The mining and construction equipment industry is likely to grow by 15-20% in the calendar year 2021, said ICRA. The first quarter of 2021 is estimated to have reported a strong equipment demand growth of 45-50%, ICRA said in a statement. “Following a 10-12% contraction in CY2020, dragged down primarily by the 39 % decline in H1 CY2020, the mining and construction equipment (MCE) industry is poised to grow by 15-20 % in CY2021 (5-10% in FY2022),” it further added.
Support to ICRA’s equipment demand estimates originates from the GoI (Government of India) continuing its Build India’ momentum to counter the economic slowdown and the ample liquidity in the ecosystem. Tailwinds from any pick up in state capex, compared to the pullback in FY2021, and strong construction activity picking up in other sectors like ports, metros, and airports, could aid demand.
Indian Railways reached another milestone as the tunneling work got completed by Tunnel Boring Machine TBM in East-West Metro Corridor with the breakthrough of ‘Urvi’ at Bowbazar, Kolkata. With this breakthrough, the entire TBM tunneling for the Kolkata East-West Metro Project is completed. This challenging tunnel drive of 800m has been completed successfully amidst this pandemic situation following COVID-19 protocol. “The stretch was difficult for tunneling work as it had century-old buildings,” the Railway Ministry said.
The TBM has passed below Sealdah Flyover also for which vehicular movement on the flyover was closed for three days for safety reasons. After completion of this TBM drive, the tunnel boring machine ‘Urvi’ along with the other halted TBM ‘Chandi’ will be retrieved from this retrieval shaft at Bowbazar. Excavation of shaft after ensuring the water tightness of the shaft and the affected tunnel and retrieval of the TBMs are intricate activities which have to be done safely and hence will take time. After completion of entire excavation, both the TBMs will be retrieved in pieces from the shaft. The RCC flooring and roofing for the shaft area will be completed thereafter and the shaft top will be backfilled to prepare the ground for overground construction.
NBCC (India) Ltd., a state owned construction firm, issues a statement saying it has bagged a contract worth about ₹597 crore in Uttarakhand. The work order has been awarded for comprehensive design, engineering, and project management consultancy (PMC) services for construction and development of infrastructural facilities in the main campus of the National Institute of Technology, Uttarakhand at Sumari (Pauri Garhwal). “NBCC is the Project Management Consultant for this project of the value ₹596.75 crore,” the company said in a regulatory filing.
A JLL report said that land value within 500 metre of upcoming metro corridors is expected to increase by 10-15%. “Since then, the advantages of the metro rail system have increased many-folds. Primarily it has been the enhanced connectivity to the suburbs of the city, thus enabling distribution of the city population to a larger extent of land resulting to congestion reduction in the city.” The report said noting that India was introduced to the metro rail as an alternative mode of transport three decade ago. Covering a total of 760.62 km across India with another 578.34 km under construction, the past two decades has seen a tremendous growth of the metro rail.
“The real estate market has seen a steady growth along the metro corridors, owing to increase in developments alongside the routes. Furthermore, on an average, the land value within 500 metre of metro corridors has increased by 15-20%, especially in residential and commercial areas,” said A. Shankar, Head – Strategic Consulting and Valuation Advisory, India, JLL. He further said that it has been observed that appreciation in land value has been on a rise after the metro operation and increase by 2-5% annually over other locations, compared to the construction and planning phase.
L&T said its construction arm has bagged up to ₹2,500 crore order from Oilfields Supply Company Saudi to design and build an oil and gas supply base. The company said the orders fall under “significant” category which ranges between ₹1,000 crore and ₹2,500 crore as per its classification of contracts “The buildings and factories business of Larsen & Toubro Construction has secured a significant contract from Oilfields Supply Company Saudi owned by the Dubai based Oilfields Supply Center Ltd to design and build one of the World’s largest oil and gas supply bases at King Salman Energy Park, Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia “ L&T issued a statement.
As per L&T, the project incorporates constructing industrial facilities of different sizes, an administration building, ancillary buildings, associated infrastructure and storage yards along with civil, structural and architectural works. The scheduled completion time is 30 months. M. V. Satish, whole time director and senior executive vice president (buildings), L&T said “this project will act as a business incubator to support the oil and gas industry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and help accelerate industrial growth in the energy sector. It has strategic significance for L&T too, marking our future growth in such a potential-rich market like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
