IVRCL's on Sion-Panvel expressway

A joint venture led by Hyderbad-based IVRCL Infrastructure & Projects has emerged as the ‘L1’ — or lowest — bidder for the 25 km Sion-Panvel expressway, according to sources familiar with the development.

The concession period for the project, which will be executed on a build-operate-transfer (toll) basis, is 18 years and nine months.

The concession is for expanding the existing bitumen road into a 10-lane concrete expressway between the BARC junction in Sion and the Kalamboli junction in Panvel, leading to the Mumbai-Pune expressway with three flyovers and 10 underpasses.

However, E Sudhir Reddy, chairman & managing director, IVRCL, said he was not aware of his company emerging as the L1 bidder for the project.

“Being the lowest bidder does not really mean anything in terms of bagging the project. There is still the technical round. Unless it comes to the stage of issuing letter of intent, we would not like to comment on the project.”

He refused to divulge names of the JV partners and the cost of the project “since the details have not been given out to the regulators or the stock exchanges as yet.”

However, sources familiar with the situation said the project would cost about Rs 2,000 crore.

Bharat Parekh, analyst with BoA Merrill Lynch, said IVRCL would hold 51% equity in the project.

“The 25 km-stretch is India’s most dense toll road,” Parekh said in a note on Wednesday.

This will be the company’s fourth BOT project in India. It has one annuity and three toll projects, all of which will begin contributing to the topline next quarter onwards.

Reddy said the company has put in bids for another three highway projects.