UK-based NRI to set up steel modular building factory in Pune

A London-based NRI-led company will set up the world’s largest steel modular building factory at Indapur in Maharashtra at a cost of Rs 100 crore.

Chairman of Modulex Modular Buildings Plc, UK, Mr Suchit Punnose, made the announcement at a function held here last night in the presence of Mr Harshavardhan Patil, Maharashtra’s Minister for Co-operation and Parliamentary Affairs, who is also an MLA from Indapur.

Mr Punnose said the factory would be built at a cost of Rs 100 crore and production would start in March next.

Mr Patil said, “All support will be extended to the project, which is expected to provide employment for over 900 people.”

He said the State Government has already sanctioned 40 acres and may consider sanctioning another 30 acres for the project.

Mr Patil, who visited modular buildings in London, said India needs the technology to support infrastructure and economic growth.

Modulex’s technology produces high quality buildings at a fixed cost and time guarantee, Mr Punnose said.

“The factory will have four production lines with an annual capacity of 2 million sq ft, operating on an 8-hour shift five days a week for 11 months,” he said.

This equates to twenty 100-room hotels plus a 1,000 residential or office buildings of 1,000 sq ft each, or accommodation for 2,000 hospital beds, he added.

The factory will be situated on a 40-acre site in Indapur MIDC Industrial Estate, Pune district, 280 km from Mumbai.

“The design, the logistics and the technology compatibility studies have been completed, the land has been acquired, planning and all necessary permissions have been received, debt syndication has been finalised and now ground preparation has started,” Mr Punnose said.

On the technology use and benefits, he said hotels, schools, hospitals, commercial offices, residential buildings, military accommodation and railway stations can be built very quickly with minimum disruption on site.

For example, he said, a 100-room hotel can be constructed in 24 weeks using the technology, with 90 per cent of the work being completed offsite and just 10 per cent onsite.

The cost of modular buildings is the same as traditional buildings and can be built to any design required.

Buildings can be as high as 22 floors, Mr Punnose said.

He said many hotels such as Premier Inns, Travelodges and Days Inns have been built using this technology in the UK. As many as 440 McDonalds restaurants were rolled out in the UK by the management team now employed by Modulex, Mr Punnose said.

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