Tata Motors to set up small car unit in Bengal by 2008

Kolkata, May 18 (UNI) Coinciding with the swearing-in of the seventh Left Front Ministry, Tata Motors Chairman Ratan Tata today announced his plan to set up the much-awaited small car manufacturing unit in West Bengal within the next two years at a cost of over Rs 1000 crore, setting aside the claims of several other states.

Making this major corporate announcement with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee on his side, the Tata Motors Chairman said the plant would come up on a 1000-acre land at Singur in Hooghly district, about 85 km from here by 2008.

Describing the Tata group's decision to set up a major automobile plant in the state with a major investment of Rs 1000 crore and more as a ''reflection of the confidence the group reposes in the investment climate and the state government,'' Mr Tata said they had also planned to invest another about Rs 250 crore for the expansion and modernisation of Tata Motor's subsidiary "Telcon" at Kharagpur, about 100 km from here.

Incidentally, Telcon produces heavy earth moving equipment and machineries for the engineering sector.

Elaborating on the small car plant, Mr Tata said the prototype of the 4-door rear engine Rs one lakh car had been frozen and the first car was expected to roll out from the Singur plant by the middle of 2008.

Mr Tata said the plant would initially create about 2000 to 3000 direct employment besides, generating about 7000 more jobs for the vendors and other service providers in the plant's vicinity.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee, who was also present at the news conference, said the process of land acquisition for the small car plant had already begun and would be completed very soon following which the construction of the plant would actually begin.

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