china to build car plant in cameroon, page-2

YAOUNDE, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Chinese carmaker Futian Automobile plans to build a $500 million utility vehicle assembly plant in Cameroon for the six-nation central African regional market, Cameroon's industry ministry said on Friday.

The plant will start rolling out about 5,000 trucks and vans annually from July 2013 and will create about 8,000 direct jobs, the ministry said in a statement after the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the company.

It said the plant will be located at Kribi, which has seen a number of Chinese investments including the construction of a deep sea port and a terminal for the Mbalam iron ore project which China's Hanlong group is seeking to take over from Sundance Resources in a $1.4 billion deal.

"In the first phase, the vehicles will be assembled from imported parts, and in the second phase they will be assembled from the local raw materials produced from Mbalam iron ore," the statement said. (Reporting by Tansa Musa; Writing by Bate Felix)