Patel Engg bags $1 bn Mauritius project

Mumbai-based Patel Engineering has been awarded the contract to develop the largest waterfront project in the southern hemisphere. The project, an integrated township in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, is valued at $1 billion.

Spread over more than 24 hectares, the project involves residential, commercial, entertainment and real estate.

“Patel Engineering has been shortlisted as the successful bidder and a formal announcement is expected any day,” sources confirmed. Rupen Patel, managing director of Patel Engineering, was unavailable for comment.

The company is a mid-cap construction engineer. It owns large land banks in Mumbai and Bangalore.

The project is being developed in collaboration with the Mauritius government and will be executed by a subsidiary in three phases over seven years. The first phase of about three million square feet is expected to be ready in three years.

Mauritius has a long-standing double taxation avoidance treaty with India that is currently under review by India, which suspects many overseas deals of being routed through the island-nation to avoid paying tax in India.

Analysts said with the meltdown in Dubai, the timing of the project is critical because it is expected to attract significant investments from Indians.