BUSINESS
Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Bipole spurs capital investment
Manitoba steel fabrication company spends millions on expansion
By: Martin Cash
Posted: 03/26/2011 1:00 AM
It may not yet be clear just how much Manitoba Hydro's Bipole III transmission line will cost, but the massive project is already spurring capital investment from potential local suppliers.
A Manitoba steel fabrication company -- which sources identified as Sperling Industries of Sperling -- is spending millions of dollars on a 35,000-square-foot expansion.
The company's decision to go ahead with the investment provided the missing link for a consortium of steel companies to be able to qualify to bid on the contract to build the Bipole III transmission towers.
Vince Reidy, spokesman for the group called USM Steel Products Inc. -- made up of seven Manitoba companies with annual revenue totalling more than $100 million -- said efforts have been in the works for close to two years to put a consortium together. It wants to bid on the rights to build the 3,000 steel towers needed for the new transmission line the down the west side of Lake Winnipeg.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/bus...118700649.html