Scomi International, a global technology enterprise in oil, gas, transportation and marine services, is bullish about India.
It has drawn up big plans to set up a monorail coach manufacturing unit, a low floor luxury double decker bus manufacturing facility and take monorail projects in several cities in order to grab a share in India's urban transportation expansion programme.
Talking to a group of visiting Indian journalists here, Malaysia based Scomi International President, Kanesan Veluppillai said the company had drawn up plans to invest about $30 million in the first phase of its expansion programme.
Export hub
“We plan to set up monorail factory in India and make it as an export hub to the Middle East. The intention of setting up a plant is to increase the local content of monorail products and lower the cost of building in India,'' he said.
Scomi International, which is currently engaged in implementing India's first monorail project in Mumbai, said it was gearing up to take up similar projects in Bangalore and New Delhi within the next few months.
“We have already made a presentation to the Karnataka Government for the 59-km long monorail corridor and have got a positive response. Delhi has also assured of addressing the issue after the Common Wealth Games 2010 in October. We are not competing with the metro rail as our system is best for congested areas where less land and road space is available. We want to integrate the system with the metro rail projects wherever they happen,'' he added. Ruling out any delay in the Mumbai monorail project, Mr. Vilupillai said the partnership with L&T for this project was doing well and asserted that the first monorail train in Mumbai will run by early next year as envisaged in the original work allotment order.
Scomi Engineering's ISO 9001 certified facility is able to manufacture, repair and assemble various rolling stocks and parts for the rail industry. Mr. Vilupillai said the company was actively bidding for more projects in India, Brazil, Indonesia and the Middle East countries.
“The global monorail market is around $30 billion size at present. Corridors in Delhi have already been identified. Another 184 km corridor in Mumbai has also been identified,” he said.
Presentations have been made to Chennai and Hyderabad authorities who are also keen on the project.
“We intend to integrate the monorail system with the metro rail in Bangalore. There will be no clash and people will be the ultimate beneficiaries,'' he remarked. Scomi International plans to tender for $10 billion worth of monorail projects globally.
“Monorail can be the limbs to support the connectivity of the metro rail system. We have the system and technology ready to be connected to the metro rail and light rail transit systems,” he said.
(The Hindu dt 11 July 2010)