TOKYO, November 18: Mitsubishi Materials Corporation is pulling out of a proposed 400 million dollar copper smelting joint venture project in India, according to a report in the Nikkei weekly of the newspaper Nihon Kezai Shimbun.

The Mitsubishi decision was due to cost overruns caused by delays, since construction at the smelting plant in Gujarat, due to be operational in January, has not yet begun, the report said.

The British company Metdist Limited is also a partner in the project, whose feasibility study and environment related clearances have taken too long, it said adding cost estimates had blown beyond proportion and the joint venture partners had not yet drawn up a final plan. The original production capacity of the smelter was 1.5 lakh tonnes per year. Mitsubishi joined the project in 1994 with a pledge of 18 per cent contribution to the originally estimated fund, the report said.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.