Project contract awarding in 2009 sails on calm waters

Asmall increase in the number of project contracts awarded in 2009, could not match the total contract value awarded in 2008. In all, 659 contracts worth Rs 2,04,335 crore were awarded in 2009 as against 623 such contracts worth Rs 2,29,958 crore awarded in 2008. On the overseas front, Indian companies managed to bag more projects award both in terms of number of contracts as well as value involved therein. However, when compared with the total volume of the global project contracts, what Indian companies bagged can be termed as miniscule.

Major contracts

The year's largest domestic project contract was bagged by Larsen & Toubro (L&T). Valued at Rs 6,897 crore, L&T bagged the contract from Maharashtra State Power Generation Company for designing, engineering, manufacture and supply of 3x660 MW super-critical boiler turbine generator package for the power project coming up at Koradi in Maharashtra.

A consortium of Linde and Samsung Engineering followed suit with a contract valued at Rs 6,800 crore. ONGC awarded the project for setting up a dual feed cracker unit at mega petrochemical project at Dahej in Gujarat. The third largest contract worth Rs 5,300 crore was once again secured by L&T again for ONGC's Mumbai High North process platform and living quarters project. BHEL bagged a contract worth Rs 5,040 crore in tandem with the others. The scope of work included installing four units of 600 MW each in the extension stage of OP Jindal Super Thermal Power Plant at Raigarh in Maharashtra. L&T Modular Fabrication Yard won a Rs 4,440 crore contract to fabricate a massive jacket structure at L&T's waterfront fabrication yard within the Port of Sohar in Oman for an offshore facility destined for ONGC's Mumbai High North field.

Top-gainer

In terms of contract portfolio for the year, L&T remained the undisputed winner with 54 contracts worth Rs 36,167 crore under its belt. Apart from the large contracts mentioned above, some of the major projects won by the company include a Rs 4,000 crore contract for supplying power equipment, super critical units boiler and steam turbine generator for the 1,320 MW thermal power project of Jaiprakash Power Ventures coming up in Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh; a contract valued at Rs 2,000 crore from GMR Energy for setting up a 2x384 MW gas based power plant coming up at Vemagiri in Andhra Pradesh.

BHEL, Kalpataru Power Transmission (KPTL) and Nagarjuna Construction Company (NCC) were the other major gainers of 2009. KPTL clinched its highest Rs 3,990 crore contract for supply and construction of 765 kV and 400 kV transmission lines in Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Assam.

Overseas contracts

In overseas project contract business a marginal increase was seen in both number of contracts as well as value of those contracts in the year 2009 as compared with a year ago statistics.

In all 78 overseas contracts worth Rs 37,502.19 crore were cornered by Indian companies. In 2008, Indian conglomerates had managed to bag 70 overseas contracts amounting to Rs 34,591 crore. Sembawang Engineers & Constructors bagged the largest overseas contract worth Rs 5,904 crore from International Investment Services Company. The contract job comprised developing Al-Mea'tega Resort Village located on a 40 ha site on the Mediterranean Coast adjacent to the domestic airport in Tripoli. Next in line was Patel Engineering with a Rs 4,650 crore contract for constructing a 350-km highway connecting Djibouti border to Ethiopia.

Simplex Infrastructures was awarded a Rs 2,000 crore contract by the Government of Libya for the complete infrastructure development of Sebha city, in central Libya.

Prominent sectors

Reflecting the brisk project investment activities, the Electricity and Power Distribution sector emerged as the front-runner in the project contract business with contracts worth Rs 84,575 crore being finalised. The Roadways and the Petroleum Products sectors claimed second and third positions with finalisation of project contracts worth Rs 26,572.93 and Rs 14,706.22 crore respectively.