OSEL to enter hydel power, rail projects

The Delhi-based Oriental Structural Engineers Ltd (OSEL), part of the Rs 750-crore group Bakshi Enterprises, involved in road construction, will diversify into hydro-power and railway projects.

"We have bid for a hydel power project in Himachal Pradesh and a gauge conversion contract of the Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd," V C Verma, executive director OSEL told Business Standard.

The company, which is involved in road construction contracts only, also ventured into build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects this year. It recently bagged 3 BOT projects under the National Highway Development programme (NHDP) at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore.

The company has set aside about Rs 150 crore as equity investment in its diversification programmes during 2005-06. Verma said it would first examine the success of new ventures this year, before taking up more projects.

He said for hydroelectric and gauge conversion projects, OSE would tie up with a more experienced company for supplying equipment.

'We are looking at hydro-electric sector seriously, and will pick up small projects initially to build up on our experience. Then we will look at bidding for larger projects,' Verma said.

The hydel project in Himachal project that the company is eyeing is to generate 7 million units of electricity with a cost of Rs 50 crore. The company plans to invest about Rs 20 crore in the project, Verma said.

The railway project involves gauge conversion of the Villupuram-Mayiladuturai line in Tamil Nadu. The sections awarded by National highway Authority of India under BOT contract include Indore-Kalaghat section at a cost of Rs 550 crore, Agra-Bharatpur stretch at a cost of Rs 195 crore and Kondhli-Talegaon stretch at a cost of Rs 195 crore.

Talking about the company's performance, Verma said that OSEL expected its turnover to go up by nearly 16 per cent to Rs 350 crore during 2005-06. The turnover was Rs 292.5 crore last year.