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Ratan Tata announces small car project in Bengal

Special Correspondent

Proposes to set up a heavy earth moving equipment unit

KOLKATA: The seventh Left Front government on Thursday started its term with the announcement of the Tatas' Rs. 1 lakh small car project at a joint press conference by Tata Sons Chairman, Ratan Tata, and West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. "Today marks a day when the Tatas have significantly increased their commitment in the state," Mr. Tata said, adding that it was a rather revolutionary project which would give India its true people's car. To a question, he said the aim was to hold the price at Rs. 1 lakh.

"The country has been scanned and the choice of West Bengal reflects the group's faith in the state's investment climate," Mr. Tata said. The Tatas had confidence in chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's leadership and would like to be a part of West Bengal's growth and development, the Tata Sons chief said.

The project would involve a total investment of Rs. 1,000 crore and job creation for 10,000 people, including vendors, suppliers and service providers, he said. "In this way we hope to be involved with the resurrection of the state's automobile sector," he said. The plant would come up in Singur in Hooghly district, northwest of Kolkata.

While the 700 acres required for the project would be handed over within months according to the chief minister, another 300 acres would be reserved for the vendors.

The small-car project would be commissioned in 2008 and the car would be a four-door rear-engine model the prototype of which is running in the Pune unit of Tata Motors Ltd (TML). Project construction would begin soon after getting the land and about 3000 persons would be employed in the first phase.

Alongside, another project entailing a Rs. 250 crore investment is proposed to be undertaken by the Tatas for setting up a heavy earth moving equipment unit at Kharagpur. This investment will be made by Telcon, a wholly-owned subsidiary of TML. The day was also marked by Videocon announcing a Rs. 75 crore investment for setting up a liquid crystal TV unit in its existing facility at Taratala and constructing a `Videocon Tower' in West Bengal which would be a BPO unit with a headcount of 25,000, industry department sources said.

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