Lebanon’s geo-tech engineering firm ACTS acquires two Indian companies.

Lebanon-headquartered Advanced Construction Technology Services, a geotechnical engineering, materials testing and consulting firm, has acquired 51 per cent stake in Pune-based CQRA and Durocrete Engineering Services for an undisclosed amount.

Khaled Awad, Chairman, ACTS, said that the demand for testing the quality of bridges, roads and infrastructure being built in India is increasing at a tremendous pace and the company would bring its overseas expertise to India.

Quality testing

“We would be investing about $10 million over the next three years, besides sharing our knowledge with the Indian company. As per the latest study, there are about 163,000 bridges in India that needs to be tested for their longevity,” he said. Currently, CQRA and Durocrete work with leading infrastructure companies such as L&T, Hyderabad Metro, Reliance Group, Godrej Properties and Tata Housing to test the quality of material and strengthen the construction.

With its expertise in remote sensors to determine the service life of buildings and monitor the structural health of bridges, ACTS was involved in major projects such as Riyadh Metro, Kuwait International Airport and the Kingdom Tower projects.

Ujwal Kunte, Managing Director, Durocrete Engineering Services, said that testing-based design is fast emerging as a trend globally. Most of the times, the testing-based design not only reduces quantity of material used but also cuts down on the project cost, while enhancing the strength of the structure.

CQRA sees fresh opportunities in the bullet train project, Navi Mumbai airport and all new small airports being planned by the government.

The company has also developed non-destructive methods to test strength of old building and bridges.

The tie-up will also bring in geo-investigative team from ACTS to investigate the condition of the soil before a project is executed.

HBL