State lawmakers approved borrowing more than $40 million to provide incentives for a tire company owned by the Chinese government that is reportedly planning to hire 1,200 people for a new factory in Orangeburg County.
The legislative Joint Bond Review Committee — led by Sen. Hugh Leatherman of Florence — approved a request by the state Commerce Department to issue $40.5 million in general obligation economic development bonds.
The Commerce Department told lawmakers it would use the money for site work, road improvements and a railroad spur on property in Orangeburg County where Wanli Tire Corporation Ltd. plans the factory.
Wanli Tire, based in Guangzhou, China, is a “wholly state-owned enterprise,” according to its website.
It plans to spend $1 billion on the plant in two phases and hire 1,200 people, according to a China Daily news report that was posted on the website of its parent company, Guangzhou Vanlead Group Co.
The news report quoted Xu Wenying, secretary general of the China Rubber Industry Association, as saying that building the U.S. plant would help safeguard Wanli Tire against antidumping duties that have been levied on Chinese tire makers in recent years.
The state Commerce Department has not issued a press release about the project.
Adrienne Fairwell, a spokesperson for the agency, said the plans must still be approved in China.
“This is an interim step if it comes to fruition,” she told UBJ.
If Wanli does build a plant in Orangeburg County, it would be the sixth foreign-owned tire company with major operations in South Carolina.
Five foreign-owned tire makers already in the state — Michelin, Bridgestone, Continental, Giti, and Trelleborg — have together created, or announced, more than 15,200 jobs in the Upstate and Midlands.
