Maruti may start construction of plant in Gujarat soon

Ahmedabad: Country's largest car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki is expected to begin construction of its proposed manufacturing unit in Mandal taluka near here within the next three months, a top state official said here.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi recently met Suzuki Motor Corp Chairman & CEO Osamu Suzuki during his Japan tour.

"Chairman of Suzuki has said they will start the work on setting up car manufacturing plant at Mandal soon, and assured that a large number of vendor units would also come up there," state's Principal Secretary (Industries) Maheshwar Sahu said.

"I think they would begin construction work within next three months," said Sahu, who was a member of delegation accompanying Modi, talking to PTI.

The company had faced a serious bout of violence at its Haryana plant recently, and there was some speculation that it might focus more on the planned plant in Gujarat.

The government has already allotted two parcels of land to Maruti Suzuki, measuring 160 hectares 70 hectares, for its proposed expansion in Gujarat.

The company is set to invest Rs 4,000 crore -- its biggest investment outside Haryana -- to set up the greenfield project near Becharaji, Mandal taluka, by 2015-16.

Besides, components suppliers of the company are also likely to make an equal investment.

The plant will be set up in a phased manner, with initial investment of Rs 4,000 crore by 2015-16. The overall capacity in the first phase will be 2.5 lakh units.

"They (Japanese) are very serious about making investments in Gujarat in sectors like automobile industry. A exclusive vendor park for Japanese industrial houses is proposed near Mandal," Sahu said.

PTI