is yet to confirm who will carry out the construction of the facility, as the project will go out to tender, clarifies Graham.



Equity for the project comes from Safal Investments (Mauritius), and Graham explains that it is looking to engage a black economic-empowerment partner, but the company will take some time to consider the appropriate partnership.



The equipment for the new faci-lity will be sourced, for the most part, from India and some machinery from Japan. The facility will have a cold- reducing capacity of 150 000 t, the coating facility will have a capa- city of 150 000 t and a colour coating capacity of about

70 000 t.



Graham notes that Mittal Steel South Africa is likely to supply the hot-rolled coil, but adds that it may be imported if necessary.



“The Safal group already imports from Japan, Korea and India, so it would not be a problem to import for the Cato Ridge facility,” he notes. The motivation behind the choice of location is its proximity to the city’s ports. This will facilitate export of the facility’s product, and importing of material, where necessary.



The Cato Ridge operation will be similar to one already established by the group in Kenya. The steel-coating facility takes the hot-rolled material and treats it in a pickling line, then cold-reduces it and, finally, coats the steel in aluminium zinc and then in colour, if required.



Graham explains that coating increases the lifespan of the product, and aluminium zinc coating gives it an even longer life. The aluminium zinc coating technology is owned by an Australian company and was bought for Africa in roughly the 1990s.



Safal Investments (Mauritius) is a manufacturer and supplier of coated-steel roofing in a number of countries in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa.

Its investments include Mabati Rolling Mills, in Kenya, ALAF, in Tanzania, and Uganda Baati. These operations have among them cold-reducing, galvanising, aluminium zinc and colour coating facilities.



Operations in South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Angola form part of Safal Investments (Mauritius).