This refinery is among the most cost-effective in Alcoa's portfolio, and already produced about 7 percent of the world's aluminum capacity. The expansion will add 70 jobs to a payroll of more than 1,000 and take annual production from 6.3 million metric tons to approximately 6.9 million metric tons. The upgrade will add up to 1,000 contractors on site during the project. "Back in July of 2003, we began an engineering study to look at efficiency upgrades," Jim Winter, manager of corporate real estate for Alcoa, told Site Selection. "We wanted to improve the environmental outcomes. We do studies such as this to make sure that it won't affect the environment negatively. We dealt with the local and state government and established a new benchmark for community engagement on projects such as this."
   "Improving our competitiveness will provide secure employment for more than 4,000 West Australians employed by Alcoa in regional communities and 15,000 indirectly employed throughout regional Western Australia," said Wayne Osborn, managing director of Alcoa.    Though attempts to contact this organization proved difficult, its proposed project for a 1,000-employee maintenance and repair hub for large transcontinental jets appears to have legs, having secured licensing from local and regional authorities. According to press reports, the Quang Nam Peoples' Committee and Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam will work with the Malta-based investor on the project, known as a Star Hangar, which will have the ability to house eight Airbus A380 aircraft and eight Boeing 787s simultaneously.    The context for this project was formed via an agreement signed in 2004 to move the company's Asian hub from Subic Bay in the Philippines, but was not officially announced until July 2005. The 1,200-employee complex will be located at the new Baiyun Airport, and is expected to be complete by 2008. One study has stated that by 2010, the hub will already have injected $11 billion into the Chinese economy. UPS is setting up its own regional hub in Shanghai.    This second plant at the site, located near Chennai, will effectively double production there. The complex is part of a Chennai region that one Hyundai executive has called the "Detroit of the East." Key to getting the project through were resolution of concerns over water availability and a switch from sales taxation to value-added taxation. Projects from Hyundai and from companies such as Tata have seen growing support from both state and national governments.    This new project in Mindspace Software Technology Park employs 1,000, and joins an IBM network of Global Delivery Centers that already includes Indian projects in Kolkata, Gurgaon, Pune and Bangalore. The company's employment at the five centers totals 23,000, part of a 38,000-strong Indian work force that continues to grow: In March 2006, another 300 went to work at a new Global Business Solution Center in Bangalore.    The biggest volume vehicle plant in the U.K. is now getting bigger. Since it opened in 1986, the plant has welcomed total investment by Nissan of approximately $4 billion. This project will be helped by $8.7 million in assistance from the U.K. government. The project follows on a $300-million expansion in 2000 to build the Micra.    Whatever one's feelings may be about activity in Iraq, there can be no disagreement that the literal need to rebuild is paramount. This 2.5-million-annual-ton cement plant will help. A 2.3-million-ton plant in Suleimaneyah City, also in Kurdistan, is also being rehabbed by this same Cairo-based consortium.    The expansion will create 1,000 new jobs at the company's Villaverde plant.    This expansion will create 1,000 new jobs in support of the company's popular Yaris model, and follows on a 100-employee expansion in 2004. Total production at the site now stands at 270,000 vehicles a year.