Passing through the congested streets of Mumbai last month on the way to the Bauma India construction trade show it was immediately obvious the challenge and potential in this city. With a population of 14M squeezed into narrow streets gradually being overrun by market stalls, it is in desperate need of a metro.
Dig a little beneath the surface and it is clear that transportation is not the only public service failing to meets the needs of this mega city. Water, power, sewage and drainage are all suffering. And the story is the same across all of India, from the largest cities to the most remote dwellings.
But India is moving. The country has the fastest growing GDP in the world and the success of the Delhi Metro project in the Indian capital has led every city to call for an underground network and utility services.
Across India there is tunnelling afoot. And there are more projects planned with money filtering down from central government. Manufacturers and equipment suppliers have taken up camp; contractors and consultants have entered into joint ventures with local firms.
But for western outfits there is just a short window of opportunity.
A foreign contactor cannot bid for a project in India unless in partnership with a local firm. Currently there are lots of Indian firms looking for foreign JV partners as there is not a great deal of tunnelling experience amongst local firms – certainly not enough to meet the prequalification requirements.
An Indian firm bidding for a USD 2bn tunnelling contract, for example, needs to demonstrate USD 2bn of past tunnelling experience. If it can’t then it will have to join forces with a foreign outfit that can. If the local contractor in the JV goes on to successfully complete the USD 2bn project then it will gain a 50 per cent share of the credit, adding USD 1bn of experience to its credentials. Do this twice and the Indian contractor will now have enough experience to bid for the jobs alone.
It is vital that contractors wanting to join this booming tunnelling market act now, become part of a joint venture and use the time to establish their own Indian outfit. It will not be long before Indian companies can go it alone.
Robbins country manager for India highlights the massive surge in TBM orders as part of our Asia focus this month. Also worth noting in the technical pages is the new How It Works section, launched this month to give a more fundmental look at processes or equipment readers should know about.
Jon Young
