Reliance Energy to build Hyd Business District

Reliance Energy led-consortium has emerged as the successful bidder for the Rs 6,400-crore Business District project proposed in Hyderabad by the state-owned Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC).

The project will have three modules, including a 100-plus storied tower with a minimum of 450 mt height, supposed to be the tallest structure in the entire Southeast Asia.

It is scheduled to be completed in three years while the entire project is expected to be completed in five years. In India, so far, the tallest tower being built by the Shaporji Pallonji group in Mumbai is about 80-storied.

The entire Business District will have a built-up area of about 11 million sft of office and commercial space, according to a Reliance official. This is the first major infrastructure project being taken up by the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group in Andhra Pradesh.

Reliance Energy will hold 66 per cent equity in the project while its joint venture partner, Shobha Developers, will hold 23 per cent stake. The remaining 11 per cent equity will be held by APIIC towards land component of the project, which is to the extent of 80 acres.

Reliance Energy was announced as the successful bidder after it got 75.40 points as compared with 71.29 points scored by Israeli company, Elebit Imaging Private Limited.

Reliance quoted a price of Rs 6.57 crore per acre while Israeli firm quoted 6.10 crore, which tilted the decision in favour of the former though the Israeli firm was ahead by 3 points in the evaluation of technical bids, according to BP Acharya, vice-chairman & managing director of APIIC.

Acharya said Reliance would pay the differential amount of Rs 57 lakh per acre while adjusting the remaining bid amount towards APIIC's equity of Rs 180 crore in the Tower Module for the 30-acre land earmarked for the tower project.

The total equity component of the tower project is about Rs 1,636 crore while the entire project requires about Rs 2,000 crore equity, Acharya told Business Standard.

Though 20 companies had sent expression of interest (EoI) in response to the global bids invited for the project by the APIIC last year, only Reliance and the Israeli firm remained in the fray in the end.

Hyderabad-based Lanco Infratech Limited too had recently announced its plans to build a 100-storied tower in its Lanco Hills project in the city.