Jaya vows to make Chennai global auto manufacturing hub

Oragadam (Chennai):

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa vowed to make Chennai the global leader in automobile and components manufacturing and said the state will soon sign memorandum of understanding with a number of companies including vehicle and component manufacturers.

Speaking after inaugurating the Diamler Commercial Vehicles Plant at Orgadam, the third largest outside Germany, on Wednesday, she said Chennai has emerged as India’s largest automobile and auto components manufacturing and export hub in India.

“Chennai is now emerging as top 10 global automobile manufacturing centres and the city will have an installed capacity to produce 1.3 million cars and about 3.6 lakh commercial vehicles each year. This translates to an output of three cars every minute and one commercial vehicle every 75 seconds,” Jayalalithaa added.

Hailing Daimler for choosing Chennai to establish the facility, she said that out of 27 global Daimler Truck plants, the Oragadam Plant is the third largest outside Germany and one of its hub plants. She said Diamler has invested Rs 2,500 crore in the facility. “To encourage Diamler to invest more, my government has approved an attractive package resulting in Diamler scaling up its investment commitment to Rs 4000 crore as against the original investment plan of Rs 3000 crore,” she added.

Stating that the new industrial policy 2012 will accelerate the pace of growth of the manufacturing sector to 14 per cent, she said the government will soon announce the industry specific policies for automobiles and auto components industry, biotechnology, aerospace industry and renewable energy with special focus on solar power generation.

She also vowed to bridge infrastructure deficit and said the government will lay 2000 km of six and eight lane expressways and 5,000 km of four lane highways before the end of 2023.

Seeking more German investments, Jayalalithaa said Diamler’s success will enthuse many German firms to invest in Tamil Nadu.

 Quoting Karl Marx, she said ‘when ideas capture the minds of men, they become a material force in society’, and I have the vision of making the state ‘Global Manufacturing Hub’ and my government is actively engaged in establishing this mission.