going hi-tech

Jamshedpur, Aug. 11: Adityapur Auto Cluster Limited (AACL) will tomorrow sign an MoU with Creative Forum, a Calcutta-based private firm, for a Rs 40-crore hi-tech laboratory, which will be a part of the ambitious cluster project.

Officials said the MoU would be signed at Aiada Bhavan in Adityapur. “The MoU is an important development towards establishing the hi-tech laboratory. Land and the design of the lab have already been finalised,” said S.N. Thakur, the managing director of AACL. According to him, senior officials of Adityapur Industrial Area Development Authority (Aiada) would be present during the deal.

The hi-tech lab with a research, development and benchmarking centre will come up on five acres along the Tatanagar-Kandra Road in Adityapur. The Rs 40-crore project will involve construction of a structural dynamics lab, a metallurgical lab, a meteorological lab, a tool room, a design lab and a technical library.

Officials said the technical committee, formed to procure equipment for the lab, floated tenders after the design of the lab was approved by the AACL board of directors. The project is expected to be ready by March next year.

The state industry department last month sanctioned Rs 2.18 crore as first instalment for the auto cluster project. The state’s total contribution will be Rs 6.57 crore. According to an understanding, the state will provide 10 per cent of the funds for the project, which entails an investment of about Rs 70 crore.

The Centre will provide 75 per cent of the funds, while entrepreneurs will raise the remaining through equity and financial institutions.

The cluster project also includes construction of an effluent treatment plant and hazardous waste management facility, for which AACL has acquired another 12 acres in Adityapur. Jharkhand Infrastructure Development Corporation is the project management consultant for the treatment plant, which will involve an investment of Rs 30 crore.