The Hindu Business Line : Chennai may join race for BMW plant

DESPITE the optimism and hype generated by it, there is a growing uncertainty about the prospects of Kerala bagging the car assembly unit that the global major BMW is planning to set up in India.

The State's hopes were kindled by the visit of a team of officials from the German company last year for a preliminary assessment of the site in Kochi along with other locations in the country.

The positive signals thrown up by the visit had prompted the Government to prepare a blueprint of the facility and even invite tenders for building the basic infrastructure in the HMT land identified for the project.

According to top officials in the State Industries Department, there is a strong possibility of Chennai joining the race for the project. In the event, it will turn into a tough competition for Kochi as also Hyderabad, the other location BMW is said to be looking at for putting up the unit.

The State Government has, meanwhile, accepted the tender submitted by Shapoorji Pallonji for construction of facilities at a cost of Rs 53 crore. But it has been kept in abeyance pending the final decision of BMW on the location.

The sources explained that the State had gone thus far to accommodate one of BMW's conditions that the infrastructure should be ready so as to enable it to start operations immediately after taking a decision on the project.

The sources said that as of now Kochi had the edge over Hyderabad in the matter of lease rent. While the State Government has quoted six per cent of the cost as lease rent, it is eight per cent in the case of Hyderabad.

But, the scenario might change if Chennai also entered the fray, they said.

The BMW had earlier said that its board would take a decision on the project in the first week of February this year. Now, it has been put off to some time in May, the officials said.

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