MUMBAI: Boeing Company of the U.S. will invest $185 million to set up a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility, a training facility and a flight training academy in Nagpur, Maharashtra. The company will invest $100 million in the MRO facility, $75 million in an aeronautical training facility and $10 million in a flight training facility.

Dinesh Keskar, Senior Vice President, Boeing Company, said, "We will start work in a fortnight from now in Nagpur. We will also work with academic institutions to create a curriculum so that trained staff can be absorbed in Boeing. The $185 million is the least we will be investing here. We will also like to invite Air India to be partners in the MRO facility as it is a greenfield facility.'' The setting up of the MRO is part of the deal Boeing entered into with Air India last year, whereby it will supply 68 aircraft for $11 billion over the next few years with aircraft delivery commencing from November.

Addressing the media here, Praful Patel, Union Civil Aviation Minister, said the Air India order last year was the biggest order anywhere for Boeing. "We made sure we got something in return as 30 per cent of the total value of that transaction is counter trade.'' Further, Mr. Patel said, the Government's new aviation policy had mandated Nagpur as the new cargo hub and it would receive special incentives. "To kick-start this, Indian Airlines' cargo services will be headquartered in Nagpur. The MRO is only a repair facility and we will have to build around it. We are also making full efforts to ensure that the Airbus MRO also comes to Maharashtra.''

The Minister said the clearance of the technical feasibility report for setting up a second Airport at Navi Mumbai had been received from the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The bids for the same would be completed by 2007 and the airport would be completed by 2011-12. After the Indira Gandhi National Flying Institute at Rae Bareilly, a second institute, Rajiv Gandhi National Flying Institute, would come up in Gondhia, Maharashtra. "It will come up as a joint venture and we are in the process of selecting a partner and the process will be completed by the end of the year.''

Sharad Pawar, Union Minister for Agriculture, while appreciating the investments coming into Maharashtra, said Pune would be one of the major automobile centres in the world in the next five to six years. "Auto component exports alone will cross Rs. 75,000 crore in this period and already all large national and several international automobile makers are there.''

Mr. Keskar commended the Government for the change in the civil aviation sector over the last 12-18 months.

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