Public sector Bridge and Roof Company (B&R) has begun talks with Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) for a tie- up, which will be utilised in the pre-tender stage, Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Jha said.
Talking to this correspondent, he said the tie-up, if it takes place, would bring benefits in the form of reduction in project cost and execution time. BHEL is one of B&R's major clients and the company is now implementing nearly Rs.1,300-crore worth project for BHEL.
“Talks and meetings have been held at the level of the Department of Heavy Industry under the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises and with BHEL,'' Mr. Jha said.
B&R offers civil, structural and mechanical construction services as well as EPC and turnkey packages for oil terminals. It operates in various industrial sectors including hydrocarbon, fertilizers, chemicals, power projects including nuclear power projects, steel plants and railways. Mr. Jha said B & R had now 50 project locations in India and abroad where 73 projects were under execution. Of these ten were BHEL projects, he said. Mr. Jha said that while the proposed pact with BHEL was on the company's top agenda for pre-bid tie-ups, it was also keen on entering into similar memoranda of understanding with sister companies such as EPI and BBJ.
B&R, which had suffered a loss-making spell till 2004-05, has now effected a turnaround and has cleared all government loans and liabilities besides paying dividend to the government in the last two years. It was accorded the Miniratna Status in September, hitting a milestone by a touching the Rs.1,000-crore mark in turnover in 2009-10.
Mr. Jha said that besides the capital restructuring and strengthening proposal approved by the government in 2005, a change of strategy also helped. “While previously the company concentrated on small value jobs, facing stiff competition and lower margins, the company has now changed its strategy by taking up higher value jobs where costs could be controlled better and a comfortable profit margin was possible.
B & R is now eyeing big projects with higher margins and is targeting a Rs.2,000-crore turnover by 2014-15, according to Mr. Jha.
