IT IS HEARTENING to be able to report that a key manufacturing site in Newport is getting ready to re-open.

The former Rowecord factory has been taken over by Saudi Arabian-owned AIC Steel Ltd.

And, in what is great news for Newport, the move will create 120 jobs in the city.

This is welcome, coming as it does on the wake of the job losses at Avana Bakeries and reports of jobs under threat at Orb Electrical Steels.

The closure of Rowecord Engineering, which folded last April, marked the end of a long and illustrious history for the company in Newport.

It also saw the devastating loss of 430 jobs.

And while AIC Steel is not able to create as many jobs as were lost last year, it is able to take on 120 people.

It is also heartening to hear the company talking of the amount of money it is investing in Newport and of its plans to build the business.

This will be the company's first and only base in Europe which again augurs well for the Newport plant.

Of course one such announcement does not totally turn round the city's fortunes, but it is promising and it does also go some way to get out the message that the city is a good place for business.

As AM Edwina Hart put it, the announcement is a 'ray of light' and Newport really is a fast-growing city.