Pre-engineered buildings to be reality

A Mumbai-based steel manufacturing company SKS Ispat and Power Ltd (SKSIPL) who have steel mills in Chattisgarh and Dubai-based investment company Dubai Investment Industries LLC will set up 2.5 lakh tonne plant to manufacture pre-engineered buildings (PEB) and hot-rolled structures at Lonand in the Satara district of Maharashtra.

Speaking to Business Standard of the Anshul Singhal of the SSKIPL who will be the managing director of the firm yet to be named joint venture said, "The initial investment in the project will be around $25 million."

The company has bought 66 acres at Lonand for the plant which will be operational from early part of the next year and it will provide employment to 900 to 1,000 persons directly.

The PEB has a great future in India with lot of activity happening in areas like airports, factory sheds, malls, multiplexes and others, and by 2011, the market for PEB in India will be around Rs 25,000 crore and supply will not be even half the demand, Singhal projected.

The PEBs can be used as buildings in which we live, there is a great misconception in our country that PEBs are costly. But if it costs Rs 1 crore to build a 10-storey building, you may incur Rs 1.3 crore as the cost of construction if you use PEB.

But, the advantage PEB provides is that it saves time in completion of the project by at least 30 per cent, which helps to start your business activity much early, which reduces the requirement for working capital and interest burden, he claimed.

The SKSIPL, Anil Gupta led company has turnover of around 1,000 crore and has plans to invest Rs 2,400 crore in next three to four years to increase, steel mill?