By Arun Kumar
Washington, Dec 12 (IANS) An Indian copper company, Chandra Proteco Ltd., will start a manufacturing operation in Morgantown under the name Kentucky Copper Inc to create 106 new jobs with an investment of nearly $32 million, Kentucky state governor announced.

“The start-up of Kentucky Copper in Morgantown will create more than 100 direct jobs and a tremendous economic boost

for not only Butler County, but for all of south central Kentucky,” said Governor Steve Beshear.

“Kentucky is proud to partner with Chandra Proteco on this new investment and will continue to work with the company to establish and grow its operations in the Commonwealth,” he said.

Chandra Group has been in the field of copper and copper cable business for more than 40 years, and specializes in transposed cable and railway cables for traction. With more than 500 employees in India, the company’s facilities are spread over India, Europe, Africa and China.

“We are delighted to bring the extensive experience of our parent company, Chandra Copper, to Kentucky along with a commitment to be an active part of the community and the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” said Mukul Gupta, president of Kentucky Copper.

Kentucky Copper will be located in a 163,000 square-foot facility on Veterans Way and will include warehousing, manufacturing and office space, as well as a technology centre.

The company will manufacture products to be used in power transformers, energy transmission and distribution applications, as well as high-speed trains. Three product lines will be phased in and will produce magnet wires, profile and trolley wires and continuously transposed conductors.

The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority preliminarily approved Chandra Protecto Ltd. for tax benefits up to $6 million under the former Kentucky Rural Economic Development Act.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)