EMS Emerges as Lowest Bidder for ₹1,908.63-Crore Water Supply Project in Kota Under AMRUT 2.0
Key Takeaways
- •EMS Ltd is the lowest bidder for a ₹1,908.63 crore water supply project in Kota, Rajasthan.
- •The project includes a 100 million-litres-per-day water treatment plant and related infrastructure.
- •The contract provides 24 months for execution and a five-year operations and maintenance period.
- •The bid still requires technical evaluation and formal administrative clearances before an award is issued.
- •The Kota bid follows EMS’s disclosure of ₹422 crore worth of contracts from NHAI the previous day.
EMS Ltd has emerged as the lowest bidder for a water supply project in Kota, Rajasthan, valued at ₹1,908.63 crore under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0, adding to a busy order pipeline for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company.
In government tenders, the lowest or L1 bidder is normally in line for the contract, subject to completion of technical evaluation and administrative formalities before a formal award is issued.
The scope of the project includes a 100 million-litres-per-day (MLD) water treatment plant along with related infrastructure. The contract allows 24 months for execution, followed by a five-year operations and maintenance period, which extends the company's involvement beyond the construction phase. Under the EPC model, revenue from such contracts is typically recognised as work progresses rather than at the time of the order win.
The Kota bid comes a day after EMS disclosed contracts worth ₹422 crore from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), continuing a run of new work across both its water and road segments. Order inflows are a closely tracked metric for EPC firms because they indicate the pipeline of work available for execution in the years ahead.
AMRUT 2.0 is an urban water mission launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in October 2021, with a total outlay of ₹2.77 lakh crore and a mission period running through 2025-26. It aims to make cities across India water secure through universal coverage of water supply and improved management of water resources, including treatment and recycling capacity, and it continues to generate large tenders from state urban agencies. For EMS, the immediate milestone would be the conversion of the Kota bid into a formal award, followed by execution progress against the 24-month construction schedule.
EMS Ltd is an infrastructure EPC company with a portfolio centred on water supply, sewerage and wastewater management, as well as road and railway works. The company listed on Indian stock exchanges in 2023 following its initial public offering.
Source: CNBC-TV18 Markets
