WCA January 2014

news

Industry news Trying to join the $1bn club SUN and Sand Industries Africa Ltd, a subsidiary of Samsung Overseas, has started production of mild steel wire rod. The company’s new product line is part of its efforts to become a $1 billion organisation by 2014. Shweta Satija, managing director, hopes that producing the raw material for nails, wire-mesh, binding wire, furniture and utensil producing companies will also help to provide jobs for the increasing unemployed population in Nigeria. Musa Mohammed Sada, the minister for steel development who commissioned the new factory, has commended the company for taking up the challenge of driving the industrialisation of the steel sector. Shweta Satija added that the company is venturing into other new products, including a ferro-alloy plant, a cable and conductor manufacturing unit, and tin and gold mining in Rwanda, Uganda, Ghana and other African countries to boost the local economy and create job opportunities for Africans. Sun and Sand Industries Africa Ltd – Nigeria Website : www.sunandsandindustries.com The West Bengal government has agreed to a proposal to lay an optical fibre network connecting various panchayats in the state. Survey and cable laying work will begin after the monsoons. West Bengal was among the last few states to sign up to the memorandum of understanding. The state government’s delay to grant right-of-way held up the implementation of a national project to make broadband Internet connectivity available in rural areas. In 2011, the department of telecommunication took up the project to improve last-mile connectivity in the country. Bengal to lay fibre network

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Wire & Cable ASIA – January/February 2014