Ascendas plans to invest $700 mn

Asia’s leading business space provider, Ascendas, and a consortium comprising of top Japanese corporate finance providers, Mizuho Corporate Bank, and JGC Corporation, will set up an intergrated township project near Chennai. The company and its partners have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of Tamil Nadu to set up the project in the state which would attract an investment of around $700 million (around Rs 3,517 crore).

The agreement was signed in the presence of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and Yukio Edano, Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Karen Tan, Singapore’s High Commissioner to India In Chennai. This will be one of the biggest projects that the new Tamil Nadu government, which took charge on May 2011, has attracted.

Chong Siak Ching, chief executive officer and president, Ascendas Pte Ltd said that the land will be made available by the Government to the company by the second quarter of 2012. “This will be one of the largest investments for us in the country and it will be 10th project by the company in India,” she added.

The township will be developed by the joint venture between Ascendas India Development Trust (AIDT), the private property development fund spearheaded by Ascendas, and IREO, along with the Japan Consortium. Located 50 km south of Chennai city, the development will integrate industrial, business, commercial and residential elements with lifestyle amenities. The 1,500 acre township will provide eco-friendly infrastructure for the growth of Japanese and international businesses and support a community of more than 40,000. Of the total 1500 acres, 400 acres is reserved for industrial development and will create employment for around 200,000 people.

Automobile and ancillary, home appliances, electronics, foods, logistics and infrastructure are some of the key industries which are expected to come up in the township, said Yoshihiro Shigehisa, chairman emeritus of JGC Group. Infrastructure for the project will be completed by the third quarter of 2013.

A project facilitation committee will be formed under the Industrial Guidance Bureau of the Tamil Nadu Government for uninterpreted power and water supply and to develop other infrastructures.