Rivals join hands to win infrastructure projects

A new government rule that says only five entities will be allowed to bid for a single project is forcing rival firms to team up to avoid elimination and stay in the race. Typically, only companies that have met some qualification criteria are allowed to submit price bids that determine the successful bidder.
The guidelines, as reported earlier by Mint, were aimed at keeping out frivolous bidders for privately financed and operated projects, key to fixing India’s poor infrastructure, but they could also have prevented newer and younger upstarts from gaining ground in the sector.
The Amritsar airport project has seen rivals Maytas Infra Ltd and Nagarjuna Construction Co. Ltd join hands to secure the deal. Other firms who partnered with their rivals include GVK Power and Infrastructure Ltd with Australia’s largest project development and contracting group Leighton Holdings Ltd, MSK Projects (India) Ltd with Unity Infraprojects Ltd, and Oriental Structural Engineers Ltd with Sadhbav Engineering Ltd. Gammon Infrastructure Projects Ltd teamed up with Emaar-MGF Land Ltd and General Electric Infrastructure for the Amritsar project.
Such partnerships are likely to be seen in the Udaipur airport development project.
21/01/08 P. Manoj/Livemint

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Categories: Airports Jan 2008, New Jan 2008