Work on Renault’s new factory in Tangier, Morocco, will start in September with the first cars due to be produced from January 2012, Renault president Carlos Ghosn told a news conference in Rabat.
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There had been doubts about the factory, whoch was announced last September, following the decision by Renault’s alliance partner Nissan to pull out of the project earlier this year.
The EUR600m (US$832m) project is a partnership with the Moroccan government. Ghosn was in Morocco to meet King Mohammed and top government officials and to dispel any doubt about the factory’s future.
“All what has been planned will be achieved,” Ghosn said, adding that he had already approved the investment for plant equipment.
“The buildings of this plant will be erected beginning September this year,” Ghosn said, adding that the only change would be “the rate of production” of the factory, which would depend on market circumstances.
“The first cars good for sales will be produced from the Tangier plant in January 2012 as scheduled,” he said, adding that Nissan would return to the project at a future date.
The factory is seen as an important project for Morocco where the government has invested more than $10bn in developing the northern areas of the country around the Mediterranean port complex of Tangiers.
Reuters reported that the government was hoping that investing in the region will result in more jobs for local people, many who have been eking out their livings from transporting illegal migrants into Europe and participating in the growing trade in smuggling cannabis into Spain.
Ghosn said the planned car plant would employ 4,000 people directly and 24,000 indirectly and would help Morocco develop its fledgling car parts industry.
