Engineering and construction giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Mauritian PM Pravind Kumar Jugnauth inaugurated the phase-I of the Metro Express in Mauritius through video-conferencing.
Designed and constructed by L&T, this integrated light rail-based Urban Transit System will initially operate for 13 km from the capital city of Port Louis to Rose Hill.
The company had bagged the contract from the Government of Mauritius in 2017 for Rs 3,375 crore.
"The Prime Ministers of both the countries jointly inaugurated the project via video link," L&T said in a statement.
L&T CEO and Managing Director S N Subrahmanyan said that starting from a green field to the current status in a record span of two years, the Mauritius Metro Express has been one of the fastest-executed transit systems by the company.
He added that this project marks a new high in Indo-Mauritian relations that will definitely bring huge economic advantages and offer opportunities in engineering and technical skill development for the island nation.
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Funded by the Indian government, the Mauritius Metro Express features world-class rolling stock, multiple track forms for best-in-class urban design to mitigate noise and vibration, energy-efficient traction power supply systems, advanced signalling systems, and a state-of-the art operation control centre, the statement said.
"The successful launch of phase-I of the Mauritius Metro demonstrates L&T's design and engineering capabilities by leveraging our global experience and establishes our credentials in the railways business overseas," said Rajeev Jyoti, Chief Executive (Railways Strategic Business Unit), L&T Construction.
The 26-km route will connect Curepipe to Immigration Square in Port Louis with 19 stations, two of which will be state-of-the-art elevated stations. The alignment will connect three major bus interchanges enabling a multi-modal urban transit solution.