IJM WINS RM1.5b HIGHWAY JOB IN INDIA
Solapur-Bijapur tollway will be company’s largest project in value
IJM Corp Bhd has clinched the RM1.5 billion contract to build a 109km highway in India. In a statement yesterday, the group said it had accepted a letter of award from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to develop the Solapur-Bijapur section of the new National Highway 52 between the states of Maharasthra and Karnataka.
The project will involve the rehabilitation, upgrading and widening of the existing two-lane carriageway to four-lane standards with bypass and the construction of flyovers, bridges, road intersections, railway overbridge as well as the operation and maintenance of two toll plazas.
Connecting southern India with northern India, the tollway will serve as an alternative route to the north-south corridor of the National Highways Development Programme.
“We are honoured that IJM has been entrusted by NHAI again with this important infrastructure project to develop the SolapurBijapur tollway,” said IJM chief executive officer and managing director Datuk Soam Heng Choon.
“The award affirms IJM’s proven capabilities in roads and highways sector. It will see us utilising our skills and experience, building on our track record of delivering 16 major road projects totalling 1,378km in India since 1998.”
Dewas Bypass Tollway Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IJM, has since March this year been involved in a RM193.8 million project to widen and upgrade 19.8km of the Dewas Bypass bypass road in Madhya Pradesh. IJM’s infrastructure division now operates two tolled highways in India — the 246.8km Rewa Tollway and 68.5km Chilkaluripet Vijayawada Tollway — and owns 30 per cent of SwarnaTollway.
NHAI will provide a grant of about RM235.86 million for the project. The concession is for 20 years and a construction period of 30 months. Work is expected to begin in middle of next year and is scheduled for completion in 2021.
At RM1.5 billion, the SolapurBijapur tollway will be the largest Indian project undertaken by IJM in value.