R-Infra gets Rs 1,000-cr contract from Gujarat govt

Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG)’s flagship company Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (R-Infra) has won a Rs 1,000-crore road project from the Gujarat government, within a week after winning the Rs 1,725-crore Pune-Satara Road project from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI).

R-Infra quoted Rs 42-crore premium over the bids of rival companies such as GVK Power and Infrastructure Limited (GVKPIL), GMR Infrastructure, B Sennaih and C&C, JMC Srei and Sadhbhav, sources told Business Standard.

The project is to execute a 71 kilometre four-six lane corridor connecting the ports of Mundra and Kandla in Gujarat. The project has to be completed by December 2012 on a design, build, finance, operate and transfer (toll) basis with a concession period of 25 years.

The bidding process for this project started in February and 20 bidders were qualified in the initial screening stage. The shortlisted six companies submitted their final bids on December 3. The bids were opened on Monday, said sources. An R-Infra spokesperson declined to comment. The company plans to increase its investments in road projects to over Rs 20,000 crore by 2012. R-Infra is also looking for opportunities in ultra mega road projects across India, Lalit Jalan, chief executive of R-Infra, had told Business Standard in a recent interview.

A few days ago, R-Infra had won the Rs 1,750-crore Pune-Satara six laning project with a length of 140 kilometers, a corridor connecting Mumbai and Pune to southern parts of India, including Bangalore and Chennai.

R-Infra is now executing nine road projects with a total outlay of Rs 7,500 crore totaling more than 700 kilometers. Two months ago, the company had operationalised its two toll road projects worth Rs 760 crore in Tamil Nadu. The rest of the road projects are at various stages of development. All road projects of the company are executed by Reliance Infraventures, a 100 per cent subsidiary of R-Infra.