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Gammon India: Exposure to Hyderabad projects account for 10-15% of order book; Confident of getting insurance cover from ICICI Lombard
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Pervez Umrigar, MD of Gammon India says that the company's exposure tp Hyderabad projects account for 10-15% of the order book. Earlier sources had said that Gammon India’s insurance claim w.r.t. Hyderabad flyover crash may be squashed as faulty construction was not covered in insurance. Gammon India's Hyderabad flyover was insured with ICICI Lombard for Rs 30 crore. But Umrigar said that they are confident of getting insurance cover from ICICI Lombard. They will also wait for the committee report set up by the government, which is expected by weekend.
Gammon India Ltd., engineering, procurement, and construction major, had come under fire after the an under-construction flyover in the Hyderabad city collapsed late Sunday. According to police officials, so far four casualties have been reported and more than 20 people are injured. The official toll in the accident is four.
The case is being registered based on a complaint by Srinivas Mallapur, who is among the injured in the mishap. The complaint has been lodged, citing negligence and lack of quality in the construction work. About Rs 29 crore worth 2-lane Panjagutta flyover contract was awarded to the consortium led by Gammon India and JMC Constructions, another Mumbai-based construction company, in 2004. The Andhra Pradesh government is considering stringent action against the consortium, sources said. Chief Minster Y.S. Rajashekara Reddy has called a high-level meeting Monday to review the situation. A decision is likely to be taken later today, the sources said.
Reacting to the news, shares of Gammon India fell considerably. Gammon India is a major stakeholder in the state's irrigation projects, with five projects worth over Rs 1000 crores undertaken by the company, government officials said. There had been complains over delay and quality of Gammon India's construction work, prompting the chief minister to warn the company of blacklisting, the officials said.
The 1.7-km Panjagutta flyover is intended to reduce the traffic congestion at one of the busiest centre in Hyderabad. The construction of the flyover was started in December 2005 after enormous delay. Authorities were expecting it to be ready by the end of November 2007.
The consortium was using the pre-stressed concrete segment technology for the construction. The Bandra-Worli sea link project in Mumbai, undertaken by Hindustan Construction Company, is also using similar technology.