Mangaluru: The Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) president Issac Vas argues that setting up a Tesla manufacturing plant in Mangaluru will bring the spotlight back to it as the city is in no way lesser than any leading cities in India.
“We have all the necessary resources and facilities that are there in the IT city of Bengaluru with the added benefit of having a port,” he said. Mangaluru city he said has all the skill sets, infrastructure, land, connectivity among other things to support the coming up of such an industry. Land stretches are available for the plants around Padubidri, Mulur and Bolkunje around Mangaluru. “Export and import of goods and automobiles become easier with the help of the Mangaluru port and hence the place becomes a very prominent location to hold such an industry,” he said.
Mangaluru is seen as a crucial hotspot for business and education where people come and settle down for good. It has air, sea, rail and road connectivity which no other region in the state has. Mangaluru area has 21 engineering colleges, besides several industrial training institutes and polytechnics that produce hundreds of engineers and technicians. “This will also open up a lot of job opportunities for the people in the state,” he added.
KCCI had urged the CM Yediyurappa to promote the process highlighting the benefit of having such a ‘high profile’ industry in the state. “Government is pushing towards producing such electric cars as it will benefit the environment too and hence such a project is of importance to us,” said Mr Vaz.
Mr. Vas said that the KCCI along with the government are working towards making sure that Mangaluru is in the race towards setting up the industry. The chamber has contacted Tesla founder, Elon Musk in this regard. “Mangaluru is called as the Hidden gem of the world and its about time we bring the attention back to it,” he said.
Tesla, Inc. is an American electric vehicle and clean energy company based in Palo Alto, California. They have manufacturing industries set up in UK, US, Netherlands and China. They sell products like electric cars, battery energy storage from home to grid scale, solar panels and solar roof tiles, as well as other related products and services.