Scomi in talks to set up JV monorail manufacturing plant in India

Market size for monorail business in India estimated at whopping US$15bil over five years

NEW DELHI: Several Indian companies are courting Scomi Group for a possible joint venture to set up a monorail related manufacturing plant in India, amid growing demand for the infrastructure service here.

Group chief executive Shah Hakim Zain said a number of big names in India had approached Scomi for a possible tie-up.

“We are already talking to several potential partners to set up a manufacturing facility in India. We are constantly receiving proposals,” he told Bernama in a telephone interview.

There was volume for such facility in India as the market size for monorail business in India was estimated at a whopping US$15bil over five years, he said. However, he declined to reveal in which state Scomi planned to locate the plant.


MUMBAI: Scomi's Mumbai Monorail going through the testing and commencement phase. The four-car-trains were tested at 80km per hour over the first week of April, a feat that has never been done before with its monorail cars. - Bernama --fotoBERNAMA
Under its transport solutions segment, Scomi focused on the manufacturing and design of monorail systems, buses, special purpose vehicles, rail wagons and defence vehicle solutions.

Listing its India unit on the Bombay Stock Exchange was another option for Scomi as it expanded its footprint in the region, said Shah.

“I think listing is one of the options, we want to make sure the operations are localised by raising capitals locally, which will enable us to expand faster in that market,” he said.

After successfully implementing India's first monorail project in Mumbai, the Scomi brand was well recognised and the company could capitalise on it, he said.


“We are already talking to several potential partners to set up a manufacturing facility in India. We are constantly receiving proposals,” he told Bernama in a telephone interview.
Scomi Engineering Bhd and its consortium partner, Larsen & Toubro, had secured the RM1.846bil Mumbai Monorail project in November 2008.

To-date, besides the Mumbai project, Scomi Engineering has entered into a joint bidding agreement with Geodesic Techniques Pvt Ltd to build the proposed 59km monorail in Bangalore.

It has also entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with TATA Realty and Infrastructure Ltd, July last year, to pursue a modern mass transportation system project in Ludhiana.

It also bid for monorail projects in Chennai and Delhi and, entered into a three year MoU with Engineering Projects (India) Ltd to execute projects for the construction of monorails and mass rapid transit system both in India and abroad.

Back home, he said the Government's decision to revive the Putrajaya monorail project depended very much on the traffic growth in the administrative capital. “We have had some preliminary discussion on that,” said Shah who declined to elaborate. - Bernama