Calcutta, May 22: Soon after the entry of the Tata group in the automobile sector in Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s Bengal, foreign firms have shown interest in setting up a bus manufacturing unit in the state.

Officials from Yu Tong Bus Company Limited, one of the largest bus body manufacturers in China, along with a Bangladeshi company, Nitol-Niloy Group, met commerce and industry minister Nirupam Sen and discussed the proposed venture.

The Chinese company wants to set up a bus body manufacturing unit near Kharagpur in a joint venture with the Bangladeshi concern.

Edward Chang, investment manager of the Zhengzhou Yu Tong Group Company, the parent firm, four representatives of the Yu Tong, its subsidiary, and the group director of the Bangladeshi company, Abdul Mannan Ahmed, are in the state to scout for a land for the project.

The team is leaving for Kharagpur tomorrow. Officials from the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation will accompany them.

“Today, they made a presentation before the industry minister on their expertise in the field,” said commerce and industry secretary Sabyasachi Sen after the meeting.

The group wants around 300 acres near the Telcon unit at Kharagpur, where the Tata subsidiary proposes to set up a unit manufacturing payloaders and heavy earthmovers.

“Currently, the Bangladeshi group imports around 1000 compressed natural gas engines with chassis from the Tata plant in Jamshedpur every year. The Chinese-Bangladeshi collaboration now wants to manufacture the whole body in Bengal,” said N. Pal Chowdhury, partner of N. Pal Chowdhury Engineering Enterprises, the mediator in the project.

“The Chinese company will bring pre-fabricated material from China, assemble it with the Tata chassis in Kharagpur and then supply from Bengal. They also plan to export to other countries with their base in Bengal,” said Pal Chowdhury.

According to him, the two companies had initially shortlisted Pakistan, Bangladesh and India for the project, but they found India most feasible. “This is because Bangladesh imposes an import duty of 65 per cent on chassis, while only 6 per cent is levied on ready buses,” he said.

After the Kharagpur inspection, the team will visit Haldia port, from where they will source their raw material and machinery from China.

After they return to their country, the Chinese representatives will discuss the project and then report back to the Bengal government.

“Chang told the minister that he would discuss the matter with the sales and marketing supervisor of Yu Tong Bus Company Limited, Vicky Zhu, and will get back. They will also carry out a survey on the project,” said an official.