GMR Infra set to bag Rs 1,500-cr Andhra highway project

GMR Infrastructure is close to winning a Rs 1,500-crore (Rs 15-billion) highway project in Andhra Pradesh.

The company, based in this city, is bidding aggressively for this 145-km project connecting Hyderabad with Sangareddy, a district headquarters to the northwest, on the route to Mumbai.

According to senior officials of the National Highways Authority of India, this project is part of a larger 245-km highway development project connecting Hyderabad and Solapur.

NHAI officials say the project is toll-based and a decision to award the contract will be taken this month. A GMR Infra spokesperson wouldn't comment.

The highways division is the third main arm of GMR Infra, bringing in less than 10 per cent of the total top line of around Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion).

The company is into power generation, airports, highways and urban infrastructure.

Under the roads division, GMR Infra has nine projects covering 730 km.

Of these, six road projects covering 421 km are operational and spread equally between toll and annuity-based

projects.

The other three are being developed, two under toll and the third an annuity contract.

The highways division recently won India's largest project, worth Rs 7,000 crore (Rs 70 billion), connecting Ahmedabad in Gujarat to Kishangarh in Rajasthan, spanning 555 km.

Senior officials say the division would eventually look at raising private equity.

"We will certainly tap this route for the roads vertical. However, we have enough equity on hand to fund ongoing projects.

"The objective of raising PE at various vertical holding companies' levels is to empower each of them to address funding issues on their own strength, and not always rely on GMR Infrastructure to fund them.

"It is also to prepare the stage of taking each of the verticals public eventually," A Subba Rao, group chief financial officer, had told Business Standard.

During the past year, GMR raised Rs 1,360 crore (Rs 13.6 billion) for its energy business and another Rs 1,490 crore (Rs 14.9 billion) for the airport business through the PE route.