By IANS,
Kolkata : Tata Motors’ small car project in Singur in West Bengal has incurred a cost overrun of Rs.3 billion ($71.4 million), the company’s managing director Ravi Kant said Saturday.
“The entire project had been reworked and we are investing Rs.20 billion in Singur now, which was earlier estimated at Rs.17 billion,” Kant said after meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee at the state secretariat at Writers Building here.
The project cost rise has been attributed to “challenges” like water logging at the plant site during last year’s monsoon. Tata Motors, along with auto parts suppliers, has pumped in money to raise the level of the land to prevent such situations in future.
“We are working at breakneck speed to meet the launch deadline,” Kant said. Nano, regarded as the world’s cheapest in its category, is scheduled to roll out in October.
The car would be tested within the plant site in September before its formal launch, he added.
Meanwhile, a large group of peasants held protests Friday at the factory site demanding the firm give them jobs or the government return the land acquired for the small car project. The protesters brought down a portion of the factory wall while Kant and other senior officials of the company were on a visit to the facility.