State govt plans township near proposed Maruti factory

Gujarat government plans to build a 600-hectare township near the proposed Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s (MSIL) manufacturing factory in Hansalpur near Mehsana, a senior state government official said here. The cost of development is estimated to be about Rs 80 lakh to Rs 1 crore per hectare.

Maheswar Sahu, principal secretary (industries and mines), government of Gujarat, said, “We are planning to build a ‘Japanese township’ near the proposed Maruti Suzuki plant. It would be hardly a 15-20 minutes drive from the plant and would be ready by 2015.”

Sahu was addressing a press conference regarding Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Japan along with a 25-member high-level business delegation.

 

Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) would develop the township in association with Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO). “While JETRO would get the people, GIDC is now in the process of acquiring the land,” Sahu added.

Maruti Suzuki had signed a state support agreement (SSA) with the state government for purchase of 700-acre land near Mehsana in June. The company would invest Rs 4,000 crore in the first phase to set up a 250,000 units per annum plant by 2015-16. The company had already sought for a second land parcel of about 300 acres for the second phase of the project near the existing plot in mid- June this year. Sahu confirmed the development saying the second land parcel could be about 15-20 kilometres from the original site and could be used to house the company’s vendors and auto ancillaries.

As for the Modi’s meeting with Suzuki Motors chief Osamu Suzuki during the former’s Japan visit, the official said, “The meeting went very well. Maruti Suzuki is working on designs, they are very serious about implementing the project in Gujarat, and they will start production from the Gujarat plant by 2015. The phase two of the project would be developed depending on market conditions.”

He clarified that the issue of violence at Maruti’s Manesar plant was not raised during the interaction.

Terming the chief minister’s visit as highly successful, Sahu said there are already 29 Japanese companies in the state, and within two year’s time the state intends to double that number.