Concrete

BOOM, BOOT, BOO, EPC, PPP, LSTK…

Published

7 years ago

January 7, 2020

admin

Tongue-twisters or cannon-balls? Neither. But, people who are from projects background know that these are acronyms of various different categories of projects. An understanding of these categories is quite important in the context of project management practices.

Forms of projects, classified on patterns of Ownership and Financing, are:

BOT – Build Operate Transfer
BOOT – Build Own Operate Transfer
BOO – Build Own Operate
BLT – Build Lease Transfer
DBFO – Design Build Finance Operate
DBOT – Design Build Operate Transfer
DCMF – Design Construct Manage Finance

On the other hand, going by contracting/execution philosophy, projects are grouped into:

PPP
EPC
EPCM
EPCI
LSTK

Why do we need to know and understand these jargon? Without a knowledge of these names and categories, we shall be unable to differentiate between different types of projects, and will also fail to capture the implications of these names in the way accountability devolves between owner, developer and contractor. Take for example, the two types under PPP and EPC, which can be discussed and distinguished. It will be an interesting comparison because The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has been using both these modes in their tenders for road projects in our country, over the last decade.

First, let us develop an understanding, and then we may analyse and compare these two terms. PPP is Public Private Partnerships, where a Government body and a private entity sign up to jointly develop, finance, execute and operate a (mostly) infrastructure project, and thus an entity called concessionaire is created (sometimes also called an SPV – special purpose vehicle). The contract demarcates the responsibilities of the two partners, and in most cases, the public partner assumes the preparatory works like land acquisition, statutory approvals, political resolution of issues, etc., in addition to overall tracking of the work to be done by the private partner. The public partner may or may not be bringing in any hard equity other than land, etc. The private agency invests money, obtains financing, executes the project and runs the assets thus created for a pre-defined period of time in order to realise a return on its financial investments. The Pvt Agency decides the contracting philosophy during execution, like say, EPC/LSTK/packages, etc.

EPC mode, on the other hand, is when NHAI competitively bids out a given highway on defined scope of Engineering, Procurement and Construction only, and the subsequent job of maintenance and toll collection, etc. can be tendered out separately. We can see that there is vast difference in scope between these two.

Primarily, projects which are financially viable are handed out as PPP’s while others where prima-facie viability is in question, EPC bids are invited. In 2012-13, when many developers of road projects were reeling under huge debt-burden, and did not have appetite for bidding in new PPP road projects, NHAI had to resort to large-scale EPC tendering to keep up the tempo of building highways. In the urban transportation sector, in Mumbai, the two cases of Mumbai Metro Line One, which was tendered as a PPP project and the Monorail project, which was tendered as EPC Project, are also very good examples that amply illustrate this discussion. The first one, considered viable, was won by Reliance Infrastructure in a PPP-bidding process, while the other one, which was financially not so sound, was won by L&T-SCOMI on competitive EPC-bidding mode. In the end, however, both these two projects got inordinately delayed primarily due to right-of-way issues, leaving us none the wiser about which mode was better from execution perspective.

As we can see, any study of project management will remain incomplete without an understanding of various types of ownership, financing, and execution of projects. Why not, therefore, take a look at some other types!

BOOT
A BOOT structure differs from BOT in that the private entity owns the works. During the concession period, the private company owns and operates the facility with the prime goal to recover the costs of investment and maintenance while trying to achieve a reasonable margin on the project. The specific characteristics of BOOT make it suitable for infrastructure projects like highways, roads, mass transit, railway transport and power generation and as such they have political importance for the social welfare impact but are not attractive for other types of private investments. BOOT and BOT are methods that find very extensive application in countries which desire ownership transfer.

Some advantages of BOOT projects are:

Encourage private investment
Inject new foreign capital to the country
Transfer of technology and know-how
Completing project within time frame and planned budget
Providing additional financial source for other priority projects
Releasing the burden on public budget for infrastructure development

BOO
In a BOO project, ownership of the project remains usually with the project company for example a mobile phone network. Therefore the private company gets the benefits of any residual value of the project. This framework is used when the physical life of the project generally coincides with the concession period. A BOO scheme involves large amounts of finance and long payback period. Some examples of BOO projects come from the water treatment plants. This facilities run by private companies process raw water, provided by the public sector entity, into filtered water, which is afterwards returned to the public sector utility to deliver to the customers.

Trying to define all these various types of projects and contracts may turn out to be quite lengthy, but before we sign off for the month, I would like to add here something from my experience in steel and cement sectors. Companies which have very strong engineering and project management and coordination set-ups, will like to save costs by implementing a large project thru many "Packages" and will take full ownership and accountability for its success or failure. Conversely, companies which are not so confident, or do not have strong project teams, or wishes to shirk responsibility, may opt for EPC contracts, and they have to accept an increase of at least 15 per cent additional cost for doing this. That is, truly speaking, the cost of coordination, management, and avoidance of accountability.

– SUMIT BANERJEE

Concrete

JSW Cement Commissions 1 MTPA Unit in Rajasthan

Rajasthan grinding capacity rises to 3.50 MTPA after commissioning

Published

2 days ago

October 9, 2026

admin

JSW Cement has commissioned an additional 1 MTPA cement grinding unit in Nagaur, Rajasthan, taking the company’s total cement grinding capacity to 25.1 MTPA. The commissioning was announced on Tuesday, October 6.

The company said the new unit had increased the total cement grinding capacity at its Rajasthan plant to 3.50 MTPA. The expansion adds to JSW Cement’s production infrastructure as it continues to build capacity across its operating network.

The company’s total clinker manufacturing capacity, including capacity at its joint venture JSW Cement FZC, stands at 9.74 MTPA. Clinker is an intermediate material used in cement production, and its availability supports the company’s grinding operations.

JSW Cement is also pursuing a proposed merger of its listed subsidiary Shiva Cement with the company. The scheme, approved by the boards of the respective companies, involves issuing five fully paid-up JSW Cement equity shares for every 41 shares held by Shiva Cement shareholders other than JSW Cement.

The arrangement remains subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals. JSW Cement currently holds 66.23 per cent of Shiva Cement’s paid-up equity share capital, and the shares held by JSW Cement in the subsidiary will be cancelled under the proposal without any issue of JSW Cement shares against that holding.

The scheme has an appointed date of April 1, 2026, and the company has indicated that completion could take 12 to 14 months, depending on the receipt of approvals. These include clearances from stock exchanges, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, the National Company Law Tribunal and other applicable authorities, along with approvals from shareholders and creditors where required. JSW Cement shares closed at Rs. 113.15 on the BSE, up Rs. 2.05, or 1.85 per cent.

Concrete

Wonder Cement appoints Mahesh Singh as VP Corporate Brand Communication

Published

2 days ago

October 9, 2026

admin

Singh brings 20+ years of brand and marketing experience, and will lead integrated corporate brand communication initiatives at Wonder Cement

New Delhi

Wonder Cement, a leading cement manufacturer, has appointed Mahesh Singh as Vice President – Corporate Brand Communication. In his new role, he will oversee corporate brand strategy and communication, including digital and performance marketing, public relations, trade, events, exhibitions, sports and experiential marketing.

Singh brings over two decades of experience across marketing and communications, with roles spanning the automotive industry, agencies and entrepreneurship. He spent more than a decade with Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, working across integrated communication, media, digital, retail and consumer engagement. His stint also included helping build the company’s digital marketing capabilities.

He moved to dentsu X India as Vice President – Strategy & Planning, working across categories such as automotive, auto components, electric vehicles, FMCG, consumer electronics, BFSI, apparel and brand consulting. His responsibilities included media and marketing strategy, product launches, content, performance marketing and consumer activations.

Singh subsequently took an entrepreneurial route with Radiant Brands before joining Shriram Ltd (SPR Autotech) as Head – Marketing & Communications. There, his remit included brand and corporate strategy, communications, PR and ORM, retail identity, loyalty programmes and events.

At Wonder Cement, Singh will be responsible for bringing together the company’s corporate brand communication initiatives across digital, performance marketing, PR, trade, sports and experiential platforms. The role will focus on creating an integrated approach to communication across consumers, trade partners and other key stakeholders.

The appointment brings to Wonder Cement a marketer whose career has spanned the brand, agency and entrepreneurial sides of the communications ecosystem.

Wonder Cement, part of the RK Group, is a cement manufacturer with roots in Rajasthan and a focus on quality, trust and transparency. The company has grown to six manufacturing plants, and a cement capacity of 21.5 MTPA. With more than 2,000 employees and a network of over 5,000 dealers, its operations span manufacturing, distribution and customer engagement, with a focus on consistent product quality and efficient execution.

Concrete

JSW Cement commissions additional 1 MTPA grinding unit in Rajasthan

The Nagaur expansion takes JSW Cement’s total grinding capacity to 25.10 MTPA.

Published

3 days ago

October 8, 2026

admin

JSW Cement has commissioned an additional 1 million tonne per annum (MTPA) cement grinding unit at its Nagaur Integrated Plant in Rajasthan. The commissioning takes the company’s total cement grinding capacity to 25.10 MTPA.

JSW Cement’s total clinker manufacturing capacity, including its joint venture JSW Cement FZC, now stands at 9.74 MTPA.

The company began operations in North India in March 2026 with the Nagaur Integrated Plant, comprising a 3.30 MTPA clinkerisation unit and a 2.50 MTPA cement grinding unit. With the latest expansion, the plant’s total grinding capacity has increased to 3.50 MTPA.

The additional capacity will cater to cement demand across Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab and the National Capital Region (NCR). The expansion has been funded through a combination of equity and long-term debt.

During the quarter ended September 30, 2026, JSW Cement also commissioned an Alternate Fuel Handling System and a Waste Heat Recovery System (WHRS) at the Nagaur plant.

Nilesh Narwekar, CEO, JSW Cement, said the additional grinding capacity was a strategic priority for the company’s expansion in North India. He added that the Alternate Fuel Handling System and WHRS were expected to reduce production costs.