The clean technology initiative around the Taj Mahal in Agra focussed on the 10,400-sq km Taj Trapezium Zone, where USAID selected Louis Berger to help reduce emissions from glass and bangle, foundry and diesel manufacturing industries.
Louis Berger, the $ 1 billion US engineering consulting company charged with bribing Indian government officials, was involved in executing four major projects across three states in India: a comprehensive power distribution improvement programme in Maharashtra and a clean technology initiative around the Taj Mahal in Agra, alongside two waterworks development projects in Goa and in Guwahati.
The latter two are where the New Jersey-based engineering consulting firm has been charged with bribing Indian officials. The bribery charges largely correspond to the time that Dubai-based James McClung, 59, was the Senior Vice President responsible for the company’s operations in the country. Louis Berger has three offices in India: in Gurgaon, Mumbai and Hyderabad.
An industry source said Louis Berger’s business model in countries outside the US involved a concerted focus on partnering foreign government-owned agencies such as the US Agency for International Development (USAID) or Japan’s International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for getting project mandates. In India, Louis Berger’s Goa waterworks project was assisted by the government of Japan while the Taj project in Agra involved USAID.