Man Industries shelves plan to build US plant

Pipe manufacturer Man Industries India is shelving its plan to build a $100-million plant in Arkansas, a year after announcing the project that would have created over 250 jobs.     

"Right now, it is our understanding that Man is not proceeding with their US manufacturing facility," Arkansas Economic Development Commission spokesperson Scott Hardin was quoted as saying in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.     

Mumbai-based Man Industries had said in March 2008 that it would open a $100-million plant along the Arkansas river in the state's capital Little Rock.     

Hardin said he believed that the project had been shelved due to lack of financing given the current global economic scenario. "I think it is just a matter of the economy and credit," he said.     

The state had promised the firm $3.5 million in incentives, but no money had ever been handed over, he added.     

Man Industries had announced last year that it would start production at the 162-acre site by early 2009. The facility would have employed 250 at a starting salary of a little under 12 dollars per hour and had a production capacity of 300,000 tonnes of helical submerged arc welded pipes, which are used primarily by the petroleum industry.