L&T plans 6,500 Mw power generation capacity in 4 yrs

To set up seven new factories at Hazira

Having bagged the 1,600 Mw thermal power project in Punjab, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) seems to be betting big on power generation business. The leading engineering, manufacturing and construction major now intends to have nearly 6,500 Mw of power generation capacity in next four years.

"L&T won 1,600 Mw thermal power plant at Rajpura near Chandigarh in Punjab. We want to increase our thermal power generation capacity to 5,000 Mw 4 four years. In addition to this, the company already has 500 Mw hydro power project in hand and we will plan to add another 1,000 Mw over the next four years taking the power generation capacity to 6,500 Mw," said AM Naik, chairman and managing director, L&T, who was in Surat to lay the foundation stone for a new steel manufacturing and heavy forging plant.

The engineering giant has forged a 74:26 joint venture with Nuclear Power Corporation Limited (NCPIL) to set up this plant involving an investment of Rs. 1,750 crore. "Gujarat is the most important center for the growth of L&T. We have already made substantial investment in the state and now we are setting up seven new factories at Hazira to manufacture turbines, boilers, heavy forging and nuclear shops, which will attract a capital investment of Rs. 5,000 crore," he added.

The company is also in talks with a foreign company to form another joint venture for manufacturing fans and pre-heaters. The joint venture will also have the same proportion of equity sharing as it has in JV with NCPIL. "L&T's first boiler shop, the second largest in the country, will be ready by March 2010 and all the units are expected to be commissioned by March-May 2011," Naik said.

L&T is currently working on 4 road projects. Of the the four, one project has been started, while three will soon take off. The company is also hopefull of getting one more road project in Kutch district of the state. According to Naik, L&T will infuse around Rs 6,500 to Rs 7,000 crore for road projects in Gujarat alone.

Orders worth Rs. 15,000 crore for power equipments are the company's hand and its orderbook as on 31 March 2009 stood at around 90,000 crore. In oder to match the manpower requirement in line with its expansion projects, the company plans to increase its headcount by 5,000 and 1,500 for its information technology business.