Kolkata, Nov 5: Around 3,000 transformers manufactured by a Kolkata-based company will help secure power distribution in stadia and related infrastructure during the upcoming football world cup in Qatar.
BMC Electroplast, an MSME unit, has supplied current and voltage transformers, which are critical components in the power distribution system, for the FIFA world cup 2022, a company official said.
“We have supplied 50 per cent of the total voltage and current transformers required for the soccer event. These instruments reside in the switchgear boards used for power distribution internal control and protection. More than the value of the contract, it gives us satisfaction and pride that our engineering product is part of a global event,” BMC Electroplast Director Siddhartha Mitra told PTI.
The contract value was Rs 35 crore, and the agency that approved its product is Qatar Electricity & Water Corporation, commonly known as ‘Kahramaa’.
Speaking about the order, Mitra said the process began in 2010 from Tamco Switchgear (Malaysia), an erstwhile L&T company but currently controlled by MNC power equipment major Schneider.
“It took two years for us to get our prototype approved from Kahramaa, which follows stringent quality norms. Our company, as a vendor of Tamco, had to meet the benchmark to get the contract. We concluded the supply by 2017, and now all our critical components are up and running and helping power distribution system in the temperature-controlled stadia, walkways and other infrastructure,” Mitra said.
The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will be played from November 20 to December 18. The 64 matches of the tournament with a 32-team line-up will take place across eight venues.
Mitra said, “This project will give us a major impetus in accessing the Middle East countries. The approval from Kahramaa was the most stringent in the region and thus it helps get almost automatic approval from all other countries in that region.”
Mitra, who is among engineer partners Subodh Banerjee, Rajiv Bhargava and Girish V Magre of the company, said the Covid-19 pandemic had hit the entity hard.
“We used to export about 25-30 per cent of our sales. After the world cup order, we received serious export enquiries, but the pandemic has affected our business due to supply chain disruptions and hefty freight costs. However, we anticipate reviving exports from the next fiscal,” he added. (PTI)
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