Punj Lloyd to build Asian Highway

Punj Lloyd has secured an EPC highway contract worth Rs. 666 crore from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for 90.586 km of the Asian Highway Network, a cooperative project for improving transport facilities throughout 32 nations and providing road links to Europe, a company release said.

The scope of work comprises rehabilitation and upgrading to 2/4 lanes of Bhutan border at Pasakha to Bangladesh border at Changrabandha comprising Jaigaon, Hasimara, Dhupguri section and Mainaguri-Changrabandha section. This contract includes the proposed Pasakha access road of length 6.558 km, bypass to Jaigaon and Hasimara in West Bengal.

The Asian Highway Network is a part of the Asian Land Transport Infrastructure Development project being supported by United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

Also known as the Great Asian Highway, the network has eight routes in India including AH-48, funded by the Asian Development Bank. The total length of the Asian Highways in India is about 11,458 km, of which 11,432 km are national highways and 26 km are state roads.

The project is scheduled for completion in 30 months.

Speaking on this win, J.P. Chalasani, Managing Director and CEO, Punk Lloyd, said, “We are proud to be a partner in this cooperative project. Besides creating high quality infrastructure, this development will reduce travel time and more importantly improve safety levels for travellers as it will be built to world-class specification.”

The access road at Pasakha, an industrial area in Bhutan, will encourage trade and tourism between India and Bhutan while the Hasimara bypass will decrease the congestion in the city.

With this new order, the group’s order backlog stands at Rs. 24,021 crore. The order backlog is the value of unexecuted orders on September 30, 2014 plus new orders received after that date.

Other recent orders

Ricoh India Ltd, a leading office automation company, has received a Rs. 1,370-crore order from the Department of Posts, Government of India, for the supply, installation and maintenance services of hardware peripheral devices and operating system for the Rural Information and Communication Technology. The project needs to be completed over the next five years.

VA Tech Wabag, a leading Indian MNC in water and wastewater treatment, has won an order worth Rs. 100 crore from Maynilad Water Services, Philippines. The order is for the construction of a 20-mld sewage treatment plant at Tunasan. The project is funded by the World Bank. Wabag is required to design and build the plant. The company will also operate and maintain the plant for one year. At present, the company is executing two large projects at Illugin and Putatan in the Philippines. It has already executed three projects in the country.

L&T Construction and L&T Infotech, both subsidiaries of Larsen & Toubro Ltd, have been selected for a surveillance project in Mumbai. The two entities emerged as the lowest bidders for the project, with a quote of rs. 950 crore. The order entails the installation of about 6,000 closed circuit television cameras across the metro. This is the fourth attempt by the Maharashtra government to invite bids for the project.

Valecha Engineering Ltd has won two projects worth Rs. 157.95 crore. The Valecha Engineering-Arnikonirman JV company bagged an order for upgrading and improving Jaleshor-Loharpatti section of Janakpur Parikarma Road (Ch 0.00-23.00) in Kathmandu, Nepal (Rs. 19.88 crore) and a contract from NHAI for the construction of a flyover and underpass at Hero Honda Chowk (at km 36.175) on Delhi-Gurgaon section of access controlled highway on NH-8 in Haryana (Rs. 138.07 crore).

KNR Constructions Ltd, an infrastructure development company, has secured a Rs. 109.56-crore order from Madhya Pradesh Road Development Corporation Ltd for widening and reconstruction of Dabra-Bhitarwar-Harsi Road (Package-C). The project is to be completed within 24 months. The order has been awarded to the company’s 51:49 joint venture with Tomar Builders & Contractors (KNR-TBCPL).