Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) has secured an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract from the Government of India’s Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) to upgrade a section of National Highway-66 (NH-66).

RInfra has won the Rs4.41bn ($67.83m) contract in a joint venture with CAI, Ukraine, which specialises in tunnel construction.

Under the contract, RInfra will rehabilitate and upgrade NH-66 in the Kashedi Ghat section, which includes the execution of three-by-three twin tunnels measuring 3.44km in length.

Additionally, highway with paved shoulders and viaducts will be constructed for a length of 7.2km. This would reduce multiple sharp bends and steep gradients on the road, thereby decreasing the chances of traffic jams and accidents.

The project is also expected to reduce traffic on the routes between Mumbai to Goa and Mumbai to Bengaluru from Raigad to Ratnagiri in Maharashtra.

“We will leverage our experience of execution of large infrastructure road projects.”

Reliance Infrastructure EPC CEO Arun Gupta said: “This project involving twin tunnels will add to our existing credentials of executing complex projects in record time and at competitive cost.

“We will leverage our experience of execution of large infrastructure road projects.”

The project is scheduled to be completed in 30 months, following which it will be operated and maintained by Reliance JV for 48 months.

The company previously secured three road project contracts totalling 207km from National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

A part of the Reliance Group, RInfra is an infrastructure company specialising in developing projects through various special purpose vehicles (SPVs).

As well as road development, the company is active in various other sectors such as power, metro, defence, rail and airport.