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Jeety constructs US$25M tyre factory

Production to start in 2026

Indian businessman and Philanthropist Mr. Upjit Singh Sachdeva (known as Jeety) has begun the construction of a US$25 million Rubber Processing Factory in Cita, Margibi County to produce tyres for the first time in Liberia.

Mr. Jeety told senior journalists during a tour at the ongoing construction site that production of tyres will start in 2026, just 100 years after Firestone, the world-leading rubber producer began operation in Liberia and shipment of latex outside the country.

Artist impression of the factory complex

The Factory, including warehouses, washing and treatment plants would be situated on 13 hectares of property. Expected to be the largest in the country, the factory building (132,000 sq ft) will be completely prefabricated.

The construction which is estimated to take one year to complete started just six months after the government of Liberia and Jeety Rubber LLC signed the concession agreement in December last year.

According to the agreement, Jeety Rubber LLC will construct, develop, and operate a national rubber processing and production plant to produce tyres and other natural rubber products.

Contractors at work

The processing plant is also expected to produce hand gloves, rain boots, and rubber bands, among others. The company will process approximately 25,000 tons of natural rubber per annum.

Currently, Jeety has opened his doors to local rubber producers like the Farmers Hope Company, which is now using about one acre of his property to buy rubber from local farmers for onward shipment abroad.

Mr. Jeety said the rationale behind this is to get local farmers acquainted with his facility so that when constructions are completed, and his company begins full operation local farmers would have gotten accustomed to his company.

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Women are included

Bong County Senator Henry Yallah is the Chief Executive Officer of Farmers Hope. He told journalists during the tour that he has a one-year agreement with Jeety Rubber to use the facility to purchase his rubber latex from local farmers and pays an annual rental fee of US$1.00 for usage.

He said the arrangement will be reversed at the end of the year, to enable him to return to his own site.

Pointing at the ground littering with dry rubber latex, Sen. Yallah said “this place is operated by Farmers Hope and Farmers Hope company is owned by me. This company has been here for little more than one year this is 2022, and we started 2021 February.”

men at work

“So, when Mr. Jeety brought his factory here, he asked us as a company to come here and start to buy here to open a lead way so that when he starts his rubber processing, the farmers will already know his place,” Sen. Yallah said.

He said their goal as a company is to work with Jeety to expose his plant and this is what he needs right now as construction is ongoing.

For the Cita District Commissioner Roland Johnson, Jeety’s investment in the area has brought some economic relief for the citizens in the area.

He said it has also provided some incentives for the locals with over 200 locals already employed, many of whom rents are being paid by Jeety.

women are involved at the construction site

He said Jeety is working on establishing a clinic in the village with a Pakistani Doctor already being arraigned as a resident Doctor to run the clinic when finished.

Jeety has big dreams. He wants to ensure that the factory and products are all up to international standards.

But being the first in a country that has been the largest producer of rubber, he is expected to face stiff resistance, especially from companies that have operated here for nearly a century and have not transformed raw rubber materials into finished products. – By Othello B. Garblah

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