City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) and Visvesvaraya Jala Nigam (VJNL) have declared Patel Engineering (PEL), a Mumbai-based infrastructure firm, as the lowest bidder (L1) for a Rs 1,026 crore water tunnel and micro-irrigation project in Raigad, Maharashtra.

The project entails designing and building a long treated water tunnel from Sai Village to Vindhane village, as well as surveying, designing, supplying, installing, testing, and commissioning a micro irrigation system beneath the Tumkur Branch Canal.

The micro irrigation project with a total value of Rs 470.67 crore, will be carried out in collaboration with a JV partner, with PEL's share of the new order worth Rs 240.04 crore, while the water tunnel project, worth Rs 555.83 crore, will be carried out independently.

The micro irrigation system project includes gravity bulk feeders, the construction of a sump cum pump house, an electrical substation, the supply and installation of pumping machineries, and other appurtenant works such as the construction of a pipe distribution network and drip irrigation system using SCADA and automation to cover an area of 15,090.21 hectares, while the water tunnel project is expected to cover a distance of 6.70 km.

Recently, the company was declared L1 for projects totalling Rs 1,567 crore in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, with the company's share amounting to Rs 1,006 crore, which were also catering to irrigation systems.