RInfra bags Rs 711 cr highways project in TN

Mumbai, April 7: Reliance Infrastructure Ltd on Friday said it has received the Letter of Acceptance from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the construction of Vikkaravandi to Sethiyahopu section of NH-45C in Tamil Nadu.

The company emerged as the lowest bidder for the development of the project on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) basis.

In a statement issued here, the company said: "The project is under the Government of India's flagship programme of the National Highway Development Programme (phase IV) and is funded by NHAI."

The infrastructure major, one of the largest NHAI concessionaires, after quoting Rs 711 crore for the project, was declared the successful bidder.

The project is to be completed within a construction period of 24 months.

The contract includes design and construction of the 65.96-km-long highway, including major and minor bridges, railway overbridges, flyover, bypasses and toll plaza as major components of the project.

The maintenance period for the project is four years.

Other bidders for the project included L&T, IL&FS and Punj Lloyd.

"Our renewed thrust on EPC has already begun to show results. This project win comes after we won an EPC order for Rs 3,675 crore from NLC India Limited for setting up two Lignite based CFBC Thermal Power Projects of capacity 250 MW each," RInfra EPC CEO Arun Gupta was quoted as saying in the statement.

The Reliance Group Company had revamped its strategy to refocus on EPC, business targeting an ambitious order book target of Rs 50,000 crore by FY19.

The infrastructure major has been focusing on projects in power, roads, railways, defence and ports. The company currently operates eleven road projects with total length of 1,000 kms on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis, the statement said.