'HAL to explore Goa as helicopter manufacturing hub'

New Delhi, March 17: Bengaluru-based Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has been asked to examine the feasibility of making Goa a hub for manufacturing helicopters, said Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.

Speaking to reporters at South Block, Parrikar, who was formerly chief minister of Goa before his elevation as defence minister in the National Democratic Alliance government in November last year, on Monday also said the Public Sector Undertaking has been asked to put together a tentative business plan for the Goa project.

"We have asked them to examine the feasibility of Goa as a second hub for manufacturing of helicopters," Parrikar said.

The minister had first announced his intentions of creating a helicopter manufacturing hub in Goa during an investment summit in Panaji earlier this year.

Parrikar has already allotted the Goa-based Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) - a defence minister-operated institution, a contract of building 12 minesweeper ships for the Indian Navy, worth Rs.32,000 crore.

The contract is one of the biggest defence-related contracts ever handled by the Goa-based shipyard.

"GSL will be the lead agency for manufacturing the 12 Mine Counter Measures Vessels," Parrikar said.

The mammoth contract alone Parrikar said would beef up Goa's industrial growth by 10 percent.

IANS