Larsen & Toubro (L&T), a $20-billion Indian technology, engineering, manufacturing and construction conglomerate, has won several major contracts and is executing milestone projects across the Middle East, Africa and India region.

Having established an enviable position in the Middle East in the construction, infrastructure, hydrocarbon and power-transmission sectors over the past four decades, the conglomerate is working on major projects in the region include the largest gold processing plant and Saudi Aramco’s Marjan Incremental Development project in Saudi Arabia, Tawfiq Coke Products in Oman and a major pipeline construction project for Kuwait Oil Company (KOC).  It has recently completed work on Jebel Ali sewage treatment plant (STP) expansion project in Dubai, UAE.

Other projects back home include the iconic 182-m ‘Statue of Unity’ – the world’s tallest statue in the western state of Gujarat; and the Medigadda Barrage in Telangana, a key part of one of the world’s largest irrigation projects in the world.

Gold mine contract

In May 2019, the Metallurgical and Material Handling (MMH) business of L&T Construction was awarded a large order for setting up the Mansourah and Massarrah Gold Project. The contract was awarded by Ma’aden Gold and Base Metal Company (MGBM), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Saudi Arabia Mining Company (Ma’aden).

“The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) order worth INR5,000 crores ($725 million) for setting up a gold processing plant was secured amidst stiff global competition, and is the largest single EPC order for MMH in the international market,” S N Subrahmanyan, CEO and managing director of L&T, tells ABDULAZIZ KHATTAK of Gulf Construction magazine.

It is being developed in a consortium with Outotec based on the latest pressure oxidation technology (POX) and will be one of its kind within Saudi Arabia.

The scope of work involves design, engineering, procurement, installation, construction and commissioning of various sub-units of the process plant and associated infrastructure works.

The Mansourah and Massarah mines, processing plant and associated infrastructure are located in the Central Arabian Gold Region, one of the richest geological areas in Saudi Arabia and are due to be completed in 2022. Once commissioned, it will be the largest-capacity gold processing plant for Ma’aden.

Jebel Ali STP

The Phase Two 375,000-cu-m-per-day Jebel Ali STP – the biggest in the UAE – was built for the Dubai Municipality and has recently been inaugurated.

Built along with joint venture partner Besix, the STP is the biggest project of its kind for the Water and Effluent Treatment business vertical of L&T Construction. It was completed and delivered ahead of schedule while maintaining the highest standards of quality and safety.

The Phase Two expansion is Dubai Municipality’s strategic project aimed at meeting current and future demand for waste water generated from the surrounding area, which will see major new developments including Expo 2020. The Jebel Ali treatment facilities have a total treatment capacity of 675 million litres daily (MLD) which includes the existing 300 MLD Phase 1.

“This is perhaps the first project of this magnitude and complexity that has been completed and delivered ahead of time with not a single minute lost due to incidents of any kind,” says Subrahmanyan. “With water becoming such a precious commodity the world over, projects like these make a huge difference to the ecology and it is always good to be associated with such projects.”

Built on a build, test, commission, operate and maintain basis, the STP features primary, secondary and tertiary treatment process units such as screening, grit separation and removal, primary sedimentation (flight and scrapper mechanism), biological reactors, final settlement (bridge and scrapper mechanism), tertiary filtration (gravity filters), ultraviolet (UV) disinfection and chlorination.

The sludge treatment process includes sludge thickening (rotary drums and belt thickeners), anaerobic digestion, dewatering (centrifuge), sludge drying (thermal paddle dryers) facilities and robotic bagging system.

The scope of works also includes odour control facilities, Phase One STP interconnection, upgrading works in Phase One, effluent pump stations, effluent reservoirs, and biological reactors.

Other GCC projects

Another L&T business, the L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering Limited (LTHE), has been making its presence felt in the hydrocarbon space by working on a large project for Tawfiq Coke Products in Oman and a major pipeline construction project for Kuwait Oil Company (KOC).

LTHE is also executing some prestigious projects for Saudi Aramco, the most recent being the mega Marjan Incremental Development Project (see Saudi Focus).

It bears testimony to the execution capability of LTHE, which has an excellent safety and quality performance, repeatedly demonstrated in the execution of the Hasbah Gas Increment Project and other similar projects in Saudi Arabia, including the Marjan, Safaniya, Zulf and Berri. All projects were executed through LTHE’s fabrication facilities in the Middle East and India.

The project scope for oil facilities for the Marjan project consists of four tie-in platforms, one tie platform module, nine production deck modules (wellhead decks), 217 km of subsea pipelines across 25 segments, and 145 km of subsea cables across 16 segments. It also includes the replacement of existing control gears at eight existing offshore platforms and tie-in to existing systems.

The Medigadda Barrage in Telangana ... built in a record-breaking 24 months.

Projects in India

• Statue of Unity: In October 2018, L&T completed the construction of the 182-m ‘Statue of Unity’, dedicated to Indian freedom movement leader Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Narmada district, Gujarat state. The steel, concrete and brass-clad statue is the tallest in the world and was constructed in a record time of 33 months.

L&T Construction’s Buildings & Factories (B&F) business won the EPC contract for design and construction. Subrahmanyan says the statue, a towering piece of engineering by L&T, was conceived as a naturalistic depiction of Sardar Patel in his characteristic garb in a walking pose. It rises out of a star-shaped, geometric base that covers the entire Sadhu Hill. The statue has a unique, slender width-to-height ratio, far more exacting than existing technical norms that calls for special engineering considerations.

The structure has two vertical cores each housing a high-speed passenger elevator. These cores support the steel frames to which about 6,500 bronze panels are clad.

• Medigadda Barrage: The Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Scheme in the southern Indian state of Telangana is one of the world’s biggest irrigation projects. A vital part of this mega project is the Medigadda Barrage across the River Godawari that was built by L&T Construction in a record-breaking 24 months.

The Medigadda Barrage aims to lift an estimated 180 TMC (one thousand million cubic feet) of water per year from the Godavari River to the Sripada Yellampalli Project to provide water for drinking, irrigation and industrial purposes in 23 districts of Telangana.

During the construction of the structure, L&T achieved impressive statistics in terms of the volume of material used including 18 million cu m of earthwork excavation, 1.85 million cu m of concreting work (equivalent to seven times that used in Dubai’s Burj Khalifa), 135,000 tonnes of steel work (equivalent to more than 15 times used on the Eiffel Tower), 550,000 sq m of formwork, and over 25,000 tonnes of hydro-mechanical works, to mention only a few.