Contract Signed To Build Nz Car Park Technology In

Contract signed to build NZ car park technology in India.

A New Zealand company has signed an agreement with a company based in Mumbai (previously Bombay), India, to manufacture New Zealand-designed car parking systems .

The first U-Parkit system was installed at Rotorua Airport and opened by the Prime Minister last year. With her is Phil Jones,founder of the U-Parkit technology.

The agreement commits to building over $US50 million worth of the New Zealand-design car parks over the next three years, throughout India, the Gulf States and Arabic Africa.

The first contract will be a $US4.2 million car park in Ismailia, an Egyptian city serving the Suez Canal. This is scheduled to be completed by April next year.

U-Parkit car parking is a fully automated car stacking system requiring much smaller real estate than conventional car parks. Systems accommodating hundreds of cars can also be built within weeks once consents are in place.

The manufacturing contract is between Ahu Developments Ltd in Auckland, which owns the U-Parkit technology and Metcon Limited which has offices in Mumbai.

Metcon paid a seven figure sum to secure the manufacturing rights.

Mr Yogi Shah, managing director of Metcon, said he is confident that Metcon' s plant will be building 5,000 cells a year by the end of 2008. He said the Mumbai economy alone will take up much of this capacity.

"There are now more millionaires in Mumbai than the whole population of New Zealand," he said. "U-PARKIT will be a product in big demand because this very wealthy city is sited on a narrow strip of land where real estate is very costly.

"A two bedroom apartment in the city centre now fetches around $1NZ million."

The deal also gives Ahu on-going revenues in both manufacturing and distribution margins.

Since the U-Parkit prototype was unveiled in New Zealand in December 2005, over $15 million in marketing licences have been sold and four installations confirmed in Egypt, Australia, Auckland and Rotorua.

However, Mr Jones said more than 40,000 individual car park cells are currently being negotiated throughout the World. He said the company is expecting dramatic growth in confirmed contracts during 2008.

"While our system improves car parking efficiency and the use of expensive real estate, they are big ticket items and the time lapse from inquiry to signing a contract can take between one and two years."

Mr Jones said the two companies had been in discussion for about three months.

"Ähu's policy is to establish manufacturing partnerships in various World regions. At this stage, India, South Africa and Mexico are in progress.

"We expect to have at least one manufacturing facility in the European and North American continents as well," he said.

He said Metcon would be delivered all manufacturing contracts from the agreed region and several more are expected next year. Mr Shah said his own company is also dealing with growing demand.

ENDS

© Scoop Media