The Decatur AlphaPET facility will create 75 new jobs with a $190 million expansion that includes a new building and machinery.

The expansion plans became public this morning when the company requested tax abatements for the project from the Decatur Industrial Development Board, which met to consider the request at Turner-Surles Community Center.

Work on the expansion is expected to start this year and finish by the end of 2015. The tax abatement package approved by the board requires that work begin no later than March 2014, and finish by Dec. 31, 2016.

Gov. Robert Bentley joined local and company officials at Decatur Country Club for the official announcement of the expansion plan.

The Decatur AlphaPET plant manufactures materials used in plastic beverage containers. The new part of the plant will be capable of producing approximately 500,000 tons of resin per year. After the expansion, the Decatur plant will have almost 200 employees.

Yash Awasthi, site manager in Decatur, said the company debated between expanding the Decatur facility or another plant in Spartanburg, S.C.

AlphaPET is owned by Thailand-based Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd.

“Indorama choosing to expand is a compliment to the strong workforce we have here in Alabama,” Bentley said in a prepared statement. 

Indorama Ventures has 41 operating sites in 15 countries on four continents — Asia, Africa, Europe and North America. Over 60 percent of its business is in the Western hemisphere. The company is the second-largest PET producer in North America with production in the United States and Mexico. Besides PET resin, the company also produces fibers and yarns from polyester and polyolefins in the United States. Last year, the company entered the oxides and glycols business in Texas.