'I am overwhelmed at this gesture by the company’s leadership team. I feel it is a wonderful acknowledgement of the contribution in transforming marshland into a complex that can, today, be described as the pride of the nation,' said AM Naik.
Infrastructure multinational Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has renamed its manufacturing facility located at Hazira in Surat as AM Naik Heavy Engineering Complex — after the company’s chairman AM Naik.
In a function held at the facility on Wednesday, attended by senior L&T executives and government officials, Naik said: “I am overwhelmed at this gesture by the company’s leadership team. I feel it is a wonderful acknowledgement of the contribution in transforming marshland into a complex that can, today, be described as the pride of the nation. Hazira is an affirmation that L&T will manufacture equipment for critical sectors of the economy and continue to make the things that make India proud.”
A release from the company said that about 30 years ago, Naik, as the then head of the Heavy Engineering and EPC projects, had chosen the marshland to be a manufacturing complex. “The site near the mouth of the river Tapi, on which the facility is located, was once a swampy wasteland that used to be inundated during high tides. Naik envisioned that the water-front complex would meet the company’s long-term aspirations to manufacture over-dimensioned and complex reactors and pressure vessels,” the release said.
The Hazira facility, over the years, has expanded to incorporate a modular fabrication yard, and manufacturing of supercritical power plant equipment, nuclear forgings and a unique armoured systems complex. “It took single-minded determination to achieve all this. This 750-acre facility with a 1.6 km long waterfront has the distinction of exporting large and sophisticated equipment to countries around the world including the US, Canada, and France. Over the years, Hazira has set multiple global benchmarks including manufacturing the world’s biggest reactors for several refineries and petrochemical plants, oil & gas platforms and critical equipment for defence. A highlight of the defence equipment programme was the manufacture of howitzers – the K9 Vajra – which has since been inducted into the Indian Army,” the release said.
SN Subrahmanyan, CEO and managing director, L&T, said: “L&T’s board of directors unanimously decided to honour chairman AM Naik for the role he has played in setting up this large facility at Hazira, near Surat, by naming it AM Naik Heavy Engineering Complex.”
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