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SemIndia Sought 3 Weeks For Financial Closure
Posted by Pradeep Sadanapalli | August 27, 2008 | 557 views
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Loading ...SemIndia, which has promised to set up the country’s first full-fledged semiconductor fabrication unit, has sought some more time from Andhra Pradesh to freeze plans and finances.
The company, which is the anchor client for the much-hyped Fab City project in Hyderabad, is about three months behind the schedule.
“SemIndia has sought another 2-3 weeks for financial closure. The promoters seem confident of meeting the deadline,” Andhra Pradesh industries secretary B Sam Bob told DNA Money.
SemIndia joined the Fab City project on the outskirts of Hyderabad as its anchor client.
The company has been allotted about 100 acres in the 1,050 acre Fab City to set up a chip manufacturing unit including a 25 acre ATMP or assembly, testing, marking and packaging facility.
The project delay has been bothering the state because the credibility of Fab City is at stake with the anchor client yet to break ground.
The state recently served a notice on SemIndia to expedite the process of taking the project forward.
“Yes we did issue a notice to them. Now the company has explained to us the reasons for the delay and promised to take the project forward in the next three weeks,” Sam Bob said.
“Though we warned them on the delays, we don’t want them to go away. We are more interested in the project coming up than taking action against them,” he said.
The industries department of the state, which is handling the project, reviewed its progress on Monday.
State sources said SemIndia’s founder Vinod Agarwal was also present in the meeting and explained the status to officials and state industries minister J Geeta Reddy.
Agarwal refused to divulge details. “It’s a government meeting and it would be right on the part of the government to tell you the details,” Agarwal told DNA Money.
But SemIndia’s managing director B V Naidu said the company is working on the financial closure. “Though the schedules are yet to be finalised, we will be announcing them shortly,” Naidu said. But he denied receiving any notice from the state. “We haven’t got any such thing (notice),” he said.
According to him, construction work for the $100-million ATMP project is on. SemIndia was given the responsibility to execute the entire Fab City project in Hyderabad.
It was expected to attract about $3 billion in investment from various units in semiconductor manufacturing and other allied activities.
However, with various controversies surrounding the project and the ability of SemIndia in attracting investments, the government had reduced the role of SemIndia to a minority.
Currently, 13 companies have been allotted over 800 acres in Fab City with most of them into solar photo voltaic (PV) module manufacturing.
“Demand for solar PV modules is picking up globally. It’s a positive sign that we (the Fab City) are ready with such projects at the right time,” Sam Bob said.
SOURCES:
DNA Money
Topics: Business News |
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