Subhash Projects to tie up Bhiwandi funds soon

MUMBAI: Despite the gloomy overall scenario, Kolkata-based Subhash Projects and Marketing (SPML) expects to achieve financial closure for a water supply and management contract in Maharashtra in two months, a company official said.

Manoj Nainani, general manager, said work on the Rs 340-crore contract for the Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation (BNMC) would begin once financial closure is achieved. “We have been talking to banks for 3 months now and the project should be funded in the next couple of months,” Nainani said.

Subhash was awarded the contract at the beginning of the year. The contract is for a period of 30 years and is being executed under a joint venture between Subhash Projects, BNMC and a Cypriot firm, Hydrocom Control. Subhash holds 80% stake in the project, with the others holding 10% each. Nainani said Subhash is in talks with a consortium of financial institutions, including IDBI Bank, for the project, which is being executed on a build-operate-transfer basis.

Asked if getting funding is a problem due to economic headwinds, he said, “We haven’t faced any problems for this project because BNMC is one of the most profitable municipal corporations in Maharashtra.”

Water management contracts accounted for nearly 45% of Subhash Projects’ topline of Rs 1,167 crore last fiscal. “We plan to increase that to 50% this fiscal,” said Nainani.