L&T wins 'significant' order for Centre's LIGO India Observatory in Maharashtra

Larsen and Toubro (L&T) Ltd. on Tuesday, February 24, said its two business verticals - the heavy civil infrastructure and heavy engineering - have jointly won a 'significant' order from the Centre's department of atomic energy to establish the LIGO India Observatory.

L&T classifies orders in the ₹1,000 crore to ₹2,500 crore range as 'significant'.

The observatory will come up at Aundha in Hingoli district, Maharashtra.

Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) is used to detect gravitational waves caused by cataclysmic cosmic events via multikilometer-scale wave detectors using laser interferometry, the company said.

The initiative will be one of India's flagship 'mega science' projects, developed via a collaboration between premier Indian research institutions, including RRCAT and IPR, and the LIGO Laboratory of the US, with support from Caltech and MIT, L&T said.

The company's scope of work includes engineering, procurement and construction of vibration sensitive specialised high-precision civil infrastructure, along with the manufacture and installation of ultra-high vacuum-compatible 8km beam tube and critical equipment for vacuum infrastructure.

L&T's scope of work also includes integration of mechanical, electrical, HVAC, fire protection, vacuum control, monitoring system and all support utilities. The project competition deadline is 48 months, it said.

On another note, L&T's management has maintained its full-year guidance across parameters, and has said it will exceed its order inflow growth guidance of 10% for the entire year.

The management has also maintained its revenue growth guidance of 15% as well as the core margin guidance of 8.% for the entire year.

L&T shares were trading 0.8% lower at ₹4,384.5 apiece around 11.20 am on Tuesday. The stock has gained 15.8% in the past month.

Also Read: Suzlon Energy makes a major management change, confident of growth going forward