Larsen & Toubro Limited (L&T), one of India’s leading engineering and construction companies, which already has a strong presence in the Arabian Gulf, consolidated its presence in the region by joining hands with Saudi Arabia’s house of Kanoo to offer a range of high-end intelligent electrical systems to the Saudi market.

The joint venture of Larsen & Toubro International FZE (LTFZE) and Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo will offer what has been described as intelligent architecture for the control and distribution of power. The venture entails the manufacture, marketing and sales of switchboards and related systems solutions as well as allied products.
The agreement was signed by R N Mukhija, full-time director of L&T, and Bader Abdulaziz Kanoo, director of YBA Kanoo, in the presence of A M Naik, CMD, L&T; M V Kotwal, L&T board member, and Abdulaziz Qassim Kanoo, deputy chairman of YBA Kanoo. Other members of L&T and the Kanoo Group were also present.
L&T will hold a majority stake besides having management and operational control of the joint venture company.
Announcing this at a press conference, Naik said, “L&T’s decision to invest in Saudi Arabia is based on indicators of enormous potential in the electrical business. Saudi Arabia has given a huge thrust on development and improvement in infrastructure for making the economy driven by not only oil but  also by many other industrial projects and petrochemicals. These business prospects offer a large potential for L&T’s switchboards business among GCC countries.”
As a technology-driven engineering conglomerate, L&T’s capabilities cover large process plants, construction, electrical distribution and electronics and information technology.  L&T is in a position to offer its customers a single window for meeting a variety of industrial requirements with a single point of responsibility. It has a successful track record in building plant and equipment used in the oil and gas sector, refineries, infrastructure and power projects, and has technology relationships with world leaders that have enabled it to execute world-class projects in the region.
Its local joint venture, L&T Saudi Arabia LLC, has an impressive track record in the infrastructure and energy sectors. It has built hospitals and electrical substations, and erected transmission line towers for power supply between Qatif and King Fahad International Airport. It is currently executing a 200-bed hospital project and constructing a cement plant and a major school building.  L&T has also recently commissioned a gas insulated switchgear substation for supplying power to Saudi Aramco’s Qatif/Abu sa’fa field development project in Juaymah.
 L&T’s heavy engineering arm has, in association with Saudi Arabian industry, set a record by manufacturing a 104-m-long product splitter in a single piece along with 8 Catofin reactors.  This massive 2,000-tonne consignment was directly shipped from L&T’s works at Hazira on India’s western seaboard to the petrochemical plant in Saudi Arabia. The heavy engineering division, ranked among the top five worldwide, has supplied several items of critical high-end equipment to Saudi Arabia such as waste heat boilers, reactors and high-pressure heat exchangers since 1994. L&T’s electricals arm has also supplied switchboards and allied products to many critical installations including various paper plants and chemical industries.
L&T is engaged in the final phase of the execution of a major process platform for Bunduq Company in Abu Dhabi, a gas compression facility for Gasco (the Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Limited), an environment-protection facility for Takreer at Ruwais and gas-insulated sub–station package units and transmission lines for Adwea.  The company is also involving in the construction of four bridges in Palm Jumeraih and high-rise buildings in Dubai Marina.  Earlier, L&T had carried out the mechanical erection and installation of a crude distillation unit at Zirku Island, built a gas-insulated sub-station at Al Ain and set up power transmission lines for Adwea and the Fujairah-Dhaid transmission line for UWEC.
Recently, L&T completed sulphur recovery units for KNPC refineries in Kuwait.  On-going projects include a technologically challenging 430-m, six-lane cable stayed bridge in Amman, Jordan, and a major hotel in Bahrain. 
L&T and its joint ventures have set up a number of energy and infrastructure projects.  In Oman, it set up a 200-MW power plant on a turnkey basis at Salalah.  This 200-MW open cycle power plant with six gas turbines supplies power to the entire Dhofar region.  In addition to the plant, L&T set up 132 kV substations and erected over 150 km of transmission lines.  In Muscat, L&T (Oman) constructed an ‘interchange’ at Al Khoudh – a major boon for motorists in the capital.  Other projects executed by L&T include the horseshoe-shaped tunnel for the Al-Jissah Resort and the Royal Flight Hangar at Seeb-Al Maymoon. The heavy engineering arm of L&T has added another dimension by being the principal supplier of critical equipment for both the ammonia and urea sections of Omifco - the Oman Fertiliser project. L&T’s electricals arm supplied all LV motor control centres of this plant. Its construction division has also been active in the building of pharmaceutical units, a steel billet plant, cement factories and commercial and shopping complexes in Oman.
L&T is executing a critical section of an oil platform project for Qatar Petroleum.  Its construction division has built two stadiums in Qatar.  The company has also built power plants and distribution networks in other parts of the world. The Qatar two-wheeler Grand Prix racetrack is powered by L&T switchgear.
Under its expansion plan for the Gulf, L&T is going to carry out a number of energy and construction projects in Bahrain and the UAE in the near future as a sign of the fruitful economic cooperation between India and the GCC.