Indian engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro (L&T) said it has achieved a major safety milestone during the construction of key facilities at its Riyadh Metro project in Saudi Arabia, clocking over 15 million safe man hours without lost time injuries (LTI).  

As per the deal awarded by BACS consortium (Bechtel – Almabani – CCC – Siemens), L&T is building ballastless tracks for Riyadh Metro lines One and Two on a design-and-build basis.

The project involves the construction of 62.86 km of double ballastless tracks in tunnels, viaducts, at-grade sections and three depots.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently visited the L&T’s Riyadh Metro project site during his first official tour of Saudi Arabia and interacted with the company's project personnel including blue-collared workmen as they celebrated the safety milestone.

The premier was welcomed by L&T group executive chairman AM Naik and SN Subrahmanyan, the deputy managing director and president at the site. The duo then presented a ceremonial Saudi sword to Modi.

Lauding the Indian workers, Modi said the remarkable achievement was possible not only because of superior technology or better management but due to the diligence and discipline of the workforce.
 
"India’s workforce will soon meet the world’s need for manpower and through their efforts across the globe they are enhancing India’s prestige and value in the eyes of the world," he remarked.

After his address, Modi spent a few minutes interacting with the workforce and even shared snacks with them.

"This is a truly remarkable day for the Riyadh Metro project and we are grateful to the Prime Minister for having spared the time and given due recognition and importance to this huge and iconic project, definitely one of the biggest that we are involved in,” said Naik.

“We fully appreciate how crucial this project is to Saudi Arabia and, more particularly, to the city of Riyadh and we are fully committed to completing and delivering our part of this prestigious project as per the stipulated deadlines maintaining the highest standards of safety and quality,” he stated.

The project, which has been awarded to the railway business unit of L&T Construction, is due for completion by the end of 2018.

Subrahmanyan said: "We are truly humbled by the Prime Minister’s gesture and all of us, including our 1,000-strong Indian workforce, are positively enthused and motivated by his visit."

"We have already established our credentials as India’s foremost builder of metro systems by handling a slew of projects and we are now bringing that experience and expertise to give Riyadh a world-class, new-age metro system," he added.-TradeArabia News Service