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London, Sep 11 (PTI) The UK government on Wednesday announced that it had signed off on an \u201cimproved\u201d grant funding agreement with Tata Steel, worth GBP 500 million, to support the Indian steel major\u2019s green transition towards a state-of-the-art Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) at the Port Talbot steelworks in South Wales.<\/p>\n
Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told the House of Commons that the Labour government had succeeded in going much further than the previous Tory government\u2019s pact, delivering a minimum voluntary redundancy payout of GBP 15,000 for full-time employees plus a GBP 5,000 \u201cretention\u201d payment. The pact also includes an offer of paid-for training to give workers a steady income and upskill them for the jobs of the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cPort Talbot has always been and will always be a steelmaking town. This deal does what previous deals failed to do \u2013 give hope for the future of steelmaking in South Wales,\u201d said Reynolds.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that a cleaner, greener future for UK steelmaking is vital to the industry\u2019s long-term economic stability. The road ahead is not without its challenges, but our steel strategy will set forth a positive vision for the future of the industry, backed by our manifesto commitment to GBP 3 billion of government investment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) said alongside making the largest investment in the UK steel industry in decades, Tata Steel has also committed to work with the government to evaluate new investments in steel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis improved deal secures the immediate future of Port Talbot steelworks, lays the foundations for future investment, and enhances protections for the workforce across South Wales, all without further cost to the taxpayer,\u201d said Jo Stevens, Secretary of State for Wales.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs well as negotiating a better deal than the previous government, we have already released millions of pounds of funding from the Transition Board to support businesses and workers in Port Talbot and across south Wales. While this is a very difficult time for Tata workers, their families and the community, this government is determined to support workers and businesses in our Welsh steel industry, whatever happens,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Tata Steel has offered what is described as its \u201cmost generous\u201d voluntary redundancy package ever for a restructure of this size. Employees who choose redundancy will be paid 2.8 weeks\u2019 earnings for each year of service, up to a maximum of 25 years, according to the terms of the pact.<\/p>\n
The DBT claims “watertight conditions” within the grant funding agreement will ensure that the government can \u201cclaw back investment\u201d should Tata Steel not fulfill its commitments. This includes increased penalty payments should the company not retain 5,000 jobs across its UK business post transformation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the UK government\u2019s critical support, this complex and ambitious transformation of Port Talbot has the potential to make the plant one of Europe\u2019s premier centres for green steelmaking,\u201d said T V Narendran, Tata Steel Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe now look forward to the efficient and speedy execution of the EAF project. We will also continue our work with the Transition Board and the UK and Welsh governments to enable this project to be a catalyst for economic regeneration and job creation in South Wales,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Mumbai-headquartered company said as part of this largest investment in the UK steel industry for decades, its GBP 1.25 billion project will safeguard the country\u2019s \u201csteel sovereignty, secure steel making in Port Talbot and preserve 5,000 jobs\u201d.<\/p>\n
Alongside a planned GBP 750 million investment, Tata Steel said it has put its significant global engineering and project capabilities behind the project, which will benefit from the UK Government Grant Funding.<\/p>\n
An Electric Arc Furnace uses an electric current to melt scrap steel or iron and produce steel, whereas blast furnaces use coke, a carbon-intensive fuel made from coal to produce steel. The company confirmed that basic engineering is now complete, and equipment orders will be placed shortly for the Electric Arc Furnace and ladle metallurgy furnaces, a new coil box and crop shear for the hot strip mill, a cranes package, and for construction management and civil engineering.<\/p>\n
With the public consultation on track for planning approvals by November, Tata Steel plans to commence large scale site work around July 2025. Under this timeline, the Electric Arc Furnace is expected to be operational within three years.<\/p>\n
The trade unions said they had resolved to negotiate the \u201cbest possible deal\u201d, and then put it to a ballot of the membership.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is what we have done, and voting is underway,” reads a joint statement from Community and GMB.<\/p>\n
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London, Sep 11 (PTI) The UK government on Wednesday announced that it had signed off on an \u201cimproved\u201d grant funding agreement with Tata Steel, worth GBP 500 million, to support the Indian steel major\u2019s green transition towards a state-of-the-art Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) at the Port Talbot steelworks in South Wales. Business and Trade Secretary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-248370","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248370\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}