Washington, Sep 29 (IANS) India-born Rewant Ruia called a proposed American steel investment a homecoming as his family joined President Donald Trump at the White House to announce plans for a new plant in Iowa.

“While I was born in India, I went to high school in New York, college in Boston, and did my MBA in California. I spent half my life here so announcing this investment today is a great honor and a true homecoming for me,” Ruia said at the White House event.

The family’s plan links an iron ore mine in Minnesota to a proposed steel complex in southeastern Iowa. Essar Group founder Ravi Ruia, asked by Trump about the total cost, put the investment at “About $18 billion.”

Other figures cited during the event differed. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick described a $2.5 billion mine and a $15 billion steel plant, totalling $17.5 billion. Rewant Ruia said the family was investing $3 billion in the mine. Neither explained the differences in the estimates.

Trump said the Iowa plant would eventually produce 10 million tons of steel a year using ore from Minnesota. He projected up to 6,000 construction jobs and nearly 2,000 manufacturing and mining jobs. Those are estimates for a project whose steel production has yet to begin.

For the Ruias, the announcement placed a family business built in India and overseas at the centre of Trump’s push for more American steelmaking. Ravi Ruia said he and his brother Shashi founded Essar decades ago and had built steel plants, refineries, ports and power facilities.

“We have now chosen to build our next major chapter here in America,” Ravi Ruia said. He described the Iowa facility as a proposed project and said the company would draw on its experience while working with the American steel industry.

Rewant Ruia said the Minnesota mine would supply the Iowa plant, with US railways and energy forming part of the chain. “This project writes the next chapter for our company and our family,” he said.

The question of public support came up after the announcement. Asked whether federal money was involved and whether the plan depended on Iowa tax breaks, Lutnick said the Export-Import Bank had helped finance the mine. He said private money would build the steel plant and described the agreement as completed. The transcript did not provide financing terms or a construction schedule for the mill.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said negotiations had been difficult but welcomed the project as an opportunity for jobs and local suppliers. She said the state wanted Iowa businesses to have a chance to work with Mesabi Metallics, the company Trump named in announcing the plant.

Trump described the proposed Iowa facility as the largest steel plant in American history. He said construction jobs would begin almost immediately.

Essar’s plans bring together two regions with different roles in American steelmaking. Minnesota’s Iron Range has supplied iron ore for more than a century, while plants across the Midwest have turned ore and other materials into steel for manufacturing and construction.

A steel project of this scale requires years of building, equipment installation and commissioning before it can reach its planned output. The investment and employment figures announced at the White House remain projections.

--IANS

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