Market Segment
September 12, 2013
Dubai Company to Build Steel Plant in Buffalo
Written by Sandy Williams
Dubai-based Alita USA Holdings will construct a $102 million steel plant in Buffalo, NY. The new plant will produce casing pipes used in the oil and gas industries and employ an estimated 172 workers.
Alita president and CEO Ali Hosseini said in an interview with The Buffalo News that the choice of location was between Houston and Buffalo.
“We could not have chosen a better place than Buffalo. In Houston, we would have been one of hundreds, but in Buffalo the attitude there has been so positive and amazing, it made me feel very comfortable,” he said.
Hosseini added Buffalo is close to needed raw materials and a skilled workforce. Building costs are estimated at 25 percent less than in Houston due to more than$10 million of state and local incentives in addition to low electricity costs and property tax breaks.
Construction plans include a 340,000 square foot pipe mill and a 16,000 square foot facility for offices, storage and laboratory. The plant is projected to begin start-up in mid-2015 with an annual capacity of 150,000 tons of high-grade alloy pipe.
