A Dubai-based company wants to spend $102 million building a plant in South Buffalo near the old Republic Steel plant site to make steel and turn it into large lengths of pipe for oil and gas production. A series of local and state agencies are going through the process of providing construction and operating subsidies for Alita USA Holdings.
The key agency in the middle is the Buffalo Niagara Enterprise. President and CEO Thomas Kucharski says this area beat out Houston because of the subsidies and the local workforce.
"We had the trained, skilled folks here that could operate computer-assisted manufacturing machinery. The line doesn't look like the old Bethlehem Steel at all," Kucharski said.
"It's very sophisticated, highly technical operation and so these types of jobs are very well-paying."
County Executive Mark Poloncarz says the goal is to have everything in place by the end of the year so construction would start in the spring. The plant is expected to employ 172 people.
He says the plant would actually make steel in a much cleaner way than steel-making in the old Bethlehem Steel plant where his father worked.
