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Transport consultancy firm RITES is close to forming a consortium with a Japanese player, to take a shot at getting a slice of the mega Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project. As the bullet train project is funded by Japan, bids have to be led by a Japanese firm. Project management work for the bullet train is expected to start soon.
National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited, the company implementing the Shinkansen bullet train venture, has already started awarding projects.
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has bagged a contract to build a 237-km viaduct on the 508-km Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail Corridor. L&T has been tasked with building four stations and one train depot at Surat. It has also emerged as the lowest bidder to build viaducts on another 88-km stretch and a station at Anand on the bullet train corridor.
“A combination of three-four Indian and foreign consultants could join together (to bid for the project),” according to a RITES official.
Strong order book
Apart from eyeing a piece of this mega project, RITES has orders of ₹6,661 crore on its book, that gives it revenue visibility in the next few years.
Among others, it expects to clock revenues from export of shipments from Indian Railways’ production units to Sri Lanka and Mozambique in the second half of present fiscal. The export orders are enough to cover the next 18-24 months, sources feel. RITES, which has won a highway project in Bangladesh, is also considering a “limited” exposure in highway projects in India, given the increased government spending over the next few years in highways, said the official.
Infrastructure boost
Additionally, RITES expects business prospects to improve with the government plan to increase capital expenditure through renewed push in the National Infrastructure Pipeline.
The transport consultancy firm that has maintained a 19-20 per cent growth in last five years, is optimistic about its business prospects if the government doubles its capital expenditure on infrastructure over next few years, as intended.
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