Panasia is involved in providing economic and effective solutions in the drilling and ground treatment fields in infrastructure construction. It focuses on clients who face challenging ground conditions where conventional drilling or ground excavation is not possible. Panasia supports its clients from equipment supply to job completion.

Leveraging expertise
Even as a niche player in geotechnical engineering, they are involved with their clients from the project bidding stage itself. Says Shyam P Chengalath, Managing Director, Panasia, ?We often embed ourselves with the tendering teams so that we are acutely aware of the client?s fiscal targets and project completion deadlines. These determine the level of technology employed the capital investment.? Panasia then tailors the method statements and bills of material to focus on the three most important areas: production rates and completion deadlines, unit production costs vs time, and equipment uptime and overall availability. By focusing on the above and also providing clients with ?hard hat? support on the ground, the company achieves the common goals that it strives for hand in hand with its clients, according to Chengalath.

Use of advanced technology
Panasia assists in the introduction of the latest technology available worldwide into the local market. Mumbai Metro and the upcoming Mumbai-Ahmedabad high speed rail link are in its focus. Says Pradeep Kumar D, Director, Panasia, ?We will be introducing some innovative technology that will greatly assist contractors to overcome challenges in mixed ground conditions and unstable excavation conditions. We are introducing a new range of non-blast rock excavation techniques that are ideally suited for population dense urban conditions.?

Product offerings
Says Kumar, ?We can confidently claim that with our partners Tecniwell, Italy, we have the most comprehensive range of grouting and ground remediation equipment and techniques available in South Asia today for the underground metro rail tunnel lining, tunnel stabilisation, and deep cut-offs for hydro dam projects.? Tecniwell has significant presence in India for the past decade. It has more than five high-pressure triples pumps, eight grout mixer plants, 25 grout pumps, and five low pressure injection pumps working successfully in various hydroelectric power projects and tunneling projects for metro rail and others.

At your service
That?s the approach what helped Panasia to have a lasting impact on the clients. As part of its regular AMC and upkeep contracts, Panasia has over 40 units of equipment under contractual maintenance and regular upkeep contracts with various clients. It has 5-6 jobs under FMC (Full Maintenance Contracts) where the company also provides the operational and maintenance staff on a daily basis to achieve production targets.

Chennai metro project
Some notable solutions provided by Panasia to Chennai metro:
Jet grouting: The methodology needs to have a very rapid deployment time and the equipment should have a very small footprint for deployment in crowded urban areas. Tecniwell equipment was perfect for this due to its container- based design.
Permeation grouting for cross passages: Excavation of cross passages is especially challenging because of the very soft ground conditions and the high water pressure. It consisted of drilling an arch of support pipes to provide structural stability to the tunnel roof during subsequent excavation and then grouting the area below in an even and controlled manner. This was achieved by drilling small 25-30 mm diameter tubes under the support arch horizontally into the face to be excavated and then injecting cement grout into these pipes at the required depths.
TBM tunnel segment grouting: The main tunnels of Chennai metro were constructed using modern Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) operating in the earth pressure balanced (EPB) mode.

FOCUS AREAS

• Lower product total life-cycle and operational costs.
• Production speed
• Energy efficiency
• Eco friendliness and environmentally sustainable processes.
• Total onsite support with O&M of equipment

PRODUCT RANGE 

• High quality DTH drilling equipment and tooling
• Anchor drills
• Heavy lift equipment
• Bored piling equipment
• Drill heads and drifters
• Diaphragm wall cutters and grabs
• High-pressure jet grouting equipment
• Mixing and injection plants
• Reverse circulation drills

?We provide high-tech, but cost-effective solutions in the drilling and ground treatment fields.?

Shyam P Chengalath, Managing Director, Panasia Project Consultancy Pvt Ltd.

What are the significant achievements of Panasia over the years?
Even though we are a niche player in specialised ground engineering techniques, we are a very familiar name with most of the large construction companies in India. We have attained a great degree of skill and competence with modern hydraulic and electro hydraulic equipment and have a highly trained and motivated young workforce.

How do you visualise the existing market and the future outlook?
The present Indian infra market is in a state of flux due to high cost of capital and a lack of control on projected completion dates due to factors such as land acquisition, environmental clearances etc. The profit projection on many long term projects has been close to impossible. Therefore downstream players such as ourselves as suppliers of equipment are also affected. This situation will have to change mainly by government policy and greater transparency that will allow more international funding as well as international players to enter the India market.

What are the major challenges as a solution provider Panasia faces?
One of our major challenges is that the tight monetary situation facing companies are forcing them to focus initial investment cost instead of overall product life cycle cost. Many procurement officers are being forced to look at the short term respite over long term gain. A case in point is the difficult shift away from pneumatic to hydraulic technology. The abundant stock of old compressors for instance forces contractors to continue with pneumatic tools even though they are aware that the added investment in hydraulic technology will be offset by fuel savings.

Who are your major customers?
Most major construction companies in India are our clients. The major recent and ongoing projects we are involved with are Delhi metro, Chennai metro, Kishenganga hydro, Punanshanchu hydro - Bhutan, Reliance 4G tower project, etc.

Equipment supply

• 15 TWMG-57D grout pumps to Reliance Jio Infocomm
• 4 TWM5 & TWG7 grout pumps to Afcons in CMRL
• 4 TWG-3 injection pump for Afcons in CMRL