Natarajan: Turnaround time

Calcutta, Nov. 11: Durgapur-based Mining & Allied Machinery Corporation (MAMC), which had closed two decades ago, may resume operations from March.

“We hope to inaugurate the first phase of the MAMC plant by March next year,” said V.R.S. Natarajan, chairman and managing director of BEML, formerly Bharat Earth Movers Ltd, on the sidelines of the International Mining and Machinery Exhibition 2010 here today.

Earlier this fiscal, MAMC was acquired by a consortium of BEML, Coal India and Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) for Rs 100 crore.

On June 11, Calcutta High Court had approved the sale of MAMC through an open bidding.

“We are now waiting for the land to be handed over to us,” Natarajan said, adding that the consortium was supposed to get 95 acres of the factory land and another 100 acres of residential complex at Durgapur where the plant is located.

The 195-acre land is under the possession of the Asansol Durgapur Development Authority (ADDA).

According to Natarajan, ADDA has agreed to assign the factory land initially to the consortium.

The consortium will initially invest Rs 200 crore as equity capital to revive MAMC.

BEML holds a 48 per cent share in the joint venture, while Coal India and DVC hold 26 per cent each.

Natarajan said the new facility would manufacture spare parts for mining equipment and would later foray into the production of mining tools.

According to the BEML chairman, MAMC has the potential to generate Rs 500-crore business in the next five years.

The closed MAMC plant has more than 1,400 machines, of which 800 can be operated immediately.

Besides underground mining equipment production plants, MAMC has facilities for oxidation, forging and casting.