Tata arm's 800 buses for Casablanca

Hispano Maghreb, the fully owned subsidiary of Hispano Carrocera in which Tata Motors has a 21 per cent stake, has bagged a contract to supply 800 urban buses to Casablanca's urban transport operator, M'Dina Bus.

The first batch of 200 Hispano's 'Habit' buses, built on Iveco and Scania chassis, would be delivered in 2006 to Casablanca in Morocco and similar numbers for the next three years, Tata Motors said in a release in Mumbai on Monday.

The M'Dina Bus Consortium was formed by RATP Development (the international business unit of the public transport company of Paris), finance.com (a financial private company) and Al Bahja/Haddou Bus, a local tourist operator.

Hispano Carrocera CEO Gerardo M Gica said, "This deal establishes a great starting point for our growth plans after tying-up with Tata Motors of India. Europe, North Africa and Middle East are key markets in our strategic plan, and creating a manufacturing facility in Morocco will help us meet these challenges."

Ravi Kant, Hispano Carrocera chairman and Tata Motors executive director (commercial vehicle business unit), said, "This development reinforces our confidence in Hispano's competency and capability to supply world class buses in Europe and outside. We expect to open new markets in North Africa and Middle East."