Simplex Infra to foray into power

Simplex Infrastructures, one of the top-five infrastructure solutions providers in the country, plans to foray into power transmission EPC business in India and abroad. For this, it is looking for a joint venture with established companies in the field.

"We are talking to a few players in India and abroad to join us as technical partners to form a joint venture. We are working on the construction of about five power plants in India and are bidding for the contracts of about 20-25 power plants coming up in India and abroad. Power and oil drilling will be a major area of growth for us in future," said Amitabh Mundhra, director, Simplex Infrastructures.

Indian manufacturers such as RPG group-promoted KEC International and Kalpatharu are already among the largest transmission EPC players in the world.

The Rs 1,712 crore Simplex has an order book worth over Rs 7,000 crore, with over 25 per cent of the projects coming from the industrial infrastructure sector. The company was hopeful of achieving a turnover of Rs 5,000 crore by 2010, said Mundhra.

The eight-decade-old Simplex, with the heritage of executing the works of the Supreme Court and the Howrah bridge, had forayed into oil drilling a few months ago by bagging a $22 million contract from Oil India. Amitabh Mundra said the company had bought an oil rig from China with an investment of Rs 50 crore and would soon start drilling in Assam and Orissa. Soon, the company plans to bid for more drilling projects in India and abroad and add more rigs to emerge as a major Indian player in this field.

Currently, Simplex is executing refinery projects in Qatar, and four others in India, including a major contract for Reliance's Jamnagar refinery.

Recently, Simplex also bagged the civil works for the liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal at Dahej. Works on the two-year project worth Rs 200 crore had taken off a few days ago, he said.

The Rs 300 crore civil work for the Kudamkulam nuclear power project is on schedule and will be completed by December.

A 500X2 mw, coal-based power plant in Raigad in Maharashtra, promoted by the Jindal group, a 660X2 mw coal-based power plant in Orissa by Vedanta Resources and a Rs 180 crore hydroelectric project awarded by National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) are among the major power projects executed by Simplex.