The Iranian private sector today officially started the construction of a new integrated steel plant, located near Kermanshah in western Iran, which will have an annual long steel rolling capacity of 400,000 mt. An investment of about Rials 3 trillion (about $300 million) has been estimated for the whole project, while about 1,200 workers are expected to be employed when the plant operates at full capacity.
In July last year, project managing director Mehrooz Soleimani had said that all approvals had been obtained and that construction would start in the summer of 2009. Sources have indicated financial issues as being behind the delay in the start of construction work.