Infrastructure

"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?

Shyam Steel plans to set up a 1.1 million tonne steel plant, a 100-MW captive power project and a 3 million tonne cement plant. For this, the company needs 1400 acres.

Basudeb Acharia, CPM MP from Bankura, said the event will be held at Nambathan area of Neturia. Later in the day, he will distribute patta to tribals in forest lands. Work at the Raghunathpur Thermal Power Project of DVC with production capacity of 1200 MW has started. The cost of this project is Rs 6000 crore.

Another company, Jai Balaji Industries Limited, has also got about 800 acres from the state government for its 6-MT steel, 3 million tonne cement plant and 1250-MW thermal power plant at Raghunathpur. Work is yet to start and the company has planned to invest Rs 16,000 crore in these projects. In the first phase about Rs 4,000 crore will be pumped in.

West Bengal industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) will acquire land for these projects. About 90% of the land identified for these twin projects are non-fertile, Acharia claimed.

The Union cabinet approved the setting up of an electric locomotive manufacturing plant at Madhepura and a diesel locomotive facility at Marhowra in Bihar. The factories would be set up as a joint venture between the railways ministry and a private developer, to be selected through a two phase international competitive bidding. France's Alsiom, Germany's Bombardier and Siemens are the locomotive manufacturers shortlisted for setting up the electric locomotive factory. Either GE India or US-based EMD is likely to set up the diesel locomotive factory.

The government will also invest Rs 1,646 crore to set up two medical institutions on the lines of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. The cabinet gave its nod to the proposal, which also include upgradation of five existing government medical colleges in Amritsar (Punjab), Tanda (Himachal Pradesh), Madurai (Tamil Nadu), Nagpur (Maharashtra) and the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College of Aligarh Muslim University.

The upgradation of each medical college would cost about Rs 150 crore. The central government would contribute Rs 125 crore, while the states will bear at least Rs 25 crore each.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday approved four projects totalling Rs 3,230.80 crore for broadening of some sections of national highways in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Karnataka through publicprivate partnerships.

The projects include a Rs 1,661.9 crore project for four-laning of NH 6 at Surat-Hazra section in Gujarat. Four- and six-laning of Jaipur-Tonk-Deoli section of NH 72 in Rajasthan, estimated to cost Rs 1,203.64 crore, was also sanctioned by the CCEA, home minister P Chidambaram told reporters.

Other projects that got the cabinet nod are four-laning of BeawarGomti section of NH 8 in Rajasthan at Rs 200.54 crore, besides two-laning of Hospet-Bellary section of NH 63 at a cost of Rs 162.56 crore.

"We are looking at increasing the percentage of VGF given during the construction period of infrastructure projects. In all likelihood, this change will
happen on a per-case basis but we are yet to finalise the details," he said on the sidelines of a CII seminar.

Currently, the government provides up to 40% of a project's cost as VGF, of which 50% is given during the construction period and the remainder during the maintenance phase.

However the prevailing economic slowdown and consequent liquidity crunch has prompted the Planning Commission to review the situation.

"We are exploring this after a number of companies approached us, but we will ensure that certain safeguards are in place as the firms will have to retain a substantial stake in the projects. We can't give all the money in the construction phase itself, even before a project has been completed or tested," Pani said.

The "golden share", which will be owned by the government, will ensure that it has a say in all major decisions taken by the private concessionaire. It will also obviate the need for the government to invest in the equity of the company.

The proposal has been mooted by the Planning Commission in the new model concession agreement (MCA) that it has developed for the infrastructure sector. The agreement has been circulated among various stakeholders for consultation.

The MCA says the private infrastructure developer, or the concessionaire, will sign an agreement with the government for issue of one non-transferable equity share of the company ("golden share") in favour of the government. The share shall entitle the government to nominate a non-retiring director on the board of the concessionaire.

According to the Planning Commission, the golden share-holder will have the right to veto any board resolution aimed at following: altering the memorandum and articles of association; changing the name of the company; issuing sweat equity shares; purchasing the company's own shares or specified securities; reducing the share capital; entering any new business; applying for winding up the company, among others.