Rigid Tyre Corporation (Pvt.) Ltd., backed by a Rs11.25 billion (approximately US$75 million) investment from UAE-based Sri Lankan businessman Nandana Lokuwithana, is building a new tyre plant in the Board of Investments (BOI) Industrial Zone in Wagawatta, Horana in Sri Lanka.
Equipped with the latest technology licensed from Italy’s Marangoni Group, the facility is tipped to be the biggest fully integrated tyre manufacturing plant in the country, according to a company statement. The tyre plant, being the first of its kind in Sri Lanka, is commissioned to manufacture the whole gamut of tyres including off-the -road (OTR) tyres, passenger car radials, and truck and bus radials.
W ith the main business intention of capitalising on the European market, all Rigid Tyre products that will be produced in the facility will be tagged “Licensed by Marangoni”.
The plant will also eventually expand into other divisions that will add value to the country’s rubber industry. There are already plans to manufacture high-density conveyor belts for the mining industry and high-pressure hydraulic pipes for oil fields.
The venture is expected to create over 3,000 job opportunities, both direct and indirect.
“It is an initiative with far reaching benefits for the country and certainly can roll out many a profiting mile, be it the economy or Forex; employment of skilled labor or professional development; value adding our natural resource, rubber, or stretching out to investors the world over and beckoning them to Sri Lanka as an investor-friendly nation,” Rigid Tyre said.
A stone-laying ceremony will be held on January 5, with the first foundation stone to be laid by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in the plant’s 100-acre site. Over 1,500 guests including ministers and public officials are expected to attend the grand event.
The venture’s investor, Lokuwithana, is the chairman of Ceylon Steel Corp. and its member company MA Steel Lanka (Pvt.) Ltd., as well as chairman of Onyx Group, a diversified holding company in United Arab Emirates.
In addition to the tyre plant, the project will also have a four-storey ultra-modern research lab to advance research and development, a plant complex with cutting edge technology known for high performance, fuel efficiency and its environmental safety, as well as residential quarters.