Infrastructure

For improving rural connectivity in 18 districts of West Bengal, an amount of Rs.279.89 crore has been sanctioned for 100 rural roads (68 village roads, 24 other district roads and 8 major district roads), according to a release. A total road length of 702.34 km is expected to be created under these projects. Non-recurring employment generation is expected to be 104.91 lakh man days. The projects are likely to benefit 2083 villages.

For the Sundarbans area, an amount of Rs.4.62 crore has been sanctioned for a rural bridge project in South 24 Parganas. The total span of the bridge is 67.20 m. Non-recurring employment generation is expected to be 1.73 lakh man days and the project would benefit a population of 1.30 lakh in 14 villages.

Since inception of the RIDF, NABARD has sanctioned 32,998 projects with a loan component of Rs.6600.75 crore to West Bengal.

Major projects which received financial support from NABARD for creation of infrastructure in the State include rural connectivity Rs.3463.89 crore (52 per cent), irrigation and flood protection Rs.1490.42 crore (23 per cent), social sector Rs. 325.86 crore (5 per cent) and other sectors Rs. 1320.58 crore (20 per cent).

In the next phase, desiltation of the canal would be taken up at the cost of Rs 40 crore, which would be shared with the Centre on a 70:30 basis. However the cost was yet to be sanctioned by the National Ganga River Basin Authority, the minister said after a meeting with his officials where Irrigation Minister Subhas Naskar was also present.

The Union Urban Development Ministry wanted a detailed report on the project by the experts of Roorkie IIT, which had been sent.Bhattacharya also discussed with Naskar on making the Tolly Nullah a pollution-free zone.The Kolkata Citizens Forum had earlier demanded that the Tolly Nullah be made pollution free in public interest, he said

Yet, these are not deterrents for realtors to buy land in Rajarhat and Sector V, the projected commercial centre of the city.

Land prices have gone up by 10-15 per cent in the last year at Sector V and Rajarhat, as realtors expect price further appreciation over the next one year.

Recently, city-based developer PS Group bought government-owned land, a part of land earmarked for IT park, at Sector V, for about Rs 18 crore an acre through bidding process. The deal is likely to kick off further land transactions in the area, although not many firms are likely to set up offices there in the near future.

"We bought the land keeping in mind the three-year time horizon. Over the next three years we expect the area to develop in a big way," said Pradip Chopra, chairman of PS Group.

However, most city-based developers feel that a price war in the upcoming IT hub of the city will only deter companies to set up offices in the city.

"In cities like Pune and Hyderabad, the commercial rentals are close to Rs 25 per square feet. If someone is buying land at Rs 18 crore and acre, then the rental should not be less than Rs 40 per square feet. In these rates, no company will come to Kolkata. In the short term, the government might have gained, but in long term this is a deterrent," said a city based real estate developer.

Source: Sify.com Infra issues halt IT hub's progress in city

"They have more stringent laws for acquisition of land; their compensation package is also more lucrative. I think this will help the projects to take off," state PWD Minister Kshiti Goswami told The Indian Express.

While the Centre blamed the state government for delaying the projects, the state put the buck on Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee for creating difficulties in land acquisition, especially on the 13-km stretch from Petrapole to Kolkata on NH-35.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Kamal Nath had recently said that they will not push projects where land acquisition is a problem and states do not cooperate. "I have discussed the issue with Kamal Nath. He is aware of the details of why we failed to acquire land for the expansion of the national highways," said Goswami.

Laying the blame on Trinamool Congress MLA Jyotipriya Mullick for opposing land acquisition for Highways on the Kolkata-Petrapole sector, Goswami said: "Earlier, I had requested Mamata Banerjee for her cooperation, but she did not respond." If the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) now decides to step in and acquire land on its own, the state government would welcome the move, the minister added.

"Congress MLAs and MPs have helped us in North Bengal districts, but we could not convince the Trinamool in parts of Nadia and North 24 Parganas," added Goswami.

Source: The Indian Express Centre welcome to acquire land for pending NH projects in Bengal: Govt

"The initial concept design for the project has been frozen. We have received five-six bids for turnkey project tenders that were floated. Once the contractor is selected, work will begin on ground. The runway and a 4,00,000-passenger per annum capacity terminal building will be ready and operational by December 2011," Pal said.

The site where the airport is to be located is within the 1,049 acre land that the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) has handed over to BAPL in two tranches. The total project area required for the airport township is 2,300 acre.

The Rs 150-crore airport will be spread over 650 acres, with the remaining area accommodating business parks, logistics hubs, industrial parks, wholesale merchandise marts, information and communication technology complexes, hotels and entertainment centres, retail centres and residential apartments.

Source: Times Of India Race to build airport city

High public expenditure in 2008-09 had contributed to the GDP expanding by 6.7% despite the global economic recession. Encouraged, the government was looking to repeat its performance in 2009-10 with at least Rs 6 lakh crore riding on more than 950 central infrastructure projects above Rs 20 crore.

However, an appraisal made by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation indicated that at least 470 of the 950 projects were delayed and could lead to a cost overrun of more than 14% or anything above Rs 40,000 crore.

Many of these projects are stuck for various reasons including land acquisition, pending environmental clearances and in some cases due to cancellation of the contract itself. The total cost of the delayed projects could be anywhere above Rs 3 lakh crore, according to an estimate.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, in his mid-year economic review, had estimated that GDP would grow by at least 7.75% in the 2009-10 fiscal. His optimism of higher growth was based on the government's enhanced spending on infrastructure and social sector schemes, coupled with better performance of the industry.

Source: Times Of India `50% central infra projects delayed'

"Road infrastructure is critical for the industrial development of the State. A High Level Joint Committee is being formed along with CII to prepare Master Plan for the road infrastructure in the state," Goswami said.

This Joint Committee will facilitate a detailed strategic optimum and feasibility study
on the road infrastructure in West Bengal, he said.

The Minister also pointed out the challenges in front of this sector in West Bengal.

"Getting long stretches of land for building up road infrastructure faces hindrances due to heavy population density. Coupled with that, heavy monsoon climatic condition in the Gangetic plain of the State is also a major factor in denudation of roads," Goswami said.

The average growth of vehicular movement in India is rising at the rate of 10.16pc , as a result of which the demand for infrastructure is also rising by 10pc .

Meanwhile, Subrata Gupta, MD, WBIDC dealt with the issue of bridging the gap in the infrastructure sector at the CII Biz.

He emphasized the role of a proper Government policy and a model to facilitate PPP investment in this sector.

Source: newkerala.com West Bengal need to work on roads: Min

The project is an attempt to map the over-ground and under-ground utilities of the city in digital form. What this means is that utilities like water, sewer, telephone and power lines are now mapped and available on the portal, enabling the departments concerned to undertake preventive maintenance works as well as locate faults in the underground utilities with precision. More importantly, the digital mapping on a scale of 1:2000 of the physical structures over-ground like residential and commercial buildings, community centres, educational structures, etc.

will help government agencies to have a clear vision for urban planning as well as easy monitoring of ownership of properties, tenancy and land use apart from providing greater preparedness for disaster management.

Speaking at the launch, chief minister Sheila Dikshit said: ``Delhi will be the first region in India to boast of a comprehensive and up-to-date Land Information System (LIS) that houses land records and property GIS up to the level of individual building units. This would impact accurate information on ownership, rights, restrictions and responsibilities linked to the land and aid in decongesting the city and in redeploying the physical infrastructure for maximum benefits.''

Source: Times Of India New website to help urban planning, build better city

With a near majority in the new House, the United Progressive Alliance government led by Manmohan Singh is expected to announce big-budget projects in the infrastructure sector, including shipping, roads, railways and building construction.

The planning commission is reported to have already prepared the blueprint for four new rail freight corridors, in addition to the Ludhiana-Kolkata (eastern corridor) and Delhi-Mumbai (western corridor) projects already being implemented.

The plan panel has now prepared blueprints for dedicated freight corridors in the Kolkata-Mumbai, Delhi-Chennai, Kharagpur-Vijayawada and Chennai-Goa sectors, Anwarul Hoda, member of the outgoing planning commission, said.

"The commission is ready with the plan for four dedicated freight corridors Kolkata-Mumbai, Delhi-Chennai, Kharagpur-Vijayawada and Chennai-Goa," he said.

The eastern and western rail freight corridor projects are currently being implemented by state-run Dedicated Railway Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited.

Source: domain-b.com New government expected to boost infrastructure spending news

Banks have been slow to reduce lending rates even as there is no discernible improvement in the clients' ability to pay on time. For these players, therefore, it's a double whammy.

Indeed, though repeated action by the Reserve Bank of India in terms of policy rate cuts and constant urgings have compelled them somewhat to lower rates, the reductions are yet to reflect in the working capital cycle, which began expanding about six months back.

In fact, say the contractors, the cycle has stretched further in some cases.

For a contractor, working capital cycle is the period intervening the date it takes a loan from a bank to do some work for a client, and the date it gets paid by the client.

When the client defers payment, the contractor will not only find it difficult to repay the loan on time, but also need another loan to keep work going, leading to expansion of the cycle.

Real estate accounts for much of the troubles.

According to Arun Sahai, chief executive officer of New Delhi-based Ahluwalia Contracts, which is a contractor for real estate developers, things are going from bad to worse. "The lending for the real estate sector has been further squeezed."

Among others, Emaar MGF, which is developing the 2010 Commonwealth Games village in New Delhi, owes the company Rs 95 crore, says Sahai.

Notably, the squeeze had led to the working capital cycle expanding from 90 days to 120-140 days a few months ago, which hurt the contractors working for real estate developers the most.

Source: dnaindia.com Infra players are still stretched for working capital

Real estate developers, already reeling under the pressure of poor demand, claimed that margins were hit by at least five per cent, even though steel prices had softened over the last six months. Cement prices have increased by up to 10 per cent.

However, the infrastructure industry is also facing cement shortage, and several companies working on a public-private partnership (PPP) model, are now seeking additional funds from the government to meet the increased cost.

"In the last three-four months, cement prices have gone up by up to nearly 30 per cent in some areas, and as a result the cost of projects have also appreciated. Consequently, several companies are required to make separate claims with the government to factor in the increased prices. In most cases, the additional fund sanctions takes a long time," said a senior official at Kolkata-based construction major Simplex Infrastructure. While confirming the rise in demand from realtors and the infrastructure sectors, Vinod Juneja, managing director, Binani Cements, denied that there was a 30 per cent rise in the price of the commodity.

While demand from realty is up by around five per cent, demand from the infrastructure sector is up by around 9-10 per cent in the last three months. On top of this, there is an issue of wagon shortage in western India that has resulted in a seven to eight days delay in delivery," he said.

Despatches have gone up by 9.15 per cent between January to March 2009 on a year-on-year basis, showed data from the Cement Manufacturers' Association(CMA). H M Bangur, president of the CMA and managing director of Shree Cement said that while demand had risen, production had also gone up by around 10 per cent in the last quarter.

Source: Business Standard Cement price hike puts developers' margins under pressure

The new rules have suggested increasing the number of shortlisted bidders, amending guidelines relating to conflict of interest for bidding entities and raising the bar on technical capacity of bidders.

These modifications -- finalised by a five-member task force headed by B K Chaturvedi, member, Planning Commission -- will be issued shortly, quoted an official in the shipping ministry in the report.

The revised rules would allow for seven shortlisted bidders (except for national highway projects) from the present six for projects costing more than Rs 500 crore. For projects costing less, eight bidders would be shortlisted.

In the case of national highway projects, all firms that qualify technically will be allowed to submit price quotations, the ministry official said.

Several firms that had qualified on technical and financial parameters but were excluded from auctions of many highway and port projects have challenged in courts the limit imposed on the number of shortlisted firms.

Source: Realty Plus Eligibility rules changed for infrastructure projects

Officials of the real estate group that would set up the international convention centre in New Town met West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation ( W B G E D C ) authorities on Tuesday to apply for green rating norms. "They want to set up their entire complex as a green building. We would help them to do so," said WBGEDC managing director S P Gon Choudhuri.

The convention centre will also have a hotel that would follow green norms. "The hotel authorities would be able to generate energy from food waste. Besides, the building's walls would be constructed using a method to keep the heat at bay and so the rooms will be much cooler ," Gon Choudhuri said.

Apart from this complex, the government's science and technology department and a private company would construct their buildings in Salt Lake according to green energy norms. Eco-friendly materials and renewable energy sources will be used to minimise electric consumption and keep the interiors cooler than any normal building complex.

Source: Times Of India Three green buildings to come up in city

According to the study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham), the PPP projects - especially roads, real estate, power, ports and transport - have tremendous potential to unleash higher growth rate if the investment outlays are utilised effectively.

Assocham president Sajjan Jindal said the ongoing projects, valued at over Rs.133,600 crore, would stem the steep fall in India's growth rate in 2009-10.

"The government also needs to ensure that the pipelined projects do not face political hurdles and projects worth nearly Rs.82,000 crore gets rolled into the under-construction mode smoothly," the report added.

The report said the top five infrastructure sectors - roads, real-estate, power, ports and transport - would together account for more than 83 percent of the total outlay.

"Roads and real estate sectors together add to more than Rs.86,000 crore. The construction activity in these sectors would also lead to greater job creation," it added.

Residents of the township have been complaining for long that Hidco has failed to provide them with even the basic civic amenities. NTDA chairman Rajendra Narayan Roy Chowdhury said they will soon hold a meeting with the co-operatives. "It is true that certain civic amenities are lacking here. But this problem occurs in any new township. However, we will soon discuss the issue with the co-operatives and try to solve the problems accordingly," he said.

Roy Chowdhury also conceded that the computerized building plan sanctioning system, though in place, was yet to start function properly. "One of our immediate jobs is to see that people can start applying their building plans in computerized process and get their plan sanctioned in the same way. We will soon appoint an engineer to look into the system so that the process could start as soon as possible," he said.

Source: Times Of India END OF WOES?