Even as the Tatas face problems in acquisition of land for a car manufacturing plant at Singur in West Bengal, the Orissa government has asked the group to consider setting up an automobile plant in the state.
The state government has urged Tata group chairman Ratan Tata to establish an automobile manufacturing unit at Gopalpur, where Tata Steel had acquired 3,400 acres of land for a steel project in the mid-1990s. With the steel project in cold storage, a large chunk of the land is lying idle.
The company had later wanted to set up a SEZ on the land, a proposal that is pending with the Board of Approval of the central government. If SEZ status was approved for Tatas' Gopalpur property, the company could avail of the tax benefits for such zones, sources close to the development said.
Orissa had the requisite infrastructure for establishment of an automobile industry, said state Industry Minister B B Harichandan. Already, a lot of steel plants had been proposed in the state, which would cater to the raw material needs of auto manufacturers.
Stating that automobile and auto component manufacture was a natural downstream activity of the massive steel capacity proposed for the state, he said Orissa would also benefit hugely from such industrialisation and the employment generated by it.
Keeping this in mind, the state government proposed to provide incentives to the auto manufacturing sector in its new industrial policy.
The government has also proposed to develop a hub for auto component manufacturers over 500 acres of land at Choudwar in Cuttack district.
