Court rules ILVA steel insolvent-update

(ANSA) - Rome, January 30 - Milan's bankruptcy court declared ILVA, one of Europe's largest steel plants, insolvent on Friday, with a debt totaling nearly 3 billion euros, the judges' ruling said.
    The troubled Taranto steel plant is under temporary public control, a move that Premier Matteo Renzi said in December would last at most 36 months.
    Last week, the industry ministry named former power and environmental executives Piero Gnudi, Enrico Laghi and Corrado Carrubba as extraordinary commissioners, as part of the Italian government's massive clean-up and turnaround project.
    Gnudi, formerly an ILVA sub-commissioner, is an ex-sports minister who was chairman of electrical power company Enel for almost a decade, and said ILVA could return to profitability by 2017.
    The ILVA plant has been shrouded in controversy in recent years, related to serious pollution it has caused that has been linked to an unusually high rate of cancers in the area.
    Taranto Mayor Ippazio Stefano sent a letter to Renzi last week in which he said some 3,000 workers have not been adequately paid and they should be given the highest priority as ILVA creditors.