Tata Projects aims to complete India’s new Parliament building ahead of its scheduled completion in November 2022 despite challenges around the construction of this mega project, a top executive from the company told ET.
Last year, Tata Projects won the contract to build the Parliament building as a part of the government’s Central Vista redevelopment plans, beating Larsen & Toubro with a bid of Rs 861.9 crore. As per the project schedule, it should be completed by November 2022.
“We feel blessed to have bagged the Parliament building project. It has a very tight time schedule but we want to do it a little bit ahead of time. It’s a fully integrated project so we want to make sure that the best of the technologies are used to create the best experience in the building,” Vinayak K Deshpande, Managing Director, Tata Projects told ET in an interview.
The central vista in the capital is hub of some of the most recognisable government buildings, including the the Rashtrapati Bhavan and the Parliament House, which was designed by British architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker after the capital of the country was moved from Calcutta to Delhi in 1911. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s ambitious Rs 20,000 crore-Central Vista Redevelopment project entails renovation and redevelopment of this area. The project received criticism from opposition parties and civil bodies and was even challenged in the apex court which eventually cleared it.
“The challenge is that it is in the center of the city, right next to the parliament, so we want to make sure that we don’t disturb the city or the surroundings. We want to do it in a very clean, green and sustainable manner. We are taking all precautions for dust emission control and material movement. We are working to the plan and making sure we pre-arrange everything so that not a day is lost. We are partnering with the best Indian contractors and system suppliers,” Deshpande said.
The Tata group’s engineering, procurement and construction company has an order backlog of Rs 54,000 crore.
“Our average annual revenue is Rs 15,000 crore- Rs 16,000 crore. We believe that the current budget, the infrastructure deficit in India and the opportunity means there is a possibility for the company to grow in double digits,” the MD said.
He said that the government’s reform measures– like the focus on the National Infrastructure Pipeline and decision to set up a development financial institution, among other steps– will go a long way in building infrastructure in the country. But some ongoing issues are a cause of worry. Dispute resolution in the sector continues to be slow and he estimated the industry may have a “few lakh crore” stuck in these.
“Something needs to be done to improve the balance sheets of local construction players. One of the things that can help is efficient dispute resolution there. Bank guarantees are choking them so we quickly need to move to something like surety bonds,” Deshpande said.
Many construction firms have funded large cost and time overruns on their own balance sheets in the absence of timely compensation from clients. Even after going through the dispute resolution mechanism, often disputes end up in courts, which delays payments more and hurts the already cash-strapped infrastructure companies.
