‘GRSE making 7 vessels for foreign countries’

DEFENCE PSU Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd is making seven vessels for foreign countries, out of the 23 ships that are in the different stages of construction, its chairman and managing director Commodore (retd) P R Hari said. GRSE, which had bagged the prestigious Rs 19,294-crore order for the construction of three advanced stealth frigates under Project 17A for the Indian Navy, has already launched two of these ships and the construction of the third one is in full swing. “Of the 23 ships being developed by GRSE, seven are for foreign countries,” Hari told PTI. The Kolkata-based warship maker is constructing six patrol boats for Bangladesh and an ocean-going passenger and cargo ferry vessel for Cooperative Republic of Guyana, he said. After having launched P17A advanced frigate INS Himgiri and large survey vessel INS Sandhayak, GRSE is doing outfitting work on these ships at its FOJ (fitting out jetty) unit before handing these over to the Indian Navy, Hari said. The second stealth frigate Dunagiri made by the shipyard was launched on July 15 by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.