Sanwo-Olu Visits GAC Motors Assembly Plant Owned By Lagos-CIG Motors, Will Produce 5,000 Vehicles Per Year

Governor Sanwo-Olu visits GAC Motors assembly plant jointly set up by the Lagos Govt and CIG Motor.

The plant will be produce 5,000 vehicles per year in the first, after which it will be pushed to 10,000 per year.

The massive vehicle facility at Ogba in Lagos State has wheel balancing chamber, spraying booths and maintenance hall.

Other areas include noise testing chambers, sprinkling arena to test for roof leakage, staff lounge and auto parts warehouse.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, on Thursday, visited GAC Motors Nigeria Assembly Plant at Wempco Road, Ogba, Ikeja, where he inspected the progress of work at the automobile facility being jointly set up by Lagos State Government and CIG Motors.

Sanwo-Olu was joined on the tour by his Deputy, Dr Obafemi Hamzat and Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Frederic Oladeinde. The Governor was received by Chinese investor and chairman of the CIG Motors Company Limited, Chief Diana Chen.

Sanwo-Olu’s visit came 17 months after the he formally sealed a Joint Venture Agreement with the automobile company for the establishment of a Vehicle Assembly Plant in the State.

The plant is expected to produce 5,000 units of new vehicles when it becomes operational by the end of the year, after which it will be pushed to 10,000 vehicles per year. It will have a jointly-run factory for the production of different classes of brand new cars.

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During his visit, the Governor inspected the fully equipped assembly halls already constructed in the assembly yard. Other ancillary facilities already in place in the yard include wheel balancing chamber, spraying booths, maintenance hall, noise testing chambers, sprinkling arena to test for roof leakage, staff lounge and auto parts warehouse.

Sanwo-Olu said :

“This is one of the things we promised Lagosians. Apart from our relationship with CIG Motors, there is a partnership in which we are setting up a vehicle assembly plant. This is becoming a reality, as the site is live with structures and assembly equipment.

“The place has been well prepared for the production of vehicles. We initially agreed it would be SKD (Semi Knocked Down) but now the facility has moved to CKD (Completely Knocked Down).

“We are hoping that their first plan is to have a production capacity of 5,000 vehicles, after which it will be pushed to 10,000 vehicles per year. We are happy with the level of work at the site and the commitment of our partner to this project.

“The plan is that we want to stop buying fully built vehicles from abroad; we want to be able to have an assembly line where we can employ our citizens in an automobile production chain.”

Sanwo-Olu said the automobile assembly plant would create employment opportunities for local skilled workers, adding that some of the parts used in the assembly plant would be sourced locally, including air conditioning system, valves, ball joints, bolts and nuts, and batteries.

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