Evacuated most of the employees from Libya: Punj Lloyd

NEW DELHI: Leading infrastructure and construction firm, Punj Lloyd today said it has evacuated most of its employees from violence-hit Libya and has taken necessary steps to keep its equipments safe in the North African country.

"The employees are being continuously evacuated and majority of the employees have been evacuated as on date. Necessary arrangements have been made for safety of the equipment," Punj Lloyd said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange, while adding that safety of people and assets is the top most priority of the company.

The company has a large operation in the violence-hit country, with around 1,800 Indians working there. According to reports, its projects are worth $ 1.8 billion in the country, including $ 800 million social infrastructure development project.

The company has also decided to remove the orders awarded to its Singapore subsidiary, Sembawang Engineers and Constructions Pte Ltd, as these projects have been non-moving for over 12 months, the filing said.

It, however, did not give the details of the order received by its Singapore subsidiary, although added that 'with this (step), the order backlog stands revised to Rs 21,398 crore for the company.

It further said, "when progress on these projects takes place, the company shall restore them in the order backlog".

Talking about the oil and gas and infrastructure projects executed by the company in Libya, the Punj Lloyd said these projects have an order backlog of Rs 3,589 crore and 'constitute approximately 16.77 per cent of revised order backlog'.

Scrips of the company closed today at Rs 64.65 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange, down 2.49 per cent.