Billionaire Mittal’s Woes Imperil South African Revival Plan

  • ArcelorMittal’s plans see steel users scrambling for options
  • Top local fabricator may move engineering-parts plant to India
The ArcelorMittal furnace in Vereeniging.Photographer: Gianluigi Guerci/AFP/Getty Images
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Billionaire-backed ArcelorMittal SA’s plans to shut down a century-old steel mill in South Africa are holding President Cyril Ramaphosa’s dream of fostering a $257 billion infrastructure boom to ransom.

That plant — and two others it wants to idle — supply what builders need for the vaunted exponential rollout of power-transmission towers, rail lines and new roads — projects that the leader says will turn the country into “a construction site,” boost sluggish growth and provide much-needed employment.