Shapoorji Pallonji, one of the major Indian infrastructure and construction companies, is looking for raising a debt of Rs 850 crore over the next six months to fund their smart city projects in Bengaluru, in Karnataka and Eluru in Andhra Pradesh.
Rs 400 crore and Rs 450 crore budget would be allocated for the Bengaluru and Eluru projects respectively.
According to Debasis Mitra, Director, Shapoorji Pallonji, the company is approaching various market leaders, including International Finance Corporation (IFC) for this purpose.
Both the projects are Build Operate Transfer (BOT) and are funded by debt. Shapoorji Pallonji is planning to raise the fund for Bengaluru project in the next four months and that for the Eluru project in the next six months.
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The company plans to execute seven projects in Eluru including road improvement, intelligent traffic management, 19 traffic junction management systems, smart grids, and energy management, sewage treatment and storm-water drainage.
The Eluru project is Shapoorji Pallonji’s first independent smart city BOT project.
The Bengaluru project, on the other hand, is a public-private partnership project where the company will take up projects like replacing five lakh street lights with LED bulbs and a smart project wherein sensors will be installed at poles to control the lighting system.
In this consortium project, Shapoorji Pallonji has 59 percent stakes and Samudra Technologies has 15 percent stakes. SMC owns the remaining 26 percent shares.
The estimated completion of this project is in the next 30 months spread over five phases. Shapoorji Pallonji will operate and manage it for 10 years.
Shapoorji Pallonji recently completed Rs 150 crore command and control centre for the Varanasi smart city in an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) model.
