First Edition of Build India Infra Awards Showcases India to the World

Build India Awards given by Union Minister, Mr. Nitin Gadkari provided a spotlight on the remarkable endeavours in India’s infrastructure landscape. Award. The 1st edition of the award saw not only significant participation but winners that reflected engineering marvels from India, as India continued its push to create World Class Infrastructure. Primus Partners – India’s largest home-grown consulting services firm served as the Knowledge partner to the First Edition of the Build India Infra Awards 2024, which was Founded by Shri Vaibhav Dange, Founder & Curator of Build India Infra Awards. The award recognized impact, innovation, and sustainability across all major segments of infrastructure.

Sharing his perspective and vision on the occasion, Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, said, “In road construction, we have to reduce the cost of construction without reducing the quality of construction. We have to find out and adopt alternative materials, good technology, and successful, sustainable practices that are there in the world.”

The event witnessed experts from the industry engaging into deep deliberations on the critical infrastructure topics Driving Growth – Infrastructures Impact on Indias Growth Journey and Innovation Catalyst – Propelling the Infrastructure Revolution: Building Robust Infrastructure – Sustainability the only Way.

Speaking at the First Edition of Build India, Mr. Davinder Sandhu, Co-Founder, Primus Partners Pvt. Ltd., said, “Tonight we celebrate not just the infrastructures erected but the resilience that we have developed and the transformation that critical infrastructure is driving for advancing India towards nation building.”

At the inaugural edition, Shri Vaibhav Dange, Founder & Curator, Build India Infra Awards, said, “We are here to celebrate the achievements, innovations, and extraordinary efforts in changing the landscape of the Infrastructure projects. We all agree infrastructure will play a pivotal role in India’s becoming a developed economy in the shortest period of time.”

Speaking about the award entries and later commenting on the PPP model in the infrastructure, Shri Arvind Singh, Former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Former Chairman, Airport Authority of India, said, “It was impressive to witness the range and the scale of nominated projects. Some projects were quite challenging to realize. Concerning public-private partnerships, the PPP has proven highly successful in airports, effectively reducing the burden on the Airport Authority of India and boosting its revenue. In power transmission, PPP has shown greater success than the power generation sector. Overall, it presents a mixed but promising scenario.”

Speaking about the timeliness of the projects, Shri Vijay Chhibber, Former Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, said, “Timeliness depends upon how you finance the projects. If you incentivize timeliness and disincentivize delays, then one would see that projects are completed on time.”

Mr Poul Jensen, Managing Director, European Business and Technology Centre, said, “It is absolutely crucial for both Europe and India to work together and learn from each other. From 2005, when I began living in India, till now, there has been a tremendous transformation in the Indian infrastructure landscape.”

Having received over 60 nominations that closely contested for the prestigious awards, the Build India Infra Awards 2024 were presented to winners across five sectors, Aviation, Ports, Roads & Highways, Metros & Railways, and in three categories of Impact, Sustainability, and Innovation.

In the Aviation Sector, GMR won in the Impact category for Phase-3A Expansion Works, Delhi Airport; Yamuna International Airport Pvt. Ltd. won in the Sustainability Category for Noida International Airport; and in the Innovation category had joint winners Adani Airport Holdings, Runway Recarpeting Works at Mangalore International Airport and Airport Authority of India for Surat Airport.

In the Railway Sector, SP Singhla Constructions won in the Impact category for the Rail-cum-Road Bridge over River Ganga; Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) Project, Northern Railway won in the Sustainability and Innovation categories for the Anji Khad Bridge; and the Chenab Bridge project of Northern Railway (USBRL) won them a special award in all three categories – Impact, Sustainability and Innovation.

In the Ports Sector, JNPA won for its JNPA Centralized Parking Piazza project in the Impact category; Adani Ports won for Waste Bag Removal, Dhamra Port project in the Sustainability category; Adani Ports for Truck Trailer Lifting Prevention, Mundra Port, in the Innovation category.

In the Roads Sector, the Impact Category had two winners. The first was Dhola Infra Projects for the 12.9m wide bridge between Dhola and Sadiya ghats; and then joint winners Tata Projects for the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link Package and MMRDA for Mumbai Trans Harbour. The Sustainability category had joint winners Devihalli Hassan Tollway Private Limited and Beawar Pali Pindwara Tollway, both by Indinfravit. Also, Ashoka Buildcon won in the same category for Vadodara Kim Expressway. In the Innovation category, Medulla Soft Technologies won for two projects: the MST Traffic Simulation project and the Kalwa Bridge project.

The Roads Sector had two special awards, both for recording Guinness World Records, Patel Infrastructure for its Vadodra Kim Expressway project and Rajpath Infracon Pvt. Ltd. for its Amravati to Kurankhed section of NH6 Amaravati – Chikkali Section project.

In the Metro Sector, Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd won for its Mumbai Metro project in the Impact Category; NCC Ltd for Reach 1 Viaduct, Nagpur Metro in the Sustainability category; Afcons Infrastructure Limited for East-West Kolkata Metro in the Innovation category. The National Capital Region Transport Corporation won the Best Project Award for the Delhi-Merut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS).

As Knowledge Partners, Primus Partners spearheaded the conceptualization and execution of the nomination and jury process. Designed on the three core principles – People, Process, and Product, the jury members were presented with a robust framework for holistic assessment of the nominations, which was a critical step to identifying the iconic infra projects of the country.

With a mammoth effort put forth by the team, Primus brought together the most illustrious jury members together who collectively decided the winners. The jury included Pradeep Kumar Sinha, Former Cabinet Secretary of India; Amitabh Kant, Former CEO, Niti Aayog; Vijay Chibber, Former Secretary, MORTH; Sanjay Bhatia, Former Chairman, Mumbai Port Trust & Indian Ports Association; Dakshita Das, Former Additional Member, Finance, Ministry of Railways; Arvind Singh, Former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism & Former Chairman, Airport Authority of India; Ashwani Lohani, Former Chairman, Railway Board; P R Jaishankar, MD, IIFCL; Vinay Kumar Singh, MD, NCRTC; Brijesh Dixit, MD, Maharashtra State Infrastructure Development Corporation (MSIDC); Poul V Jensen, MD, European Business and Technology Centre; Atul Kulkarni, Management Consultant, Infrastructure; Sharad Sabnis, Former Senior VP, Tata Realty & Infrastructure; Nilaya Varma, Co-Founder & CEO, Primus Partners; Davinder Sandhu, Co-Founder & Chairperson, Primus Partners; Vaibhav Dange, Public Policy Expert on Infra, Green Fuels & Sustainable Mobility.

Embark on a journey of recognition and Instituted as a prestigious initiative that serves as a cornerstone in recognizing and applauding ground-breaking infrastructure projects across the vast expanse of India, The Build India Infra Awards 2024 recognizes the exceptional endeavours that have left an indelible mark on the canvas of the nations infrastructure sector. As Knowledge Partners, Primus Partners is committed to acknowledging and celebrating excellence, honouring the significant contributions that have played a pivotal role in shaping and advancing Indias infrastructure landscape.

About Primus Partners

Primus Partners Pvt. Ltd. is a leading management consulting services firm headquartered in New Delhi. Primus provides consulting and advisory services across various industries, including rural management, public policy, and industrialization in both the public and private sectors. Primus is committed to driving sustainable growth and maximizing value for its clients through innovative approaches and sectoral expertise.

For more information, visit www.primuspartners.in.