HORANA, Sri Lanka—Rigid Tyre, part of the United Arab Emirates-based Onyx Group, has restarted construction on a greenfield tire production plant in Sri Lanka.
Rigid Tyre, in January 2017, said it would build a $78 million plant in Horana, about 30 miles away from Sri Lankan capital of Colombo.The plant was expected to produce 3 million passenger car tires a year.
The project was put on hold due to various disputes, including around the allocation of land for the facility.
In response to ERJ's inquiry, a Rigid Tyre spokesman confirmed that construction at the site has resumed and that the scope of investment had risen to $250 million.
Additionally, the plant's annual capacity has expanded to 200,000 metric tons per year, and the company expects to start commercial production by the third quarter 2019, according to the spokesman.
"The plant is commissioned to manufacture the whole gamut of tires that roll on the roads including passenger as well as commercial and off-road tires," the spokesman added.
Breakdown of the project, he said, now includes 8 million passenger car tires, 2 million truck and bus radial tires and 1 million two-wheeler tires. In addition to that, the plant will manufacture 30,000 tons of of solid tires and 400,000 tons of bias-ply truck tires each year.
"All tires are designed conforming to European and U.S. standards comprising high performance and ultra high performance tires," the spokesman said.
Rigid Tyre's parent company, Onyx Group, acquired Marangoni's solid tire assets in May last year. The company already supplies solid tires under the Marangoni brand.
In January 2017, Marangoni and Rigid Tyre agreed on the sale of the solid tire business as well as the transferring of equipment from Marangoni's Anagni PRC production plant in Italy which was suspended at the end of 2013, when Marangoni exited the PRC segment.