The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Fab City project here to stay, says SemIndia chairman

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Apr 26, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Fab City project here to stay, says SemIndia chairman

Special Correspondent

Vinod K. Agarwal

HYDERABAD: Allaying apprehensions over the setting up of the Fab City, SemIndia Inc., the promoters of the mega semiconductor facility here, has announced that phase I of the project with a test and assembly plant will be ready within a year.

The company would commence the work on infrastructure development for the larger Fab facility which would commence simultaneously, SemIndia chairman Vinod K. Agarwal said here. At a press conference on Wednesday, he expressed concern over the delay in allotment of land by the State Government affecting the work on the project.

Land allotment

Major Industries Minister J. Geeta Reddy later said that the orders allotting land and incorporating other provisions, including water and power, would be issued soon. The promoters were given authorisation in writing to the promoters to enable them obtain the special economic zone approval.

The entire top management of SemIndia was here to clarify on the recent allegations levelled against it by the TDP which questioned the capability of the promoter and his credentials to execute this project. The company, Dr. Agarwal said, achieved financial closure for the first phase and would begin construction once the land is registered.

Quoting SemIndia Systems, a company under SemIndia Inc., he said it was on course to achieving revenues of Rs. 100 crore in less than six months since inception. "We have done much bigger projects than SemIndia and we are not here to make money on the land," he said.

Major firms, including AMD, Flextronics and others, each with market capitalisation of few hundred million dollars were participating in the venture and the promoters had no plans to shift the project elsewhere.

Once established, the Fab City would provide eight million jobs in the next 10 years and it would help the country play a larger role in the global semiconductor marketplace, he said.

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