— Photo: Shashi Ashiwal

GREENFIELD PLANT: V. K. Jairath (left), Secretary (Industries) of the Government of Maharashtra and Liang Wengen, Chairman, Sany Group of China, signing a memorandum of understanding in Mumbai on Thursday.

MUMBAI: The Chinese construction machinery giant Sany group is poised to set up a $70-million plant to build 15,000 units of building equipment in Pune Maharashtra. from 2007.

The Sany Chairman, Luiang Wengen, and the Maharashtra Industries Secretary, V. K. Jairath, signed here on Thursday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in the presence of the Chinese Ambassador, Sun Yuxi, and the Maharashtra Industries Minister, Ashok Chavan, and the Finance Minister, Jayant Patil, and the Chief Secretary, D. K. Shankaran.

This would be the Sany's first manufacturing facility outside China. The $1-billion group produces 110 types of machinery for earthmoving, construction and infrastructure building, including trailer mounted concrete pumps, truck mounted concrete pumps, concrete batching plants, rollers, asphalt pavers, excavators, cranes and drilling rigs.

Hailing the Chinese investment in India, Mr. Sun said that 21st century could belong to Asia but only if China and India cooperated and collaborated. He said China had a large reserve of foreign exchange and Beijing encouraged investment abroad.

"Sany considers India to be an important partner in its future growth and that is why we want our first manufacturing facility outside China to be in India,'' Mr. Luiang said. The Sany group looked forward to investing more in India with a view to catering to its ever-expanding overseas market, he said.

Mr. Shankaran said the Sany's decision to set up the construction machinery plant in Maharashtra had come at the right moment for the State government had drawn a plan to invest $60 billion in infrastructure of Mumbai and that was going to generate a great demand for the construction machinery. He said the Chinese plant would end the monopoly of the West and would increase the competition. The city transport, BEST, had planned to import buses from China, he said.

Mr. Chavan promised all help and cooperation for the project and said Maharashtra was a highly industrialised State and offered the best infrastructure and work culture.

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