PETALING JAYA: IJM Corporation Bhd (IJM) has been awarded a 109 km highway project worth approximately RM1.5bil (INR 2,325 crores) in India.

IJM announced that it had accepted a letter of award from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to develop the Solapur-Bijapur section of the new National Highway 52 between the states of Maharasthra and Karnataka.

Awarded on an on a design-build-finance-operate-transfer basis, NHAI will provide a grant of about RM235.86mil (INR367 crores) for the project.  The concession is for 20 years, including a construction period of 30 months. Work is expected to begin in mid-2018 and is scheduled for completion in 2021.

According to the statement, the project will involve the rehabilitation, upgrading and widening of the existing two-lane carriageway to four-lane standards with bypasses and the construction of flyovers, bridges, road intersections, railway overbridge as well as the operation and maintenance of two toll plazas.

Connecting southern India with northern India, the tollway will serve as an alternative route to the North-South Corridor of the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP).

“We are honoured that IJM has been entrusted by NHAI again with this important infrastructure project to develop the Solapur-Bijapur tollway,” said IJM Corporation Bhd chief executive officer and managing director Datuk Soam Heng Choon.

“The award affirms IJM’s proven capabilities in roads and highways sector. It will see us proudly utilising our skills and experience, building on our track record of delivering 16 major road projects totalling 1,378 km in India since 1998,” he added.

At RM1.5bil (INR 2,325 crores), the Solapur-Bijapur tollway will be the largest Indian project undertaken by IJM in value.