HUDDERSFIELD engineering firm David Brown has landed a £2.3m order - to help bring water to a drought-hit region of India.

Lockwood-based David Brown is to supply 26 specialist gearboxes for the Narmada dam project in the state of Gujarat.

The massive scheme, which is the world's biggest irrigation project, will provide a dam and system of pumping stations to irrigate almost 4.5m acres of land and bring drinking water to millions of drought-hit people.

As part of its contract, David Brown has built a test rig at its Park Works base to put the gearboxes through their paces before shipping them to India.

Representatives from India's leading pump manufacturer, Kirloskar Brothers Ltd, have also visited the works to see the rig in action and discuss delivery schedules for the gearboxes.

The first gearboxes - built to withstand extreme heat - are due to arrive on site before the end of the year.

Roger Leedham, one of the engineers involved in designing the test rig, said: "Full testing of the gearbox is important to ensure trouble-free installation and running.

"David Brown is one of the few customers in the world capable of building this sort of test facility in its own factory because of the scale and complexity. But it was a vital element in our success in gaining the business."

Kirloskar Brothers is building five huge pumping stations equipped with mammoth concrete pumps to provide irrigation and drinking water to 132 towns and villages in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat.

The contract is the latest in a string of export orders won by the Lockwood firm during 2003.

Among them, David Brown gearboxes were supplied for use with stone crushing machines at a Spanish quarry.

David Brown also won a contract to refurnish existing equipment at a sugar cane mill in Venezuela.

And the company provided equipment to improve power supplies for a school in Zambia.