Fourteen producers in the southern area of Australia received a guarantee from the Government that they could access funding that will allow the companies themselves to participate in public tenders. This was reported by the official website of the Prime Minister of the South Australian region, Jay Weatherill .
Steel Taskforce » with the parallel allocation of almost 3 million euros for four years, including 220 thousand euros for the appointment of a super partes inspection body to ensure that the projects put into field by the Government respect the commitment to hire only local labor .
ThereEconomic participation policy in the southern Australian steel industry was introduced to offer local steelmakers greater competitiveness compared to imported products of poor quality: in fact, projects in progress are bound to comply with the requirements imposed by Australian standards.
The assignment of the funds, albeit modest, intends to help builders and manufacturers to obtain the certifications they need , a premise for the institutions to introduce an official surveillance program to ensure that the construction of the works is used exclusively steel from certified companies .
The scenario
The governmental industry representative is the head of the economic participation policy in the steel industry and is about to present the certification protocol for steel companies in collaboration with the Australian Steel Institute . To date, four companies have been certified for the construction of commercial, residential and school buildings that do not exceed 15 floors, as well as hospitals and industrial plants. On the other hand, 10 other companies are authorized to construct “simple” structures such as gates, handrails or buildings to be used for agricultural purposes.
The comments of Minister Martin Hamilton-Smith
“The local steel industry – said, according to reports, the Minister of trade and industrial policies Martin Hamilton-Smith – is under enormous pressure due to overcapacity, which is generating on the one hand practices of unfair competition from abroad and on the other a rapid decline in prices. All government projects – the minister continued – are now tied to the use of steel that meets Australian standards and is produced by certified companies; in this way, the local steel market will be able to benefit from a competitive advantage over imported products of lower quality than ours “. This policy, concluded Martin Hamilton-Smith, will subsequently be extended to the railways and finished steel products against a further allocation in the 2016/2017 budget of 240 thousand euros.
