Mumbai, March 25 (IANS) Utility vehicle manufacturing leader Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) is all set to put up a $1 billion tractor assembly plant in Tanzania, says Tanzanian Industries, Trade and Marketing Minister Mary Nagu.
“The talks with the automotive major are at an advanced stage and most of the final modalities are just being given the final touch,” said Nagu, a part of the 32-member delegation from the African country led by Tanzanian Vice President Ali Mohammed Shein.
Apart from the modalities of the proposed joint venture, which is going to use the public private participation route, a team from M&M will be visiting Tanzania in the coming months to finalise the location of the plant.
“In the first phase, after the plant completion, the company intends to roll out 3,000 tractors in a year,” Nagu told IANS Monday night.
“We are very keen on this project. Our country is primarily an agriculture country and tractors are necessary farm equipment; moreover, Mahindras are well known in Africa for their automobiles. Thus, for us, instead of importing utility vehicles, it is better that we have a plant in our country and maybe we can even export auto units from our country in future,” the minister said.
The high level delegation has also visited several fertiliser companies and met the top officials of the Pune-based Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd.
“The talks are still at a very initial stage and I cannot say more on this. But then we are very keen for agrarian entrepreneurs in India to scout and invest in our country which has a massive chunk of arable land waiting for reaping a rich harvest,” she said.
Besides, the delegation met sugarcane farmers and agro-based companies seeking investment in Tanzania’s agrarian sector.