Despite announcing in late October it chose Chinese contractor Sinosteel to develop Bolivia’s Mutún iron and steel complex, the South American country has stepped back in its decision and is now offering a “second chance” for the potential Chinese contractors to compete in the public tender.
A contract with Sinosteel, the elected company at that time, was expected to be signed in November. Since then, the Bolivian government has postponed the signing of a final contract to different dates.
The directive body of state-run company Empresa Siderurgica del Mutun (ESM) said on Tuesday the postponement of the election of a winning company was made because “there wasn’t legal and technical information” on the proposed projects. On Monday, the directive body of ESM had a meeting with two companies competing in the public tender, Sinosteel Equipment and Henan Complant Mechanical.
“We’ll evaluate [the proposals] next Monday, when we’ll take a final decision, but we haven’t approved a contract so far,” said Antonio Tudela, a member of ESM’s directive body.
Tudela said the postponement of the final date to choose a contractor won't affect or delay the project, which is expected to start up by 2019.
The Mutun’s iron and steel complex project include concentration, pelletizing and direct reduction plants, which would be attached to a rolling mill. The rolling mill would be able to produce 150,000 mt of non-flat finished steel.
Once the plant is complete, Bolivia could save up to $230 million per year, as it won’t need to import finished steel from Brazil and Peru.