A Bengal government delegation led by chief secretary H.K. Dwivedi and industry secretary Vandana Yadav on Monday visited the factory premises of Travipos, which is part of PCM Railone, a Siliguri-headquartered company, in Constanti of Spain, during which the PCM Group of Industries expressed interest in setting up a hotel and two plants in the state.

Kamal Kumar Mittal, chairman of the PCM Group, told The Telegraph that the company was going to set up an ethanol plant with a daily capacity of two lakh litres in Siliguri at an investment of Rs 150 crore. It would also set up a concrete sleeper manufacturing plant in north Bengal, in addition to the existing unit at New Jalpaiguri, at an investment of more than Rs 100 crore.

“We have operations in 14 countries, including Spain, Germany and West Asia and we are a global leader in manufacturing railway sleepers.... But we have faith in Bengal and that’s why we are headquartered in Siliguri,” Mittal said over the phone.

Besides the ethanol plant and the new sleeper manufacturing unit, the company is also keen to set up a five-star hotel in Siliguri, said Mittal, who is in the delegation travelling with the chief minister.

A source in the state government said the plans of the PCM Group, which employs over 3,500 people across the globe, could be a game-changer for the development of the region.

“We are looking at employment opportunities for 2,000-odd people,” Mittal said.

The delegation, which included business leaders and bureaucrats, visited the factory in Constanti, 100km from Barcelona where chief minister Mamata Banerjee reached on Sunday evening. She is scheduled to chair a campaign event in the Catalonian metropolis on Tuesday to attract investors to the Bengal Global Business Summit in November.

Travipos, part of the PCM Group that has a turnover of over Rs 2,000 crore, produces railway sleepers for Spain Railways.

The Constanti factory, in partnership with a Spanish company Comsa, produces over 45,000 sleepers a month and is the major supplier of sleepers to Spain Railways.

The PCM Group was encouraged by the state’s ethanol production promotion policy to boost investments in the sector and the financial and non-financial incentives to prospective investors. Financial incentives include a waiver on land mutation and conversion fees, stamp duties, and electricity duties.

Bengal has an adequate supply of maize and broken rice, from which ethanol can be easily made. In 2018, the BJP-led Centre had notified the national policy on biofuels, in which a target to use 20 per cent ethanol-blended petrol by 2025 was set.