Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro is set to bid for building the new greenfield airport at Muscat in Oman.
The contract value was expected to be in the region of Rs 2,500-3,000 crore, said an executive familiar with the negotiations.
The company has already built two greenfield airports in India and is currently engaged in the modernisation of the Delhi and Mumbai airports.
"The government of Oman is in the process of inviting bids. We will be submitting bids," the executive said asking not to be named. The bid will be submitted through L&T Oman, a wholly owned subsidiary of L&T, which has ongoing construction work in Oman.
When contacted, K V Rangaswamy, president, construction division, L&T, said, "We will look for foreign airport modernisation contracts and greenfield airports as and when they come up. We have the expertise and are part of the all major airport projects in the country."
The current international airport at Muscat is called Seeb airport and it handles around 4.2 million passengers a year. The new airport will come up around 15 km away and will have a capacity of 12 million passengers a year in the first phase and 48 million passengers eventually. The first phase expected to be completed in three years.
Rangaswamy said the company had a strong presence in the Middle East, from where L&T earns a major part of its overseas revenue. "Besides that, L&T has got major construction contracts for the Mumbai and Delhi airports, including terminal buildings and runways. We are involved in the construction and expansion of the new airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore and will be part of all major airport projects in the country," Rangaswamy added.
{{/usCountry}}Rangaswamy said the company had a strong presence in the Middle East, from where L&T earns a major part of its overseas revenue. "Besides that, L&T has got major construction contracts for the Mumbai and Delhi airports, including terminal buildings and runways. We are involved in the construction and expansion of the new airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore and will be part of all major airport projects in the country," Rangaswamy added.
{{/usCountry}}"As a hedge against any potential slowdown in the Indian economy, L&T has built the requisite firepower to aggressively win orders in the Gulf," a Citigroup analysts said in a research report dated. "L&T wants to create a mini-L&T here (Middle East) and take the total share of revenue from 16 per cent currently to 30 per cent in the next four years," the report said.