Us Firm, Tn In Pact For $ 3bn Industrial Park
The San Francisco-based INFAC India Group has entered into a tie-up with the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (Tidco) to set up a high-tech industrial park in the state.
The 50:50 joint venture, to be built on 2,000 acres in the Tuticorin-Tirunelveli area, has a planned investment of $3 billion for the phased development of park infrastructure and construction of support facilities such as housing, schools and recreation.
Investment to develop the infrastructure will total approximately $500 million, with additional investment coming from tenants establishing manufacturing facilities in the park. There will also be an option available to expand the park on to an adjacent 1,000 acres.
The INFAC India Group is an investment and management partnership among three firms - Danville, INFAC Management Corporation and Breakthrough Solutions.
INFAC Management, which has experience with high-tech development projects in Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, recently helped upgrade a disk drive plant in Chennai. Breakthrough Solutions, a consulting firm headed by Watson Mac Laetsch, the former vice-chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley, has led several trade and business delegations to India in the last few years.
INFAC president James H Williams said the INFAC India team had worked with Tidco to select the site and formulate a business plan. We hope to turn dirt of the project this year, Williams told the California-based India-West newspaper, adding that the majority of the park should be in operation in five years.
While Tidco will acquire the land for the project, provide all government permits and approvals, INFAC will develop the park, market it to investors and manage its operations.
Established in 1965 to promote industrial investment in Tamil Nadu, Tidco has formed more than 60 joint ventures with firms, including Ford, Hyundai and DuPont.
At present, INFAC plans to sell about 39 per cent of the venture to outside investors. We dont want the project (funded) by a single investor. We want it to be multi-investor and international, with investors from Asia and the United States, Williams said.
He said the management team wanted to avoid problems that have cropped up in other high-tech parks by having a broad-based pool of investors and by developing its own infrastructure, including an independent water source from nearby mountains, a dedicated communications facility, improved roads and a power plant. Tidco will be responsible for providing secondary water and power sources. If we build a power plant, we have to sell it into the (local) grid, but that could change, Williams said. We are also looking at setting up our own telephone company, he added.
Laetsch said the Tamil Nadu government planned to upgrade the road to the port city of Tuticorin to an all-weather, four-lane highway. The airport at Tuticorin is also expected to be upgraded.
Williams said the site was chosen specifically to avoid being close to pollution-prone industries, such as cement plants, a problem that has plagued other high-tech parks in Asia.
The types of businesses at the park will be largely limited to electronics and telecommunications components industries, information technology, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and precision engineering firms and companies that feature clean-room technologies among others.
INFAC will subcontract with local labour and import modern equipment concerning which they will train the local work force at all levels, Williams said.
Laetsch said road shows are being planned to seek an anchor tenant, who will act as a magnet to attract other tenants. A hospital, schools, a conventions centre and a golf course designed by a big-name golf player are other elements included in the project plan.