Employees of the Zaporizhia ferroalloy plant have said that the State Property Fund has refused to allow sale of the F 2 power substation belonging to the Zaporizhiaoblenerho power distribution company to the Zaporizhia ferroalloy plant despite previous promises to the ministry of energy and the coal industry.

Mr Oleksandr Danov, a representative of the Zaporizhia ferroalloy plant's workforce, said that "It is all disappointing to the plant. They said to consider the option of leasing the substation. There was no question of selling the substation. The fact is that the SPF has refused to sell the F 2 substation until Zaporizhiaoblenerho is privatized. Meanwhile, privatization of Zaporizhiaoblenerho is scheduled for the first half of 2012."

At the same time, according to Mr Danov, officials at the power company did not provide a timeframe for lease of the power substation. According to him, employees of the Zaporizhia ferroalloy plant will use all possible legal means to protect their jobs and their plant.

Previously, employees of the Zaporizhia ferroalloy plant called on the leaderships of the Ministry of Energy and the Coal Industry and the Energy Company of Ukraine national joint stock company to inform them as soon as possible about the measures being taken to sell the substation.

The plant's employees stressed that the plant has fulfilled all the requirements in the procedures for sale of the substation, which was transferred to it in December 2001 by the leadership of the ministry of energy and the coal industry.

In turn, Zaporizhiaoblenerho did not begin implementing it, saying that it did not receive any confirmatory documentation on this issue.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the ministry of energy and the coal industry informed representatives of the plant in late November 2011 of its intention to allow the sale the Zaporizhiaoblenerho substation to the Zaporizhia ferroalloy plant.

In June 2011, the National Electricity Regulation Commission refused to lease the power substation to the Zaporizhia ferroalloy plant. The Zaporizhia region asked the Cabinet of Ministers to resolve the issue and facilitate lease of the power substation to the Zaporizhia ferroalloy plant.

In the entire 2010, the Zaporizhia ferroalloy plant leased the F2 substation belonging to Zaporizhiaoblenerho, but Zaporizhiaoblenerho refused to extend the lease agreement for this substation in December 2010, as a result of which the Zaporizhia ferroalloy plant was transferred from the first to the second class of electricity consumption, which increased the electricity expenditures of the plant.

The main products of the Zaporizhia ferroalloy plant, which is an open joint stock enterprise, are manganese ferroalloys (ferromanganese, ferromanganese silicon, and metallic manganese) and ferrosilicon.

(Sourced from www.un.ua)