Maharashtra govt to pursue civil aircraft mfg at Nagpur SEZ

In what could be the biggest investment being pumped into Nagpur Special Economic Zone (SEZ), the Maharashtra government has decided to pursue civil aircraft manufacturing proposal for the Multimodal International Hub Airport at Nagpur (MIHAN) project. 

Maharashtra Chief Minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh has said that the proposal of Russian jet manufacturer Sukhoi Company (JSC) was very much on the cards and that if it came through, would lead to an investment of Rs 13,000 crore in the Nagpur SEZ.

Talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of a Congress convention on Monday, Deshmukh said that Sukhoi Company will be tying up with the Delhi-based Vavasi Group to set up the facility which will be the first aircraft manufacturing unit in the country. 

The tie-up was confirmed by Vavasi Group's Head of HR and Administration, Sunil Kacker who said that the group had already had two rounds of talk with Deshmukh.

“We intend bringing Sukhoi's plant to manufacture 100 to 120 seater aircraft in India and also components for aircraft,” Kacker revealed. He said that the aircraft, proposed to be manufactured at the Nagpur SEZ, will be in the Airbus 320 and Boeing 737 category. “These will be state-of-the-art aircraft which will be more fuel efficient and will have advanced navigation and safety features,” Kacker disclosed.

The Vavasi Group also has a tie-up with the Al-Bukhari Group of Malaysia which is into the aviation sector, revealed Union Minister for Renewable Energy and local MP, Vilas Muttemwar. “This will not only mean the biggest investment so far in the MIHAN SEZ but will also create more jobs in the region,” said Muttemwar.

Kacker said that the MIHAN SEZ at Nagpur was the logical choice for the company because aircraft manufacturing facility needed an airport in proximity. "Our technical teams have visited Nagpur and found the place to be ideal. We take the project as also our corporate social responsibility because Vidarbha happens to be a backward region where such investment can do wonders," he said. 

The spokesman also maintained that aircraft components and aircraft will also be exported from the facility. “We will work out the details regarding offering the aircraft in the domestic tariff area (DTA) later,” he said.

Kacker said that along with the Sukhoi investment, the Vavasi Group will also be investing in a renewable energy park at the five star Butibori Industrial Estate here. “We intend investing around US $ 600 million (Rs 2,700 crore approx.) in the facility to manufacture silicon solar panels and other apparatus,” he said. The Vavasi Group is into real estate development and is soon to get into the mobile telephony sector. “We have already demonstrated our next generation technology to the Ministry of Telecommunication and are awaiting their assent to roll out the service,” he revealed.

The Chief Minister told reporters here that he was very keen on the project coming to Nagpur and that he would be meeting with representatives of the Vavasi Group and Sukhoi during his next visit to Delhi on October 13. “We will discuss the modalities leading to signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the company,” he said.

Sukhoi will be the fourth aviation related company after Boeing, Tata Group company TAL, and US based Bravia to evince interest in the MIHAN SEZ. 

While TAL has already set up its unit at the SEZ, Boeing is in final stages of tying up a deal with the Maharashtra Airport Development Company Limited (MADC), the nodal agency for the development of the MIHAN SEZ. Bravia is also in the process of finishing the formalities for setting up a maintenance, repair and overhaul base here.