Nano’s Sanand plant goes on stream

SANAND - Tata Motors’ new manufacturing facility for the Nano, the world’s most inexpensive car, opened here Wednesday, nearly two years after the company was forced to shift out of Singur in West Bengal over a land row.

The new plant was inaugurated by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata, who seven years ago had dreamt of making the affordable family car.

“We belong to Gujarat and are happy to return to Gujarat,” said Tata. “I am glad that we will now be able to manufacture the Nano across the country.”

Spread over 1,100 acres, the Sanand plant has been created at an investment of about Rs.2,000 crore.

Speaking on the occasion, Modi said every middle-class family’s dream to own a car was being fulfilled with the inauguration of the Nano plant.

“The revolution brought by Ford in the early 20th century with its small car is being replicated now by Ratan Tata with his Nano,” he added.

The new plant will deliver 250,000 Nanos a year.

Tata had to find a new home for his Nano plant after Tata Motors was forced out of Singur in 2008 by a campaign led by Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress. They alleged that farmers were being forced to surrender their land at unfair rates by the Left Front government for the car plant.

A company spokesman said deliveries from the plant, including BS4 Tata Nanos, will begin later this month. The output, supplemented by the facility at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand, will complete pending orders from the booking process of 2009.

Built in a record time of 14 months starting November 2008, the integrated facility comprises Tata Motors’ own plant spread over 725 acres and an adjacent vendor park spread over 375 acres to house key component manufactures for the Nano.

The plant has state-of-the-art equipment. These include sophisticated robotics and high speed production lines.

Conscious of the critical need for environmental protection, the plant has energy-efficient motors, variable frequency drives and systems to measure and monitor carbon levels. These are supplemented with extensive tree plantation, sustainable water sourcing through water harvesting and ground water recharging and harnessing solar energy for illumination.

The plant has already directly employed 2,400 people. As the capacity is increased, the project, along with the vendor park, is expected to generate about 10,000 direct and indirect jobs.