GMR Consortium Bags Rs 5,080 Cr Rail Freight Corridor Project

The Railway infrastructure is rapidly advancing towards better and better. In a most recent development, a consortium of companies led by GMR Infrastructure has bagged the much-awaited Rs 5,080-crore contract from Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India to design and construct a 417-km stretch of the project’s eastern arm.

The consortium has been issued the Letter of Award for two packages, Mughalsarai to Karchana (180 km) and Karchana to Bhaupur (237 km), to be implemented on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis, the company stated.

“The project, funded by the World Bank, involves design and construction of civil, structures and track works for a double-line railway and shall be completed in 45 months,” it said.

The GMR consortium's was the lowest among six bids in a global competition last November. The eastern corridor is to cover a total length of 1,840 km.

GMR Group said it was not required to provide any equity for the project, as this is to be implemented on an EPC basis. The company is implementing two other projects for Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd and its current EPC order book is at Rs  5,700 crore.

GMR Infra also has seven operational road assets. Four of these are annuity-based and three are on the build, own and transfer (BOT) model, with a residual concession period of 5-20 years. The projects contributed gross revenue of Rs 738 crore in 2013-14. GMR Infra also holds 26 per cent stake in two additional BOT projects.