Malaysia's Opus Group scouts for India buys

NEW DELHI: Malaysian government-owned infrastructure major Opus Group is scouting for medium-sized infrastructure and engineering consultancy firms in India to foray into the country. The group plans to invest in road projects and township development in India through its subsidiary UEM.

The group holds assets worth $7.5 bn in New Zealand and South East Asia and has a turnover of about $260 mn turnover.

The company also plans to bid for road projects with Indian partners both at the state level and the national level. Its subsidiary UEM is already providing technical expertise by way of partnerships for Rs 2,300 crore worth road projects in India with GMR and Hindustan Construction (HCC).

���We are looking to acquire some firms or enter into joint ventures with Indian infrastructure players so as to bid jointly for expressways and roads. The objective is to bring both expertise and finance to the table. However, we are yet to finalise our expenditure budget for India,��� UEM country director Muhinder Singh said.

UEM also plans to forge a strategic consortium with Indian players for road projects and townships in West Bengal and Punjab, he added. Our focus is not to own assets in India but to bring geologically- friendly construction methods here.

The company, which is the largest toll concessionaire in Asia wants to introduce new techniques such as resource optimisation, asset management and preservation methods to Indian road development.

���We undertake projects right from the conception and inception to maintenance and value addition years after the asset is created,��� he said.

The company has also constructed Malaysia���s light rail system and may consider such urban transport projects for India. The Opus group has also done across the sea bridges between Malaysia and Singapore and is in the process of constructing one between Malaysia and Thailand.