LAST STOP? Karnataka ready to host Nano facility

LAST STOP? Karnataka ready to host Nano facility

Tata Motors Holds Talks With Yeddyurappa Govt; Dharwad Back In Focus

Bureau BANGALORE - Economic Times

   TATA Motors and the Karnataka government on Thursday made the opening moves in a gambit which could result in the beleaguered automaker moving its factory making the world’s cheapest car from West Bengal to the southern state. While chief minister BS Yeddyurappa promised the government’s full backing, Tata Motors managing director Ravi Kant said the company is looking for alternatives to the Singur site where work on its Nano small car project has stalled because of protests over land acquisition.
   “We are watching the situation carefully and are actively looking at alternatives. If we have to relocate, we will require about 1000 acre as it (Nano) is an integrated project. He (Mr Yeddyurappa) said that he will give us all support, assistance and required incentives,” Mr Kant told reporters after meeting the chief minister. Dharwad in the northern part of the state — an initial contender for the Nano factory before it lost out to Singur — is seen as the most likely location if a deal is struck.
   The Tata group’s construction equipment making unit Tata Telcon possesses some 300 acre in the city and the Tata-Marco Polo bus-making joint venture an additional 600 acre. “They will naturally need land and I have told them that we will provide assistance,” Mr Yeddyurappa said, referring to the possibility of the Rs 1-lakh car being produced in the state. “Karnataka has offered 1000 acres and all incentives for setting up the Nano plant in the state,” Tata Motors said in a statement through its public relations agency.
   Tata Motors suspended work in Singur on September 2 citing concerns about the safety of its employees. Agitators backed by the Trinamool Congress party have been demanding that the company return about 400 acre out of the 1,000 acre allotted for the project. The agitators say that land was acquired forcibly and adequate compensation was not paid. The Tatas say returning the land would make the project unviable and talks between the West Bengal government and the Trinamool Congress have not yielded a breakthrough.
   Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh have said they are interested in hosting the Nano factory.
   Despite the promise of backing by Karnataka, the collapse about a decade ago of a high-profile airport project in Bangalore may make the Tatas wary. After being bogged down by years of delay, a consortium led by Tata Industries in 1998 pulled out of a venture to build an international airport in the city.

Tata & Marco Polo to roll out buses in Oct

The Tatas’ joint venture with Marco Polo will roll out its first bus next month and Karnataka is expected to be the first buyer of vehicles produced at the unit. “We have asked them to give us five buses on a trial basis,” Mr Yeddyurappa said. Swedish company Volvo makes buses at a factory on the outskirts of Bangalore and has the government as a major buyer.