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State-owned Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE) will undertake brownfield expansion at Rajabagan Dockyard in Kolkata, which currently serves small and medium vessels. According to Rear Admiral (Retd) VK Saxena, CMD, GRSE, the expansion might entail investment of ₹175-200 crore as per initial estimates.
“We expect construction activity for the proposed expansion to begin by middle of 2019 and it should be complete in the next two-three years. We currently have capacity to build 20 ships concurrently, this is likely to increase to 24 ships once this is complete,” Saxena told newspersons on the sidelines of the company’s IPO roadshow here on Wednesday.
Overseas markets
GRSE, Saxena said, is looking to tap South-East Asian, West Asian and Latin American markets for exports through both competitive bidding route as well as on a nomination basis. The company had exported one marine warship to Mauritius in 2014.
It is to be noted that the company recently emerged as a successful bidder for the construction of four large survey vessels and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) shallow water corvettes for the Indian Navy. The contracts are likely to be signed by the end of this year.
“We are having dialogue at B2B (business-to-business) and G2G (government-to-government) level. We are actively looking at exports and our focus will be on warship construction,” he said.
The company has also emerged as the lower bidder (L1) for building an ocean-going passenger ferry for Guyana in South America and it is hopeful of bagging the order soon.
GRSE’s order book, which currently stands at ₹20,300 crore, comprises 13 ships for the Navy and the Coast Guard. Of this, three ships are the P-17 Alpha project for advanced missile stealth frigates on which construction has just started.
The remaining 10 ships are in advanced stages of construction and likely to be delivered by end of 2019, he said.
Bailey bridges
The West Bengal government has approached GRSE for erection of two bailey bridges in south Kolkata to ease traffic, post the recent collapse of a key rail overbridge at Majerhat on NH-117, which connects NH2 with Diamond Harbours in the southern part of the city.
The estimated cost for the erection of the two bridges which would be 80 ft long, 4.25 metres wide with a load capacity of around 90 tonnes, would be ₹2 crore.
GRSE has also received enquiries from Siliguri Development Authority as well as from the Kerala government for erection of bailey bridges.
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