We intend to have a significant pie in all the upcoming projects of the national and state government bodies

Jagdish K Valecha, Managing Director, Valecha Engineering LtdWith a group turnover of Rs 30,000 million, Valecha Engineering has positioned itself as a globally accepted construction and infrastructure development company. The company, listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and National Stock Exchange (NSE), has created some of the most prominent civil engineering infrastructure landmarks of India. Jagdish Valecha, Managing Director, tells Shubhangi Bidwe about these projects and the strengths and strategies of the company...Valecha Engineering started as a small firm engaged in road projects for the BMC. Highlight the company's milestones from inception till date.The journey began in 1957 when Valecha Brothers formed a partnership firm named 'Gopaldas Vasudev & Co' that later graduated into a private limited company in the year 1977. In 1993, Valecha Brothers (EC) Pvt Ltd changed its status from a private limited to a public limited company and, came to be known as 'Valecha Engineering Ltd' (VEL). In 1994, VEL went public and was listed on OTC Exchange of India followed by the BSE and NSE. It is today a mammoth enterprise having a turnover of over Rs 650 crore and an order book position of over Rs 2,100 crore.The company has been awarded four BOT road projects worth over Rs 1,300 crore during the last 12 months and bids for over Rs 1,000 crore worth of projects every month. VEL has also ventured into the power sector and further plans to foray into the renewable and the non-renewable sectors. It has recently signed an MoU with the Government of Madhya Pradesh for a 2 x 440 MW, Rs 2,200 crore thermal power project to be set up in the state. Its corporate strategy is to create a new portfolio of businesses while growing its existing EPC business.About the company foraying into the power sector with a 440 MW project in Madhya Pradesh, highlight the main vision behind this and the annual capacity of power that you target to generate?The power sector is one of the largest growing sectors of India. The government has targetted a capacity addition of 78,000 MW by the year 2012. It has, over the years, undertaken a number of initiatives such as delicensing of thermal power generation, restructuring of SEBs, proper market for power, setting up of power exchanges amongst other initiatives. VEL aims to avail of these opportunities by tapping this growing market.Valecha has been involved in some major piling contracts. Which are the latest piling projects undertaken by the company both in India and overseas?Foundation engineering, particularly in India, has aligned with international technology of rotary rigs. Valecha acquired its first automated piling rig in 1997 and also won its first piling contract in the same year. Today, the company is regarded as one of the dominant players  in the field and has one of the largest fleet of Hydraulic Rotary Rigs in the country. In the year 2006, we also ventured into the Middle East market with large piling contracts.Some of the not-able piling projects executed by the com-pany include:Diaphragm walling for DMRC and DTTDC in New Delhi;Foundation/piling projects for most top builders in West and South India;Single largest piling contract of 220,000 mt at NTPC in Kahalgaon;Piling for development in the Palm Jumeirah;Piling for the new Wankhede Stadium.Any particular project you'd like to shed more light on?A few of our recent projects that stand out are the Wankhede Stadium and our first BOT project which is now in an advanced stage of construction after five months of signing. The company is also involved in the building of metro stations and power plants -marking a new phase of growth.Any path-breaking technologies employed in your projects?Valecha Engineering has an adequate and proper mix of equipment in its possession that ranges from state-of-the-art mobile crushing plants to slip form concrete pavers to batch mix asphalt plants, which are being utilised in the specialised construction of concrete expressways and highways. The cutting edge equipment used by us include:Road works - asphalt paved: Hot mix plant, crusher, tippers, vibratory roller, wet mix paver Road works - concrete paved: Concrete batching plant, transit mixers, motor grader, soil compactor, concrete paverBridges and structures: Hydraulic grab, concrete placerPiling: Hydraulic rig, cranesOthers: Bentonite mixing pumpWhat are the quality standards adopted by the company?  We at Valecha firmly believe that if we execute our projects to the best of our ability and maintain the highest standards of quality, our end product will definitely be appreciated. That is why we have set a new vision for the company that says 'Redefining Infrastructure'. As a reflection of its international quality, safety standards and construction and project management techniques, Valecha Engineering is now one of the few Indian companies to hold accreditations of ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007.What about safety standards?The stringent safety policy of VEL sets the guidelines for eventually developing safety systems, procedures, decision making at different operating levels of management. The company also meets all the statutory regulations including anticipatory action related to safety. The safety measures adopted by the company include:In-built safety provision while designing the product to ensure safety during the rightful use or misuse or wrongful use of the product.Using better technologies, new technological systems to improve safety and environment.Transferring know-how to sub-contractors to ensure safety during the jobs to be executed as well as of the facilities.Investing in safety audits and training individual employees for the purpose. Initiating studies for assessing process hazards in order to eliminate/reduce them and follow up on suggestions.Investigation of accidents as well as consumer complaints is taken up thoroughly to identify hazards or causes of accidents in order to prevent them and routine follow ups are done for the same.The company is known to possess a proper mix of equipment. Is the equipment owned by you or do you sub-contract? We believe in investing in the latest technologies and keep an eye on the future trends of the machineries. Each year new construction equipment is added to the company's existing fleet. We use in-house equipment in all our projects in order to control the quality of the end product and ensure timely delivery.Please highlight the various HRD initiatives undertaken by the company.Apart from having world class HR policies that nourish our work force, we give equal opportunities to all our cadres. All our employees are made to go through world-class training programmes to sharpen their skills and upgrade their knowledge. Some of the new HRD initiatives undertaken by our company include:Campus recruitment'URJA' an informal internal fortnightly magazine where all the articles are contributed by the employeesGrievance handling cell where the employees can discuss their issues -personal and professional, once a week without cadre.Rewards and recognition programmeEmphasis on learning and development where team members with specific needs are given extra training, for example, CAD classes, soft skills training, Excel training, etc. Valecha is well known in India but the company's operations in the Middle East haven't quite come to the fore. Your comments please. Valecha Engineering is a dominant player in the field of foundation engineering/piling and has one of the largest fleet of hydraulic rotary rigs in the country. In the year 2006, the company ventured into the Middle East market to execute large piling contracts. We have also been awarded with a large piling contract by IOCL for its upcoming refinery in Paradip, Orrisa. More such large foundation/piling contracts are in the pipeline.For the future, what is the vision and strategy of the company? From a team that started with just 50 people, VEL today, has a dynamic team of over 600 employees, all striving forward with one goal- 'To build better quality infrastructure projects for the people, for the nation'. The vision, over these years, has been to consolidate the business and develop a team that is ready to take on the booming Indian infrastructure. Having the required technical and financial strength, the company has now adopted an aggressive growth strategy by foraying into PPP projects in the road and other growing sectors while also focusing on regular EPC jobs.We intend to have a significant pie in all the upcoming projects of the national and state government bodies, and focus on growing our revenues. The company will also expand its construction business by exploring new opportunities in urban infrastructure. We are also  evaluating opportunities in Sri Lanka and parts of Africa with the help of our local partners.Fact sheet:   Year of establishment: 1957 Centres of operation: VEL operates in over 8 states at any given time Top management: Jagdish K Valecha, Managing Director; Dinesh H Valecha and Umesh H Valecha, Whole-Time Directors No. of employees: 793 Employees (Pan India) Group turnover: FY 2009-10: `652.05 croreGive us your feedback on this interview at feedback@ASAPPmedia.com