L&T bags $23-million belt conveyor order from Lafarge Surma

Mumbai: Larsen and Toubro (L&T) has signed a contract valued at $23 million with Lafarge Surma Cement, Bangladesh, for constructing a 17-km-long cross-national belt conveyor.

It will convey limestone and shale from the mines in the hilly terrain of Shella Bazar, Meghalaya (India), to the marshy plains of Chhatak, Bangladesh, where Lafarge is putting up a cement plant. This is the longest belt conveyor to be constructed in India and is to be executed in 24 months by ECC, the construction division of L&T.

L&T-ECC executive vice-president (industrial and electrical projects and utilities) K G Hariharan signed the contract on behalf of L&T on 25 September 2002. The scope of the turnkey project undertaken in association with Aumund, France, includes design, engineering, supply, construction, erection, testing and commissioning of the conveying system. The conveyor will follow the ground contour along its entire route and will have horizontal as well as vertical curves.

Two self-propelled vehicles for maintenance will move over the conveyor gallery. This will be closed to avoid outside disturbances. Location of the construction site near Cheerapunji, which has the world’s highest rainfall, will be yet another challenge to project execution.

L&T had booked orders aggregating to an impressive Rs 10,020.5 million in August 2002. The biggest among these is an order for Rs 5,809.7 million. It involves executing diesel hydrotreater (DHDT) and hydrogen package for the Panipat plant of Indian Oil Corporation.

Two more orders received during the same period are for the procurement, fabrication and installation of clamp on structure at EC, SE, IM, SU, NM and NH platforms for ONGC, valued at Rs 326.20 million, and for the supply and commissioning of equipment for pyro-processing upgradating for JP Cement, the order value being Rs 85 million.

Another major order bagged during the period is from Gujarat State Petronet for carrying out pipeline composite works between Paguthan and Baroda and is valued at Rs 1,107.30 million. Lafarge Surma Cement also has placed a Rs 1,087.5-million order on L&T for constructing a long-belt conveyor.

Also bagged during August 2002 is another interesting order from Business Parks of Mauritius for the construction of the Ebene Cyber City in Mauritius for Rs 735 million. This is a state-of-the-art knowledge park spread across an area of 150 acres and consists of the construction of Cyber Tower with a built-up area of about 45,000 sq mt.

Under another contract worth Rs 282.5 million, L&T will construct an administrative building for Cognizant Solutions. Andhra Pradesh Generation Corporation has placed an order on L&T to construct VTPS cooling towers under a Rs 190-million contract.

The other orders won by L&T during August 2002 are from SAP Labs, National Aluminium Company, Goldern Distilleries, BelleVue Clinic, Tata Hydro Electric Power Authority, Central Railways and Tamil Nadu Water and Drainage Board and their total value is Rs 397.3 million.