WEST Belfast was provided with a major jobs boost yesterday when a Korean engineering firm announced it was establishing an £8.5 million sterling operation in Poleglass, creating 230 jobs over the next three years.
The YG-1 tool company is setting up in an Industrial Development Board (IDB) advance factory at the Springbank Industrial Estate in Poleglass, a nationalist area of west Belfast.
The IDB is granting £3.2 million towards the cost of the project.
The Belfast operation will be known as the Europa Tool Company Ltd making parts for a wide range of engineering applications, including the aerospace and automotive sectors.
YG-1 is the sixth Korean company to establish its European base in Northern Ireland since 1989," said IDB chairman, Mr John B McGuckian. "Korean companies have now pledged investment worth nearly £70 million with the potential of almost 2,000 jobs," he added.
YG-1's existing customers, include companies such as Samsung, Daewoo, and Hyundai. "The YG-1 investment is a further endorsement of Northern Ireland's business benefits by one of Korea's most ambitious smaller companies," said Mr McGuckian.
Mr Kokeun Song, the company's president, said Northern Ireland was chosen because of its longstanding engineering tradition. "We have developed a significant market for our products in Europe, and would hope to develop this opportunity through local manufacture," he added.
The Europa Tool Company will be a wholly owned subsidiary of YG-1 Tool Company, which was formed in 1982 by Mr Song and currently employs 380 people at two factories near the Korean capital of Seoul. It also has a plant in Arkansas in the US.
Dr Joe Hendron, the SDLP MP for the area, and Sinn Fein president Mr Gerry Adams welcomed yesterday's jobs announcement. "I hope this will signal the re emergence of an engineering industry within west Belfast which can provide genuine employment opportunities for local people," said Dr Hendron.
Mr Adams said the YG-1 investment must be used by the IDB as a springboard to secure further investment. "It will take many more similar projects to even begin to lower the west Belfast unemployment levels to those of the rest of the city," he said.
