Tata Steel plans to rope in Tata Motors at Gopalpur SEZ

Tata Motors is likely to set up an automobile unit at the Gopalpur SEZ Industrial Park, which has been developed by Tata Steel. “Talks are going on with Tata Motors to set up an automobile unit at the Gopalpur SEZ in Orissa,” said a senior executive of Tata Steel. He said Tata Steel, which is setting up a steel plant with a capacity of 6 million tonnes at Kalinga Nagar in Orissa’s Jajpur district, plans to manufacture finished products for the automobile industry. “Obviously we would like to have Tata Motors set up its unit at the Gopalpur SEZ Industrial Park,” the chief resident executive of Tata Steel in Orissa, Rajesh Chintak said. He said that the proposed industrial park will have a separate zone for the automobile and the auto-component industry, adding that the park is now generating a lot of interest among investors. Chintak also said that the company is now concentrating on developing the park. Once the infrastructure is ready a clear picture of the possible investments will emerge, he added.

The Orissa government, in fact, is lobbying with the Tatas to set up an automobile unit in the Gopalpur SEZ. Even when Tata Motors withdrew the Nano project from Singur, the Orissa government tried to convince the automobile company to relocate the unit in Gopalpur. Tata Steel, which is developing the SEZ Industrial Park over an area of 3,700 acres is proposing to set up a ferro-alloys plant with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes and a 4-lakh tonne cold roll re-bar mill with an investment of R10,000 crore to R15,000 crore as anchor tenant. The managing director of Tata Steel HM Nerurkar who was here last week to apprise chief minister Naveen Patnaik about the progress made by the Gopalpur Industrial Park project, said the Gopalpur Park has received SEZ status. He said that the construction work for the project would be started once the statutory clearances like the environmental clearance are obtained.

Source: Financial Express