Page 6 - Construction Vision Sep-Oct 2017 issue

INDIA HOPEFUL OF MAKING L&T BAGS RS 3,375 CRORE CEMENT DEMAND GROWTH
CHABAHAR PORT METRO RAIL PROJECT IN LIKELY TO RECOVER BY 5%
OPERATIONAL BY 2018 MAURITIUS DURING Fy18

The government is hopeful that the strategic Larsen & Toubro has bagged an order worth Country's cement demand growth is
Chabahar Port will be operational by 2018, Rs 3,375 crore to build a metro rail project expected to recover to around 5 per cent
Union minister Nitin Gadkari has said. for the government of Mauritius, the during FY18, driven by a pick-up in the
engineering major said on Wednesday. infrastructure and housing segments, a
The Road, Transport, Highways and report said.
Shipping Minister Gadkari is in Tehran today L&T has been upbeat on metro rail projects
and is already executing projects in Riyadh
to represent India at the oath taking "We expects cement demand growth to
and Doha, and 17 locations in India. On
ceremony of President Hassan Rouhani. recover to around 5 per cent during FY2018
Wednesday, ET reported that the company is
as against a decline of 1.2 per cent in
close to winning orders for two packages
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier FY2017, driven by a pick-up in the
worth a total of Rs 1,300 crore as a part of
congratulated Rouhani on his re-election as infrastructure segment, mostly road and
Mumbai Metro Line 4.
the President of Iran and affirmed India's irrigation projects and the housing segment,"
commitment to strengthen the special "This order is perfectly in sync with our ICRA said in a report.
relations between the countries. strategy to expand L&T's railways business
into markets beyond India and we are "While in the short term, demonetisation has
extremely happy to have found a foothold in had a negative impact on real estate and
the African continent," Rajeev Jyoti, the chief construction activities and hence on the
executive officer of the railways business at cement off-take, the impact has started to
L&T, was quoted as saying in a statement. subside from Q1 FY2018 driven by a pick-up
in the infrastructure segment.
The Mauritius project entails designing and
building of an integrated light rail-based
"Further, the increased budgetary allocation
urban transit system over a 26 km route
for the infrastructure sector, which includes
connecting Curepipe to Immigration Square
roads, railways, metro, irrigation and
in Port Louis. L&T would build 19 stations,
housing, during FY2018 will directly and
including two elevated stations.
"India and Iran have been historically sharing indirectly support cement demand," said
special ties ... We are keen on developing
L&T bagged the projects through competitive ICRA Ratings senior vice president & group
Chabahar Port and are hopeful of starting bidding route. The project will be fully funded head Sabyasachi Majumdar.
operations in 12 to 18 months," Gadkari told through an India government grant and line
PTI. of credit. The higher rural credit and increased
allocation for rural, agricultural and allied
Gakdari is keen on expediting development "Although the project is scheduled to be sectors, including the demand for rural
of the Chabahar port, located in the Sistan- completed in 48 months, L&T commits to housing, are significant contributors to the
complete and deliver a priority section of 13
Baluchistan province on the energy-rich overall cement demand mix, added
km in 24 months," the company said.
Persian Gulf nation's southern coast that can Majumdar.
Last week, L&T reported weaker-than-
be easily accessed from India's west coast,
expected financial results for the first quarter
bypassing Pakistan.
of 2017-18, but the management expressed Cement prices have also recovered from

optimism on the way ahead given a pickup in February 2017 and reached pre-
"Civil construction work has started there. domestic order execution and new orders. demonetisation levels in most markets by
We have finalised tenders worth Rs 380 April 2017. While improvement in the supply-
crore for equipment out of Rs 600 crore and The company said it was positive about demand scenario in FY2018 is expected to
once the port becomes operational it will growth in the medium term as economic support the cement prices going forward,
become a growth engine," the minister has outlook is improving, and was confident of sustenance of the same is critical, given
said. achieving its target for the fiscal year. the rising costs, ICRA said.

4 CONSTRUCTION VISION SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER