PSL to invest up to Rs 500 cr in port construction

Steel pipe maker PSL, which recently got one of the largest gas pipeline contracts, is exploring options of entering port construction business.

By ET Bureau | Jun 18, 2011, 05.56 AM IST

MUMBAI: Steel pipe maker PSL, which recently got one of the largest gas pipeline contracts, is exploring options of entering port construction business.

The Ashok Punj-managed company is ready to invest up to Rs 500 crore in building a jetty at Kandla Port in Gujarat, through the public-private participation route. “The actual investment could be less than that and we are preparing a feasability report on it,” Mr Punj, who is the managing director, told ET on Friday.

Last week, PSL got the contract to build the jetty from the Gujarat government. According to PSL, port construction has synergies with its pipeline business. The company has also formed a subsidiary, PSL Infrastructure and Ports, for such forays.

On June 16, PSL said it has got an order worth Rs 753 crore from state-run Gas Authority of India to build pipelines for a segment of the Kochi-Koottanad-Bangalore Mangalore gas pipeline, that is 735 km long.

PSL will offer the pipelines from a manufacturing unit in the proximity that reduces the freight component, said Mr Punj. Freight accounts for 10-20% of the total delivered cost of the pipeline.

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