Marg ties up with Surbana International

Chennai: The Chennai-based Marg, an infrastructure and real estate development company, has tied up with Surbana International Consultants, Singapore, to introduce prefabricated construction technology for residential and industrial development.

Addressing a press conference to announce the tie-up with Surbana, a Temasek-owned company, Mr G.R.K. Reddy, Managing Director, Marg Ltd, said Surbana would be the consultant supporting Marg to bring in infrastructure and equipment to introduce precast and prefabricated construction methods for Marg’s subsidiary New Chennai Township Pvt Ltd.

The company is setting up Marg Swarnabhoomi, the integrated township with SEZs focussing on engineering and multi-services sectors. The township coming up 80 km south of Chennai will have a total built up area of over 30 million sq ft including 15,000 residential units and supporting social infrastructure.

The objective is to bring down construction costs through modern technologies that reduce construction time and offer value to the consumers. Marg is in discussions with Singapore and Malaysian companies to bring in the production facility to manufacture the moulds for prefabricated elements for buildings and the support infrastructure.

Initially, Surabana would design the residential units to come with the prefabricated technology. Marg will construct over 500,000 sq ft of residential space as a pilot project. This would then be expanded and possibly applied for development commercial space also. While it is a proven technology, the extent of the benefits that it offers under Indian conditions would become apparent through the model project, Mr Reddy said.

Mr R.S. Prakash, Vice President (Business Development), South Asia, Surbana, said that the company has three decades experience in designing precast and prefabricated structures. It has been associated with developing more than a million dwelling units in Singapore.

The technology brings with it a wide range of advantages including speed of construction, environment-friendly approach prefabricated structures earn additional points from rating agencies that certify green buildings and quality.

Surbana is an integrated professional consultancy provider in urban planning, architectural and engineering design and project management.