Lease Agreement Between Johnson Lifts and DMRC

First-of-its-kind financial model adopted.

Delhi Metro Railways Corporation (DMRC) has, for the first time, signed a lease contract for lifts and escalators on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis. Johnson Lifts Pvt. Ltd. will provide 179 lifts and 323 escalators manufactured at their factories at Oragadam and Sengadu, Tamil Nadu.

Johnson Lifts has been awarded the first contract for the lease and maintenance of lifts and escalators for the three priority corridors in the Phase-IV expansion of the DMRC).

This is a first-of-its-kind financial model in this sector adopted in India for funding of a public infrastructure project based on the PPP model. Johnson Lifts will initially bear the entire cost for design, manufacturing, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of the lifts and escalators, and will maintain them for 15 years.

In addition, these lifts are fully indigenized, and for the first time, the escalators will be indigenized up to a level of 65% and shall be manufactured in the Oragadam Factory of Johnson Lifts in Chennai. Until now, escalators for heavy-duty applications were being fully imported. This will give a further boost to the “Make in India” initiative.

Under this model, DMRC will release monthly payments of lease and maintenance charges once these lifts and escalators become operational, and the release of maintenance payments will be linked to key performance parameters defined in the contracts. All upkeep and maintenance will be handled by Johnson Lifts during these 15 years. The systems will be installed with the provision of their 24/7 online monitoring.

This lease model also will enhance the quality, efficiency and capacity of lifts and escalators to be commissioned under Phase-IV. For the first time in India, the metro systems will have lifts with a carrying capacity of around 20 commuters at a time. In earlier phases, DMRC had lifts with a carrying capacity of only eight to 13 passengers. For enhanced safety, CCTV cameras will also be installed inside the lifts for the first time under Phase-IV.

The contract agreements for the procurement of state-of-the-art, heavy-duty, indigenized lifts and escalators for the three priority corridors under Phase-IV were exchanged between John K. John, chairman and managing director (MD), Johnson Lifts, and Om Hari Pande, director (Electrical), DMRC, in the presence of DMRC MD Dr. Mangu Singh and other senior officials.

The Phase-IV priority corridors are Janakpuri West, RK Ashram Marg, Majlis Park-Maujpur and Tughalakabad-Aerocity, for which DMRC has awarded these contracts to procure 179 lifts and 323 escalators to be commissioned across these corridors, comprising a total length of 65 km and 45 stations. These indigenized lifts and escalators will be manufactured in Johnson Lifts’ manufacturing units in Chennai, Tamil Nadu at Sengandu and Oragadam, respectively.

Johnsons Lifts was established in 1963 and has been a pioneer in the field for 59 years with more than 9,000 employees and an annual turnover of more than 2,000 crore. Johnson Lifts is the only Indian manufacturer to own four manufacturing facilities in India for lifts and escalators, and has been associated with 16 major metro rail works, including in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, etc. The company has provided more than 1,800 lifts and more than 2,400 escalators for the metro stations.