The company behind a $1.9 billion fertilizer plant under construction in southeast Iowa stopped making payments and held on to tools of one of the project's contractors, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.
In the lawsuit, Maintenance Enterprises claims Orascom E&C USA hired the company to work as a subcontractor on the fertilizer plant. The company claims Orascom E&C paid it for its work up until September 2015.
After that date, the lawsuit states, Orascom E&C stopped making payments. Maintenance Enterprises says Orascom E&C has made no payments regarding certain work since Oct. 29, 2015.
Overall, Maintenance claims Orascom E&C owes it more than $53.4 million.
Maintenance also claims Orascom E&C "physically barred" the company from removing small tools, protection equipment and other property Maintenance says it purchased for use on the plant.
Maintenance Enterprises is a general contractor based in Louisiana.
Cranes rise above the Orascom Corporation's fertilizer plant construction site on April 16, 2014, outside Wever, Iowa. (Photo: Charlie Litchfield/The Register )
Orascom E&C is a Virginia-based subsidiary of Orascom Construction, which is a construction company based in Eqypt and Dubai. In 2013, Orascom started construction of a massive fertilizer plant in Wever, an unincorporated city in Lee County.
The plant is operating under the name Iowa Fertilizer Co., a subsidiary of Netherlands-based OCI N.V. that was previously a part of Orascom before a company split.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa on Friday.
A spokesman for the project did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Monday.
In a statement issued last week, Iowa Fertilizer Co. said it "continues to make tremendous progress in the construction of the new plant in Wever."
"In fact, the company plans to increase construction from its current level of approximately 2,000 personnel to approximately 2,500 in both March and April, taking advantage of improved weather conditions as we enter the final months of the project," the statement reads.
Maintenance has filed a mechanic's lien with the Iowa Secretary of State's office against the Iowa Fertilizer property for more than $50 million.
It is not the only company to issue a mechanic's lien on the property. The Iowa Fertilizer property faces hundreds of millions of dollars in liens filed by companies who worked on the project.
Those liens include one for more than $119 million filed by Texas-based RW Constructors. Liens for millions of dollars have also been filed by companies based in Iowa, Illinois and Washington.
Many companies that filed liens declined to speak with a reporter when contacted by the Register in recent weeks.
The fertilizer plant is under construction on about 340 acres. The project received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal, state and local tax incentives.
Last June, the Iowa Economic Development Authority Board approved an additional $21.5 million in incentives, bringing the total the state has provided to about $107.5 million.
Those incentives have caused some to criticize the project and the administration of Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad.
Branstad and others, though, have hailed the fertilizer plant as a boon for Iowa farmers who need fertilizer and a boost for the economy of Lee County, which had historically had one of the higher unemployment rates in the state.
Iowa Fertilizer Co. and the plant are also part of an $8 billion merger deal between OCI and Illinois-based CF Industries.
Initially, the plant was expected to open in late 2015 or early 2016. The project has faced delays, however, and is now expected to open sometime this year, a spokesman told the Register last week.
Iowa Fertilizer Co. is expected to employ about 240 people and produce between 1.5 million and 2 million tons of nitrogen fertilizer a year, once completed.
http://www.press-citizen.com/story/...-stopped-iowa-fertilizer-co-project/80726928/
In the lawsuit, Maintenance Enterprises claims Orascom E&C USA hired the company to work as a subcontractor on the fertilizer plant. The company claims Orascom E&C paid it for its work up until September 2015.
After that date, the lawsuit states, Orascom E&C stopped making payments. Maintenance Enterprises says Orascom E&C has made no payments regarding certain work since Oct. 29, 2015.
Overall, Maintenance claims Orascom E&C owes it more than $53.4 million.
Maintenance also claims Orascom E&C "physically barred" the company from removing small tools, protection equipment and other property Maintenance says it purchased for use on the plant.
Maintenance Enterprises is a general contractor based in Louisiana.
Cranes rise above the Orascom Corporation's fertilizer plant construction site on April 16, 2014, outside Wever, Iowa. (Photo: Charlie Litchfield/The Register )
Orascom E&C is a Virginia-based subsidiary of Orascom Construction, which is a construction company based in Eqypt and Dubai. In 2013, Orascom started construction of a massive fertilizer plant in Wever, an unincorporated city in Lee County.
The plant is operating under the name Iowa Fertilizer Co., a subsidiary of Netherlands-based OCI N.V. that was previously a part of Orascom before a company split.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa on Friday.
A spokesman for the project did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Monday.
In a statement issued last week, Iowa Fertilizer Co. said it "continues to make tremendous progress in the construction of the new plant in Wever."
"In fact, the company plans to increase construction from its current level of approximately 2,000 personnel to approximately 2,500 in both March and April, taking advantage of improved weather conditions as we enter the final months of the project," the statement reads.
Maintenance has filed a mechanic's lien with the Iowa Secretary of State's office against the Iowa Fertilizer property for more than $50 million.
It is not the only company to issue a mechanic's lien on the property. The Iowa Fertilizer property faces hundreds of millions of dollars in liens filed by companies who worked on the project.
Those liens include one for more than $119 million filed by Texas-based RW Constructors. Liens for millions of dollars have also been filed by companies based in Iowa, Illinois and Washington.
Many companies that filed liens declined to speak with a reporter when contacted by the Register in recent weeks.
The fertilizer plant is under construction on about 340 acres. The project received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal, state and local tax incentives.
Last June, the Iowa Economic Development Authority Board approved an additional $21.5 million in incentives, bringing the total the state has provided to about $107.5 million.
Those incentives have caused some to criticize the project and the administration of Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad.
Branstad and others, though, have hailed the fertilizer plant as a boon for Iowa farmers who need fertilizer and a boost for the economy of Lee County, which had historically had one of the higher unemployment rates in the state.
Iowa Fertilizer Co. and the plant are also part of an $8 billion merger deal between OCI and Illinois-based CF Industries.
Initially, the plant was expected to open in late 2015 or early 2016. The project has faced delays, however, and is now expected to open sometime this year, a spokesman told the Register last week.
Iowa Fertilizer Co. is expected to employ about 240 people and produce between 1.5 million and 2 million tons of nitrogen fertilizer a year, once completed.
http://www.press-citizen.com/story/...-stopped-iowa-fertilizer-co-project/80726928/
