With the intention to fund the road projects, highways regulator the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) announced that it has decided to raise Rs 3,000 crore during the existing fiscal through tax-free bonds.

To get a loan of about Rs 2,000 crore to fund road projects, the highways regulator is also making discussions with the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Didar Singh, NHAI Member (Finance), said, “We have fixed a target of raising Rs 3,000 crore through tax-free bonds in the financial year 2009-10. The bonds will hit the market very soon.”

Engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro has informed that it has bagged various orders worth Rs 605 crore in the last quarter of financial year 2009.

Providing details regarding the latest orders bagged, the company said, that it has received Rs 165 crore order from the Andhra Pradesh Government for supplying potable water, which has to be completed in 15 months.

Further, the company has received Rs 133 crore order from the Delhi Jal Board for designing and laying pipelines. The project is scheduled to be completed in 21 months.

Mumbai-based Gammon India Ltd has notified that it has secured a project c

Mumbai-based Valecha Engineering Ltd has informed that it has picked new projects worth Rs 136 crores which includes road resurfacing of runway at Srinagar worth Rs 71 crores and construction of under pass connecting to Dwarka at Delhi worth Rs 65 crores.

Further the company stated in a separate announcement that its Middle-East operations are also progressing well and recently the company has formed a wholly owned subsidiary in the name of Valecha International FZE at Sharjah in UAE.

Valecha Engineering Limited operates as a construction and infrastructure company primarily in India.

Hyderabad based IVRCL Infrastructures & Projects has informed the market that it has bagged project orders worth Rs.359.52 crore from different agencies for construction related works.

In a disclosure to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the company has received the first order of Rs 164.64 crore from Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority. Under the project, the company will construct Vivekananda Road flyover on turnkey contract basis in Kolkata in a period of 18 months.

The Macquarie-SBI Infrastructure Fund (MSIF) is the newly-announced joint venture of India's biggest lender State Bank of India (SBI) and the largest Australian investment bank Macquarie Group Ltd., which has raised $1 billion for investment in ports and power plants in India.

The SBI-Macquarie joint venture MSIF also boasts of the participation of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector lending arm of the World Bank, as a minority shareholder and keystone investor.