L. Ramnarayan
and Shams Ahsan
Saudi Gazette
RIYADH — Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Construction’s T. Srinivasan, executive vice president and head of Riyadh Metro Project, aptly summed up the reason for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the workers camp on the outskirts of Riyadh city: “This is his way of saying I do care for my people. That’s the way I see it, and we are all excited about it. We all are extremely happy to be part of this event, for each one of us are fortunate to be part of this event, especially for workers it is a real happening and they are thrilled beyond words.”
Srinivasan wanted to project to the prime minister safety milestones achieved by the L&T team at the Riyadh Metro project, something which Modi praised during his address to workers.
Some 15,000,000 man hours worked with zero lost time in injuries, Srinivasan told Saudi Gazette as he waited for the arrival of the prime minister at the facility.
“It means so many hours we have worked without any incident which put more than a day’s absence from work because any small incident could roll the clock back. This is the best thing for we consider safety of workers as primary concern in any of L&T’s projects for these people are the prime movers of the projects. Therefore we have the responsibility to send them back to their family as safe as possible. That’s the ethos of all our projects, he said, adding, “It is the same in Qatar where we have projects and everywhere where we are involved in projects.”
“Many projects have achieved such milestones, and this factor of the project we’ll present to our honorable prime minister,” Srinivasan said.
When asked what else he and his team would like the PM to know about L&T’s efforts. He said this is the largest project undertaken by L&T outside the country for any Indian or South Asian contractor. We have a name to establish, and one of the best ways to establish our name is to complete the project safely and on time,” he said.
“We have given a lot of credence to the fact that we should keep our workers in a happy frame of mind. If you take a look around the camp, we have set a standard of living for them, which is much, much higher than any standards in other camps. This because basically they leave their families back home and we have to factor in this to keep them happy and working at an optimum level.
“In addition we have large play areas in the camp for the workers to have extra curricular activities on off days, with the addition of gymnasium and swimming pools. We also provide cricket and football kits for team activities and we have recently started screening global events for workers of various communities, like the World T-20 Cup cricket matches and football leagues for those who are interested in such activities. And the screenings are done in the Mess Hall, without carrying out major changes.”
When asked about the future prospects of L&T, Srinivasan was hopeful if L&T completes this Riyadh Metro project on time with an impeccable safety record and standards, it would definitely be in the running in the future for other major projects in the Kingdom and outside.
He added: “As a consortium, we go where the developments are, and in fact most of the developed countries are moving toward underdeveloped countries for prospects. So we’ll go wherever the projects are there, and currently we are eyeing countries in Africa and even South Africa.
“Though many are vying for the African pie, India is also in the fray,” Srinivasn said when asked whether India is late in entering the African market.
“India itself is a big market and we thought it was better to establish ourselves in the Indian market before venturing out and competing with the best. So we can never call any time as late. It is a big world, opportunities are there and we need to work to the international standard.”
