Larsen & Toubro has constituted a new unit, christened as Smart World and Communication to cater to smart cities, security solutions and communication projects. The conglomerate has fixed a target of growing the business to $1 billion in the next three to four years.
The business arm will tap the resources of the firm’s subsidiaries to offer solutions in a first-of-its-kind initiative.
“The newly-established unit has 65 members including the existing staff of the conglomerate while a few of them specially roped in for the purpose,” board member and senior executive vice president (infrastructure and construction) SN Subrahmanyan said, adding, the arm has a potential to become $1 billion business in around four years.
Subrahmanyan further said that the central government is contemplating to set up 100 smart cities and if 20 of them came up, L&T would surely get big orders to materialize the project.”We have been doing such projects like gated campuses for IT companies. We are optimistic to bid for bigger projects like the one planned for the Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai,” he said.
The Centre plans to spend Rs 1 lakh crore to build smart cities by 2020 which would have cost-effective affordable housing, social and institutional infrastructure set up for a better quality of living. The Bandra-Kurla Complex is expected to become the first smart district with Maharashtra state authorities floating tenders to complete the project by March.
