GMR Infrastructure wins 555 km mega highway project

The Bangalore-based group won the first highway project in Western India through international competitive bidding at Rs 636 crore annual premium for 26 years. "GMR Group has emerged as the selected bidder through international competitive bidding, for six laning of 555 km long Kishangarh–Udaipur–Ahmedabad highway, the first brownfield mega highway project of the country," the company said in a statement.

The highway section, which is a part of Delhi-Mumbai (Golden Quadrilateral) corridor, will be implemented through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) model.

The stretch goes through the newly announced Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) which has a very high growth potential for commercial and tourist traffic, GMR Infra said.

It added that the letter of award has been received by it and the concession agreement will be signed soon. Business Chairman of GMR Urban Infrastructure & Highways Srinivas Bommidala said, "This particular project is attractive due to the fact that we shall earn revenue from day one, being a brownfield project."

He said the bid was the culmination of a thorough study of the traffic and its growth potential, carried out by the company utilising the cross-verification of estimates by company's internal team and an external team over 2 years.

GMR Group entered the Highways business in 2001 by winning 2 projects with benchmark annuity offer. It received early completion bonus from NHAI for completing Tambaram – Tindivanam project ahead of schedule.

The Group has a portfolio of 4 annuity projects and 6 toll projects (they have already commenced operation), totalling 3,352 lane km across the country, the company said. The global infrastructure major has interests in Airports, Energy, Highways and Urban Infrastructure.