Upcoming Projects in India

5646 German anaerobic digestion technology is likely to be installed at an Indian composting facility for the production of biogas for use in energy generation, according to a recent report by The Times of India. The report explained that a delegation of 25 people visited the Nashik Municipal Corporations (NMC) compost plant in Vilholi, including officials from the department of economic affairs (ministry of finance), German Governments nodal agency, Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeits (GIZ), state government and selected public sector representatives. The delegates are also reported to have met municipal commissioner Sanjay Khandare and superintending engineer, R. K. Pawar before visiting the plant. The NMC was said to having decided to manage the compost facility through public private partnership, with GIZ providing funds for the biogas project. According to The Times of India, Sarah Habersack, consultant for sustainable urban habitat team and the project of national sanitation policy, GIZ, said the waste to energy project would be developed as a pilot plant in close proximity to the composting plant. "At present, the project is in the tendering process. Common treatment of bio-degradable waste from hotels and septage (black sewage) will be done to have optimum energy production,” she is reported to have said. “Hamburg Water Cycle (Germany) will be the technology adopted for the purpose. First, a feasibility test was conducted and it was found that the best generation of energy would be in the ratio of 1:1.5, including one part of bio-degradable waste and one-and-a-half part of black sewage," The Times of India quoted Habersack as having said. It is anticipated that the pilot project would produce around 2000 to 2500 cubic metres of biogas per hour and generate some 3 MW of power

5645 Supertech Limited, a reputed and known name in North Indias real estate industry has now entered the Southern part of India with its first project, Micasa in Bengaluru. Supertech announced its first residential project in the city which will have Spanish Styled apartments at Thanisandra Road in North Bengaluru. Micasa will provide aesthetically designed apartments in 2 & 3 BHK options. The area of these units will range between 1100 sq. ft. to 1735 sq. ft. These lavishly furnished apartments are planned according to the Spanish grandeur which is spread all across the township. This spectacular project will offer around 200 residential units within the price range of 3790 per sq. ft in phase 1 which is going to increase up 1000 unit in phase 2. Speaking on the occasion of launch of Micasa, Mr. Mohit Arora, Director, Supertech Limited said, "We are thrilled to have our first venture in Bengaluru with Supertech Micasa with its innovative features and unbeatable location. The IT hub a stones throw away, virtually assures capital appreciation. With vibrant Spanish architectural designs, Micasa will be an epitome of opulence, luxury and elegance, with the world class luxurious modern conveniences."

5644 As the Japan government funds the pre-feasibility study of the first-ever bullet train corridor between Ahmedabad and Mumbai, Railways has gone ahead and revived plans for a second one on the Delhi-Chandigarh-Amritsar stretch. The newly created High Speed Rail Corporation has called for international bidders for carrying out the pre-feasibility study of the 450-km-stretch project, which is expected to bring Delhi closer to Amritsar by 90 minutes by trains running upwards of 350 kmph. The pre-feasibility study gives the detailed idea about the cost and other detailed technical parameters to be achieved in the execution of the project. This comes after Railway Board’s efforts to get this study done derailed a couple of years ago as they could not finalise the tender. Internal estimates had valued the project at Rs 70,000-80,000 crore. In the meantime, the priorities of Railways had also changed with subsequent political dispensations placing the bullet-trains project in the backburner because a financing model could not be firmed up for the costly project. The High Speed Rail Corporation, floated late last year, was mandated to carry out the execution of bullet-train projects in India. “In the case of passenger traffic, the boom in the airline sector and its sustained growth in the last few years reflect upon the willingness to pay premium for the shorter transit times between cities,” says the document calling for request for proposal issued recently. “High speed passenger railway system will thus usher in a new transport product not available in the country at present. It will also fill up a vacuum in the current passenger transport scenario.” Japan has indicated that a joint-venture company could be floated to fund the Ahmedabad-Mumbai corridor although it is not yet finalised. It is currently doing the study the period for which is 18 months. After visiting Japan recently, Railway Board Chairman Arunendra Kumar said there was perceptible enthusiasm among the Japanese to fund the first bullet train corridor in India. One of the other main concerns for the bullet train dream is the pricing of the service. As per Railway Board’s internal calculations, one-way ticket in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor could cost more than Rs 5,000. On papers, Railways has other bullet-train corridors sanctioned in Rail Budget: Hyderabad-Dornakal-Vijayawada-Chennai (664 km), Chennai-Bangalore-Coimbatore-Ernakulam (649 km), Howrah-Haldia (135 km), Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna (991 km).

5643 Ashoka Buildcon, engaged in building and operating road and bridge projects in India, announced that company along with GVR Infra Projects, as a consortium (51%:49%) had submitted its bid to The Chief Project Officer, Karnataka State Highways Improvement Project (KSHIP) engaged by Government of Karnataka (Public works Department) for the Project viz. Project no. WAP - 2: - Design, Build, Finance, Operate, Maintain and Transfer (DBFOMT) the existing State Highway (SH18) from Mudhol to Maharashtra Border (Approx length 107.937 Kms) in the State of Karnataka on DBFOMT Annuity Basis (Project). The project is on annuity basis with a concession period of 10 years and KSHIP cost of the project is Rs 3.18 billion. The Chief Project Officer, Karnataka State Highways Improvement Project, has declared the consortium as a Selected Bidder for the aforesaid project vide letter of award dated Feb. 01, 2014.

5642 The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has given administrative sanction for the implementation of two projects to generate a total of 60MW electricity. The decision was taken at the director board meeting held on Saturday. The board has decided to augment electricity generation by 36MW from the two gas units at Brahmapuram and 24MW at Bhoothathankettu. The two defunct diesel units at Brahmapuram diesel power plant will be replaced with gas engines, each of which will have potential of 18MW, and for that the government has given an administrative clearance of Rs 144.80 crore. Initially, LNG will be imported for use at Brahmapuram and the domestic supplies of LNG are expected soon. It is for the first time in the state that gas based electricity generation project is being set up. For Bhoodathankettu small scale hydro power project, the board has decided to entrust power house construction work jointly to Saravana Engineering Bhavani - RPP Infra. It will incur an expenditure of Rs 86.81 crore. These agencies have been entrusted with the work at 18.09% less that the estimated expenditure. It was also decided to enhance the power of 13km long 66KV single circuit power line from Puthukad to Kattu. It will be enhanced to 110 KV double circuit line. With that, two feeder bays will be set up at Puthukad substation and for that the government has given an administrative sanction of Rs 11.2 crore. The 20.62 km long single circuit line from Thalassery 110 KV substation to Vadakara 110 KV substation will also be enhanced to double circuit line and for that construction work at a cost of Rs 5.23 crore will be handed over to an Orissa based firm New Modern Technomech. For completion of the abandoned power house construction works of Kakkayam small scale Irrigation projects, the government has sanctioned Rs 10.75 crore. The KSEB has also decided to implement security protocol permit to work to prevent electricity related accidents for the workers and public.

5641 The district administration has so far acquired 78.2 per cent of the total land required for the Kochi Metro Rail project. At a review meeting of the traffic coordination committee held in Kochi on Thursday, Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) managing director Elias George said 31.587 hectares of land has been made available for executing the work. “The total land requirement for the first phase of Kochi metro rail project is 40.409 hectares. Negotiations have been made with more than 300 landowners by the district administration. The land has been offered for the project by the landowners basically on an advance possession basis, pending finalisation of the formalities,” George said. He said this was one of the fastest land acquisitions ever undertaken not just in Kerala, but in India for such a huge capital intensive project. “Negotiations for acquiring the remaining land are at a very advanced stage and will happen soon,” Ernakulam District Collector P I Sheik Pareeth said.Regarding the disruption of work by certain workers union at the casting yard of Kochi metro rail, Elias George said they had sought the protection from the police force.“The workers have the right for organising strike, but they are not supposed to take law on their hands and threaten the contractors and try to manhandle them. Hence, we have requested the police intervention in this regard,” he said. Pareeth said the trade unions have been given time till February 10 to take a decision. “A high-level meeting will be convened and we hope that the work-related issues will be solved soon

5640 Oil and Natural Gas Corp is planning to enter gas-based urea production in a big way through a joint venture with Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals Ltd. The explorer has proposed to form a 50:50 joint venture with the KK Birla group firm that would develop a 1.3-million-tonne fertiliser plant in Tripura through a special purpose vehicle (SPV). The Tripura Government will pick up a 10 per cent stake in the SPV, while the holding of the ONGC-Chambal JV is yet to be firmed up, according to sources. The idea behind the proposed equity structure of the fertiliser project is to keep the doors open for developing more such projects - in India or overseas - for the ONGC-Chambal JV in participation with local partners. The logic is simple. The gas availability scenario is undergoing a change, following the shale gas revolution in the US. ONGC wants to capitalise on a potential drop in gas prices in India or abroad in producing urea. The model, which sources prefer to describe as a ‘concept’, will be put to test at the estimated ₹5,000-crore Tripura project. Based on the final capital outlay of the fertiliser project, sources say the ONGC-Chambal combine may include more partners, or keep the options open for an initial public offering. The name of either the mother JV or the Tripura project is yet to be firmed up. Meanwhile, the proposed JV had a hiccup on location of the Tripura plant. While the State Government offered 800 acres in Kailashahar in Unkoti district - closer to ONGC’s rich gas find at Khubal - in the hilly and forested North Tripura, Chambal expressed discomfort with the location. The company feared that the levelling cost of the undulated land would impact the project viability. The Tripura Government, however, turned down Chambal’s request for alternative land to avoid farm land acquisition. Reference was drawn to Mangalore Chemicals and Fertilizers (MCF) to underscore that projects could be set up on undulated land. A communication in this regard was issued by the chief secretary of Tripura last week. Sources in ONGC, however, referred to the development as a minor issue.

5639 Haryana will be the first state where the sterilization programme for dogs under the National Animal Welfare Board (NAWB) will be implemented followed by in other states, the bodys president President R S Kharb said today. "We have decided to check the population of dogs to control rabies. The beginning is going to be made from Haryana where the sterilization of stray dogs will be started soon," Kharb said here. "Some 20,000 people die due to rabies in the country each year and the number of stray dogs had become alarming", he said, adding that the Rs 50 crore project of NAWB will be introduced in other states soon. The sterilisation operations will be conducted by the veterinarians of Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (LUVAS), Hisar and State Animal Husbandry department. "There are about 30 million stray dogs in the country. The dogs are prolofic breeders because one bitch gives birth to about ten thousand pups in ten years, though the mortality rate is high among them, but the total growth is alarming. We can not kill dogs but can sterilize them", Kharb said. "The dogs after sterilization would be left in the same area where from they will be caught for sterilization because dogs do not tolerate any other new dog in their own territory," LUVAS vice chancellor Kant Sharma said. The sterilization of dogs calms them down and they do not remain aggressive to attack and bite, he added.

5638 Ahmedabad-based Sadbhav Engineering Ltd today said that the Karnataka Government has awarded the company a Rs. 737-crore road construction project. “The company has received letter of award dated 01.02.2014 for design, build, finance, operate, maintain & transfer the existing state highway (SH 33 & SH 3) from Malavalli to Pavagada (approx length of 193.344 km) in the state of Karnataka,” the company informed in a filing to the stock exchanges. The estimated cost of the project is Rs. 737.20 crore with a concession period of 10 years, including a construction period of 30 months from the appointment date, the company said.

5637 UPSIDC management has made contact with big companies which have specialization in solar power plants and got positive response. There are possibilities that around 120 acres of land would be allocated for a solar power plant company at Lalitpur within couple of weeks. There are indications that land for another solar power plant would be allotted in Kannauj district. Source revealed that thermal power plants at Ghatampur and Bilhaur had been sanctioned and process had begun, entrepreneurs had also evinced interest in investment in the state. Keeping in mind the scarcity of power in the state, UPSIDC had decided to go for solar power plants to meet the demand of power by industries. UPSIDC managing director Manoj Singh said that negotiation are on with companies having expertise in solar power plant. In the first phase, plants might be installed at Kanpur, Lalitpur, Kannauj and Allahabad. At Allahabad, UPSIDC had planned to set a high-tech city in 1,200 acres of land while in Bulandshahar, high-tech city would be established near Chola on 4,000 acres of land. In Kanpur, the high-tech city had been planned near Ganga barrage on 1,151 acres of land. He informed that several solar power plant companies were ready to invest in the state and once things would be cleared, then UPSIDC would allocate land to them. Efforts were being made to allocate land to solar power plant near industrial villages. Sources revealed that in Kanpur, a company had contacted to set up a power plant in Chakeri locality.

5636 The Institute for Sustainable Communities recently received funding from The Walt Disney Company to launch an EHS+ Center in India. After completing training, factory managers will work to improve health and safety on the job and drive improvements in environmental health, energy efficiency, and greenhouse gas management. As ISC president George Hamilton noted in a press release: “India is the world’s third largest - and fastest growing - emitter of GHG. They have a shortage of high-quality industrial training, and they need holistic training in energy, health, and safety. “Through our grant from The Walt Disney Company, we can train 2,000 Indian factory managers annually in the skills they need to drive factories toward better safety and sustainability. It’s good for them, it’s good for their communities, and it’s good for the world.” The Walt Disney Company has awarded a $625,000 grant to initiate the development of an EHS+ Center in India; ISC expects to announce a local partner later this year, and will launch the EHS+ Center late in 2014. The extensive growth in manufacturing in developing countries has also accelerated growth in pollution and accidents, underscoring the need for better practices around worker health and safety, while the growth of greenhouse gas emissions reinforces the need for action to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of manufacturing in developing countries.

5635 The state government has floated tenders for four projects worth 200 crore, including the construction of the new high court complex in Porvorim. Goa state infrastructure development corporation limited ( GSIDC) has invited online bids for the 71.51 crore high court project in Porvorim, which falls under the Penha da Franca (Britona) village panchayat jurisdiction. The last date for pre-bid queries is on February 5 till 5 pm and tender forms are to be submitted by February 14. The tenders will be opened on February 17. As per the tender notice, the work is to be completed in 21 months from the date the contract is awarded, including monsoon. The second project is the construction of a concrete pavement road from Miramar circle to NIO circle and Raj Bhavan at the cost of 60.87 crore. The last date to receive the tenders is February 14 and the work is to be completed in 12 months from the date the work order is given. The other projects include community health centres in Pernem and Curchorem.

5634 Work on the ambitious Kannur airport, one of the flagship projects of the State Government, is all set to start on February 2. Defence Minister A K Antony will launch the commencement of works on Sunday, Aviation Minister K Babu said here on Wednesday. Addressing mediapersons after making a statement in the Assembly, Babu said that it is a proud moment for the government as all hurdles have been crossed, including availing of all mandatory clearances, for making the Rs 1,792-crore project a reality. “The project planned on 2000 acres of land is poised to give a big leap to the development hopes for the state in general and Malabar region in particular. It has found tremendous acceptance amongst funding agencies including banks now. The government is charting a time-bound course by which the first flight will take off from the Kannur airport on December 31, 2015,” he said. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will preside over the works launching ceremony, at 3 pm on Sunday. “The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has decided to invest a sum equivalent to 26 per cent of the value of shares in the project, which is around Rs 204 crore, after discussions held recently. The MoU will be inked soon,’’ he said. “Public sector and scheduled banks are also vying with each other now to invest in the project,” he added. BPCL has already invested Rs 174 crore, along with various public sector concerns, for which, a total 23 per cent of shares has been earmarked. The authorised capital of the project is Rs 1,000 crore. To be implemented by the Kannur International Airport Ltd, the greenfield project’s share pattern was restructured recently after it was found that the general public is not much enthusiastic to pick shares of the company

5633 The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has started the survey for automation under the Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Program (RAPDRP), a project which will reduce interruptions and long hours of power outages for consumers. The survey for this automated system has been completed in two electrical sections in the city. "The asset survey of all overhead lines and open transformers is almost complete. The work on IT-enabled system and installation of hardware for the project will go hand in hand after the survey is over," said Simon Akkara, joint director, KSEB. The board will provide IT or web-enabled services for consumers which will address most of the current problems. "Consumers will not have to wait hours to pay the bill or months to get a response for their complaints or grievances," he added. The electrical feeders from Aroor to Angamaly and 43 towns will be surveyed and reports will be submitted on a weekly basis. The IT system will include billing, GIS-based asset mapping as well as a web-enabled centralized customer care centre. "The system will help people to create their profiles on the website which will be monitored by the data centre in Thiruvananthapuram. Other than Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode will have the automatic distribution control system which will reduce interruptions and outages. The two pilot projects of the IT-enabled system will become operational in Guruvayur and Kottayam by November," said Simon Akkara. The work on installing hardware for the project will be officially inaugurated on February 23 in Kochi. The new underground cables installed in the city will become a part of the new system. "An agreement has been inked for digging roads and laying cables. At the same time, we are awaiting the approval of the district administrative committee to start wiring works," said Kesavadasan K, assistant chief engineer, KSEB. The RAPDRP project will extend from Nedumbassery to Kumbalam in the Kochi area. Among the 31 substations in Kochi, 25 are inside the project area and six of them outside. The five electrical divisions that will come under the project are Ernakulam, Tripunithura, Mattancherry, Aluva and Perumbavoor. "The work will be executed on a turnkey basis and the contractor will carry out the entire project from design, planning, manufacture and procurement to installation, testing and commissioning of all items and materials. The engineering work will be done by Hyderabad-based Nagarjuna Construction Company (NCC)," said V V Satyarajan, chief engineer (distribution), KSEB

5632 The Union Cabinet has approved Phase 2 of the Bangalore Metro Rail Project, which is expected to improve the public transportation system in the city and provide it with the much-needed additional transport infrastructure. An official press release said the total completion cost of the project is estimated at Rs.26,405.14 crore at the price levels of 2011-12 with price escalation of 5 percent per annum (including escalation and Central taxes and excluding State taxes and duties). In the total project cost, the Government of India’s (GoI) share will be Rs.5281 crore and the Government of Karnataka’s (GoK) share will be Rs.8983 crore. The share of GoK includes a grant of Rs.1689.90 crore. The balance amount of Rs.12,141.14 crore will be raised through Senior Debt. The project will be executed by the existing Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of GoI and GoK having 50:50 equity of each, that is Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. The project is scheduled to be completed in five years from the date of start of work, the release added.

5631 The CSMC also approved a new project of BRTS of 31 km for the city of Amritsar in Punjab. The approved cost of the project is Rs. 49554 Lakh with a central share of 50 percent. The proposal will now be processed for approval of Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath and Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. The CSMC approved the proposal for the release of fourth instalment of Rs. 36.78 crore for BRTS Phase II of Ahmadabad. The physical progress of the project as reported is 79 per cent and the project is likely to be completed by March, 2014.

5630 The Union Ministry of Urban Development has approved the release of Rs. 71.28 crore for the ongoing project of laying interceptor sewers along the three major drains in Delhi for curtailing pollution in the Yamuna. The Ministry is confident that the project, which is still half way through, will meet the March 2014 deadline. The inceptor sewers project is the Delhi Jal Board’s big ticket programme aimed at resuscitating the dying Yamuna and pegged at Rs. 1,337.71 crore with an additional central assistance commitment of Rs.475.20 crore. The Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) on JNNURM has given the heads up for the release of the second instalment for the project. “The physical progress of the project is about 55 percent with delay in the project being caused by delay in getting permissions from the Department of Forests and the Railways Authorities and also in acquisition and handing over of land by the DDA. The project is likely to be completed by March, 2014,” said an official.

5629 Paintings, sculptures and other cultural treasures and artefacts at national and ASI museums across the country will now be made available digitally as part of a single, searchable database. All museums which are directly funded by the Centre along with the 44 site museums being run by Archaeological Survey of India have agreed to use a single database and taxonomic system to catalogue their collections, making India the first country to adopt such a nationwide system. The initiative is a result of the Vivekananda Memorial Programme for Museum Excellence which the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) and the Union Culture Ministry agreed to devise in 2012. "The major museums in the country have not digitised their collection. Information on various objects is not digitally available. That is where the software will be useful," National Museum Director General, Dr Venu V, told PTI. The software has been developed by the Pune-based Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). "It will take at least two to three years to complete the entire project," Venu said. AIC President Douglas Druick said that his organisation has been working with various museums to encourage modern practices like conservation, planning of exhibitions, etc. "This is the second year of the agreement. We had the AIC staff travel to India and conduct seminars on the theme of collection management and preventive conservation. We have also hosted officials from Indian museums in Chicago for seminars," Druick said. "The project has achieved measurable success and we are honoured to be the only American museum to embark on such an extensive professional programme with support from the Indian government," he said. Among the museums set to be be digitally connected are the National Museum (Delhi), Indian Museum and the Victoria Memorial Hall (both in Kolkata), Salarjung Museum (Hyderabad), Allahabad Museum and the National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. Several of ASIs site museums, including those at Sarnath, Nagarjunakonda, Vikramshila, Old Goa, and Fort St George, are also included. Swami Vivekananda had in 1893 delivered his electrifying address at the the Worlds Parliament of Religions in the building which is now home to AIC. AIC had exhibited works by artist Jitish Kallat in 2010, those by Rabindranath Tagore in 2012 and Zarina and Amar Kanwar last year. It is set to showcase Dayanita Singh and Nilima Sheikh this year.

5628 Aster DM Healthcare, a leading healthcare conglomerate in India, plans to open a massive healthcare city in India. The Dubai-based healthcare group will also launch the first phase of Aster Medcity, a major quaternary care hospital in the south Indian city of Kochi in the first quarter of the year. A fourth hospital, under the Aster brand, is also being developed in Qatar and scheduled to launch in 2015. With the new hospitals, the bed capacity of hospitals under Aster DM Healthcare network will be increased by 5,000 over the existing 1,850 beds, said Dr Azad Moopen, the chairman and managing director of Aster DM Healthcare. "We are extremely proud to announce the launch of our new hospital projects, aimed at providing care to people from all sections of the society. This is part of our strategy to lead the change in the healthcare sector by being the largest healthcare provider in the region and beyond," he stated. Dr Moopen said: "It is a conglomeration of several super-specialty hospitals in one campus that spreads over 40 acres of land along one kilometre waterfront, aimed at integrating nature with healing." As Kochi is well connected to the Middle East and several countries of the world, the 1,100-bed capacity medical city will be within easy reach of local and international communities, especially the people from the MEA and European Union, he explained. The entire hospital cluster is being developed at an estimated investment of $300 million, said Dr Moopen at the press conference which was attended by Alisha Moopen, the director corporate strategies- Aster DM Healthcare, Ala Atari, the CEO of Medcare Hospital, and other senior officials. The Aster Medcity will capitalise the potential of the Kerala as a health tourism destination, attracting patients from all around the world and promoting reverse brain drain of Indian healthcare professionals. "Dubbed unique as a global healthcare model with high-end infrastructure, cutting-edge medical technologies and excellent knowledge partnership with healthcare innovators from different parts of the world, the iconic medical city will be a major healthcare destination in the South Asia once it’s operational," said Dr Moopen. The group also aims to roll out another 25 Aster medical centres and 150 Aster pharmacies across the GCC by the end of 2015 to achieve its planned 300 units target by 2017.

5627 Maharashtra cabinet today cleared a Rs 8,680 crore proposal for construction of two elevated metro rail routes covering a total distance of 38.2 km in Nagpur, the second capital of the state. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan made the announcement at a press conference after the weekly cabinet meeting. The two routes would be Automotive Chowk to Mihan and Prajapati Nagar to Lokmanya Nagar. The project would be completed in six years. Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT), the local civic agency appointed as the nodal body for the project, had appointed Delhi Metro Rail Corporation as the consultant. "The proposal has been now sent to the Centre for approval," the Chief Minister said. A Special Purpose Vehicle called Nagpur Metro Railway Corporation, comprising the state government, the Centre, Napgur Municipal corporation and NIT, will be set up for implementation of the project. The Centre and state government would fund 20 per cent each of the total cost, while NIT and NMC will provide five per cent of the funds each. The balance 50 per cent would be raised through loan and other resources, Chavan said.

5626 A marketing cooperative federation Punjab Markfed today announced to set up a food processing unit at Jalandhar with capital outlay of Rs 43 crore. Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) of India will provide a grant of Rs 10 crore for setting up of this unit, said an official of Markfed. A memorandum of understanding in this regard was signed today between Karmjeet Singh Sra, MD Markfed and Santosh Sarangi, Secretary, APEDA. Sra said this project, which is likely to be operational by June, 2014, will not only generate employment, but will also give boost to the agricultural exports from Punjab

5625 Indias second-largest outsourcing vendor is said to have secured a deal worth US$98.71 million, to deliver application development and maintenance services to the courier services provider, TNT Express. Infosys has reportedly secured an outsourcing contract worth 6.2 billion rupees (US$98.71 million) with Netherlands-based courier service provider, TNT Express. Already a client of the second-largest Indian IT outsourcing vendor, TNT will extend this relationship to include the delivery of application development and maintenance services, according to a report by Times of India , which cited sources familiar with the issue. . The courier delivery service provider is aiming to save US$220 million by 2015 through consolidating services, optimizing infrastructure, improving productivity, and slashing costs. It it looking to tweak its portfolio, focusing instead on more lucrative markets including international and special services offerings, and relinquish operations in China and Brazil in a bid to reduce the companys exposure to global fixed-air capacity. . TNT said it was investing US$200 million in infrastructure and IT deployments through to 2015, with the aim to automate its depots and hubs. Such plans include a new online booking and payment platform to enhance customer experience.

5624 The Centre is looking at setting up a solar and wind power project in Gujarat at the land available with state-owned Hindustan Salts. "Hindustan Salt has 20,000 acre land in Gujarat, where we propose to set up a solar and wind power project of 4,000 MW or more generation capacity," Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Praful Patel said here today. "It is totally feasible as the topography is suitable for production of solar power," he said, adding that preliminary studies on the feasibility of the proposed plant are on. "Once the studies are made available we would go ahead with the Gujarat project as well," he added. Patel was speaking at a function where State-run BHEL, SECI (Solar Energy Corporation of India), SSL (Sambhar Salt Ltd), Power Grid Corporation, SJVNL (Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam) and REIL (Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Ltd) joined hands to set up a 4,000 MW ultra mega solar power project at Sambhar in Rajasthan. It envisages an investment of Rs 7,500 crore in the first phase, BHEL Chairman and Managing Director B P Rao said here. The project will come up on surplus land available with SSL in Sambhar.

5623 Bio robotic floats armed with revolutionary new sensors will be launched in the Indian Ocean as part of a new India-Australia research partnership to identify the causes and impacts of marine heat waves. The Argo floats are a network of 3600 free-floating sensors, operating in open ocean areas that provide real-time data on ocean temperature and salinity, a statement released by Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) said on Wednesday. The new ‘Bio Argo’ floats, to be launched in mid 2014, will enhance the already successful Argo float technology to measure large-scale changes in the chemistry and biology of marine ecosystems below the Indian Ocean’s surface, it said. The ‘Bio Argo’ floats will include additional sensors for dissolved oxygen, nitrate, chlorophyll, dissolved organic matter, and particle scattering. They will target specific gaps in our understanding of Indian Ocean ecosystems of immediate concern to India and Australia, such as the Bay of Bengal and the waters of north Western Australia. The pilot project led by CSIRO in collaboration with Indian National Institute of Oceanography (CSIR-NIO) and Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, will improve the understanding of cause and effect in the Indian Ocean’s climate and ecosystems, said Nick Hardman-Mountford, Marine Biophysics team leader at CSIRO. “By studying the Indian Ocean in this detail, we can investigate the origin and impact of marine heat waves like the one that devastated the coral reefs and fisheries off north Western Australian in 2011 and improve our prediction of them in the future,” Mountford said.

5622 The work of the states first mega food park near Paithan, about 30km from Aurangabad, has started and within six months, plots within the park will be allocated to set up processing plants. The park, which is coming up on 110 acres of land, has an investment of Rs 250 crore. Aurangabad is among the 15 cities in the country chosen by the central government in 2011 to establish mega food parks. The project will create a network of around 5,000 farmers from 10 centres to produce crops in about 100 villages in the 100-km periphery of Paithan. It has a cluster-based approach, which will eventually lead to annual turnover of about Rs 450 -Rs 500 crores and offer direct employment to 2,500 people. Nandkishore Kagliwal, chief promoter of the mega food park, said that the capital outlay of the project would be Rs 125 crore, of which Rs 30 crore would be raised through equity and Rs 50 crore through loan by Nath Seeds industry. The remaining amount would be procured as government grants. Another Rs 125 crore would be invested by the firms developing food processing plants in the mega park. "The work of setting up infrastructure required for processing industry such as cooling chambers, laboratories, wet and dry chambers and effluent treatment plants has commenced. Moreover, in six months, the allocation of plots to the entrepreneurs interested in setting up plants would be started," said Kagliwal, chairman of Nath Group, which has been selected by the government as the chief promoter of the project. The ministry of food processing, Government of India had launched the mega food parks scheme (MFPS) under its 11th Five Year Plan. The MFPS is expected to facilitate rise in processing of perishables in the country from the existing 6% to 20%, value addition from 20% to 35% and increase share in global food trade from 1.5% to 3% by 2015. The scheme aims to facilitate the establishment of a strong food processing industry backed by an efficient supply chain, which would include collection centres, primary processing centres and cold chain infrastructure and a central processing unit. Moreover, the scheme has the potential to substantially reduce post-harvest losses, add value to agricultural produce, create substantial investment and rejuvenate the rural economy. "The primary objective of the MFPS is to provide adequate and excellent infrastructure facilities for food processing, along the value chain from the farm to the market. It will include creation of infrastructure near the farm, transportation, logistics and centralized processing centres. The scheme will be demand-driven, pre-marketed and would facilitate food processing units to meet environmental, safety and social standards," said Kagliwal. The College of Food Technology, MKV, Parbhani had designed a similar project to set up a mega food park in its campus and submitted to central ministry of food processing in 2008. The fundamental mission of the project was to develop and motivate students entrepreneurship. However, the project was not sanctioned because of critical technical issues. V N Pawar, head of department of food science and technology of the college, said, "The mega food park is basically a cluster of food industries made techno-economically viable by very sound and strategic action plan, based on provision of common facility motivation module through central control system. We will extend cooperation to the Paithan mega food park.

5621 The Jawaharlal Institute of postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) and the Bloomberg School of Public Health of Johns Hopkins University today jointly launched a project to address lung diseases, which is among the multi-faceted health issues in India. Speaking to reporters after launching the Rs 60-lakh project, shared equally by the two institutions, JIPMER Director T S Ravikumar said the project was aimed at combating chronic respiratory diseases which are the second leading cause of death in India, through education, research, patient care and public health innovations. He said contributions from various agencies and organisations would also be sought to strengthen the project, and to expand it to broader areas where the intensity of the problem of lung disease and lung cancer had been noticed. The project will be implemented by going into causative factors for lung diseases,including air pollution and smoking. DrKarp referred to the serious impact smoking caused among vulnerable sections. She appreciated the collaboration with JIPMER to study various aspects of pulmonary diseases.

5620 The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, has gone the eco-friendly way and established its own solar power plant. From today, the first phase of the 1MW solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant in the institute’s premises will whirr to life, illuminating several departments through a local grid. The remaining two phases of the plant, which is being manufactured by Mahindra EPC, will be ready by March. With this plant in place, the elite engineering college hopes to generate 13% more power than it consumes now, while cutting down the cost at the same time. Every month, IIT Bombay consumes approximately 6,500KW of power, which costs the exchequer Rs2 crore. The institute hopes to cut down the bill by Rs50 lakh a month. The plant is expected to produce around 1.45 million units of energy per year, for a minimum period of 20 years. “The cost of solar energy would be approximately Rs4.1 per unit. The institute currently pays almost double the amount under the commercial tariff,” said Prof Chetan Solanki, department of energy science and engineering, who is also one of the coordinators for the project. The project, which carries a price tag of Rs8.5 crore, will be the first such on any academic campus in India with such a huge power-generating capacity. The plant consists of 16 smaller plants, each having a capacity of approximately 50-100KW, spread over the rooftops of 16 academic buildings in the 550-acre campus. More than 4,000 photovoltaic (PV) cells of mono- and multi-crystal silicon modules are incorporated into these plants. “Installation on the mechanical, electrical, civil, metallurgical engineering and physics departments and the Victor Menezes Convention Centre are already complete, and will start producing 300KW of power from today (Tuesday). That is equivalent to 5 lakh units per year,” said Prof Solanki. IIT Bombay has already designed and is now commissioning a 1MW solar thermal power plant at Gurgaon in Haryana. The ministry of new and renewable energy has sponsored the project. However, this solar thermal power plant is different from a solar photovoltaic plant. While a photovoltaic plant converts solar energy directly into power, a solar thermal plant heats up the water which is passed through a turbine, which generates power.

5619 Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar reviewed at a meeting Monday the various ongoing power sector projects in his state. The official said the union government has recently decided to implement a new Smart Grid Projects (SGP) in 14 cities across the country on pilot-basis at a cost of Rs.200 crore. The 14 cities include Agartala, the only city in the northeastern region, where the SGP will be executed. The SGP will be a digital technology that allows for two-way communication between the utility and its customers, as well as monitoring of the transmission lines for efficient use of electricity. The official said the Tripura State Electricity Corporation would soon undertake the preliminary works to lay underground power transmission lines in the capital city and its outskirts.

5618 The World Bank would provide the major share of a Rs.8,150-crore project to create infrastructure in the power sector in six northeastern states, officials said on Tuesday. State-owned Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (PGCIL) would execute the World Bank-aided projects in six of the eight northeastern states of India. "The PGCIL last year signed agreements with Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura for implementation of the North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project," an official of the Tripura power department told IANS. He said: "The World Bank would provide a major portion of the Rs.8,150 crore ambitious project as loan. Under this project, power transmission lines, transmission sub-stations and related works would be done in a phased manner." The PGCIL, a "Navaratna" power transmission company, would also provide technical and managerial support for inter-state transmission and distribution systems.

5617 The Karnataka government is in the process of finalizing the Bangalore-Mumbai Economic Corridor with the assistance of Government of India. The project will be taken up with the collaboration of government of United Kingdom, which will further the states development, said chief minister Siddaramaiah. As part of the infrastructure development, the state government is setting up the Chennai-Bangalore-Chitradurga industrial corridor with financial aid from the central government and the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Bangalore-Mumbai economic corridor with Britain as its investment partner, he said. Speaking at the inauguration of 20th Partnership Summit, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the ministry of commerce, in the city on Monday, Siddaramaiah said the state government had set up a manufacturing task force for specific interventions to drive growth in the industrial sector. Addressing about 1,000 delegates from 45 countries at the partnership summit, the chief minister said the state government is set to unveil a new industrial policy in April. "It will address varied needs of industry, investors and entrepreneurs and promote Karnataka brand in international platforms. The government is committed to establish strategic partnerships to realize a strong base of urban infrastructure that will, in addition to fuelling the pace at which our economy is growing, also spur the growth of all other sectors in the economy, he said. In this context, the chief minister said the state government is setting up the first National Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZs) spread across 12,500 acres of land at Tumkur, about 70 km from Bangalore and proposes to establish three more NIMZs at Bidar and Gulbarga in the states northern region and at Kolar, about 100 km from here. "The new industrial policy will give impetus to NIMZs, development of industrial infrastructure, promotion of entrepreneurship, skill upgradation with attractive packages and incentives to the micro, small and medium entrepreneurs (MSME) sector and flag the state as a brand at international fora," Siddaramaiah asserted. "We have identified a potential of Rs 19,065 crore for investments in infrastructure across the state. We are also committed to develop urban infrastructure through public-private partnerships to ensure the states economy grows rapidly with a ripple effect on other sectors," Siddaramaiah pointed out. Asserting that the state was working to sustain an environment conducive to risk-taking and long-term investments, the chief minister said Karnataka was ranked fourth in attracting foreign direct investments (FDI). "The World Bank investment climate index ranked our state first for a healthy business climate and in attracting global investments," Siddaramaiah added. He said the Information Communication Technology sector in the state has achieved high levels of growth. Bangalore will become the largest information technology cluster by 2020 with 2 million IT professionals, 6 million indirect jobs and Rs 4 trillion crore exports, which will have about 40 per cent of Indias IT exports, the chief minister said. The state government has just begun the work on setting up the worlds first Digital Media City in Bangalore. This can become the hub for content creation, management and distribution, he added.

5616 Alternate sources of energy have to be developed to counter energy crisis. Keeping this in mind, the environment cell of public works department (PWD) in Trichy is planning to produce biogas as well as electricity from biological sources. Thanjavur district administration is also working on a project to implement it as a pilot project in the state. As per the plan, water hyacinth and shrub called pink morning glory (Ipomea carnea) will be used to source biogas. Water bodies are infested with water hyacinth, a fast-growing perennial aquatic plant. It blocks rivers and drainage system and contributes to depletion of dissolved oxygen, thereby causing alteration of water chemistry. It is when steps are being taken to prevent its spreading that the PWD is planning to utilize it for productive purposes. The production of biogas using water hyacinth goes through various levels. First, the plant is chopped into small pieces. The process could be improved if the chopped plant is mixed with cow slurry and special micro-organisms which is rich in anaerobic bacteria that aids decay. The ratio of water hyacinth to cattle dung depends upon the availability of cattle dung and the size of the digester. At least, 2%-5% dung in the mixture is effective. Thereafter, solid waste must be mixed with water before being put into the digester, possibly with 10 parts water to 1 part solids. Ipomoea carnea, a native of South America, grows in dense populations along river. This species of morning glory is a popular source of bioenergy. Last month chief minister J Jayalalithaa had announced that a biomethanation plant using water hyacinth and Ipomea carnea will be sanctioned for Thanjavur district. Accordingly, the district administration there is preparing for the implementation a pilot project in the state. Biomethanation is a process by which organic material is microbiologically converted under anaerobic conditions to produce biogas. N Subbaiyan, Thanjavur district collector, is optimistic that the new project will benefit people. "The district rural development agency (DRDA) and the PWD are jointly devising the plan to implement the project successfully in our district. The work is on to identify the site for setting up the plant to generate biogas as well as electricity," Subbaiyan said, while remarking that water hyacinths have become a menace to water bodies. The modalities for supply and tariff for gas and electricity are yet to be decided, said the collector. The estimated cost of a biogas plant is Rs 1 crore. The success of the project may even reduce the demand for conventional cooking gas, officials claimed.

5615 Foreseeing a big potential for wine tourism in India, Grover Zampa Vineyard, one of country’s oldest wine makers are planning to launch a spa hotel in their Sanjegaon, Nashik vineyard. The hotel would be located amidst the vineyard, which will be one-of-a-kind hotel in India. This hotel can attract a large number of tourists as Grover Zampa already has various wine tourism packages to complement the stay. “We are actually in terms of negotiation with two international groups. We should be able to make progress within the first quarter of 2014, mostly by February or March we should be able to sign the deal and move forward. The idea is that we should have a hotel with spa, up and running within the next three years.” “I think there would be at least a minimum 60 plus rooms, we would end up anywhere between 60 to 75 rooms and also some villas,” he added. As a part of promotion of wine tourism in the country, Grover Zampa organised ‘The Great Grover Stomp’, which is a festival to celebrate the first harvest of grapes. This festival welcomed a large number of wine aficionados from the neighbouring cities like Mumbai, Nashik and Pune. The guests got a chance to taste the most-relished wines produced by Grover Zampa and they also indulged in grape stomp. Speaking about the wine tourism aspect, Mandla said, “We are looking very seriously in terms of raising the bars of our hospitality experience. We are aggressively promoting vineyard tours in both our locations, Nashik and Bangalore. We have already initiated many promotional social events in our wineries - we get large corporate groups, top-end social groups as well as wine lovers. The Great Grover Stomp is an event to say thanks to our loyal consumers and also tap new consumers and enlighten them about the wine-making process.” In the next couple of years Grover Zampa is planning to launch new fine dining restaurants and also organise more activities to promote wine tourism in India.

5614 Power major NTPC has expressed the hope that construction of the 1,320-MW Katwa thermal power plant in the state would begin construction in a few months. NTPC Chairman Arup Roychowdhury, who met states Power Minister Manish Gupta today, indicated that the company hoped to get the boards nod for the project by February-March. Gupta, who described the meeting as a courtesy call, said that NTPC assured to begin construction of the plant soon. Coal linkage was one of the issues before the power major. The captive coal block meant for the project was deallocated by the coal ministry. The state power department would place a proposal to offer coal linkage from its captive blocks before the Cabinet for its consideration in February, Gupta said. NTPC proposed to construct two thermal units of 660 MW on 557 acres which it has in its possession. NTPC has also received positive feedback from land owners for 150 acres it required for the ash pond. A few months ago, NTPC had said that unless 150 acres was not arranged by the state government it was not possible to go ahead with the project.

5613 The first unit of thermal power station-I expansion at Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) would be commissioned in February, said NLC chairman cum managing director B Surender Mohan on Sunday. The second unit would be commissioned in March. Unfurling the tricolor at the Republic Day celebrations at the corporation, Surender Mohan said the first unit of the joint venture project, NLC Tamil Nadu Power Limited (NTPL), would also be commissioned in February and the second unit would be commissioned in May. Fuel supply agreement for NTPL was signed with Mahanadi Coal Fields of Coal India on September 24 last year," he said. He said NLC had launched pre-project site activities for the 2 x 500 MW Neyveli New Thermal Power Project (NNTPP). "The contracts for the two main packages have been awarded and tender finalization for the remaining package is in the advanced stage. Unit-I is expected to be commissioned in August 2017 and unit-II in February 2018," he said. He said mine-I and mine-IA were being restructured at a capital outlay of Rs 1,458.17 crore. Lignite production from the two mines is expected to commence in June, 2015. The mines will supply fuel to the NNTPP. The NLC has commenced pre-project activities and identified the site for office for the 3 x 660MW coal-based Ghathampur Thermal Power project (GTPP). Environmental clearance for GTPP and forestry clearance for coal mines development in the allotted coal block at Pachwara South would be obtained soon, he said. The NLC has started pursuing in-principle approval for allocation of land for 4,000MW coal-based Sirkali Thermal Power Project ( STPP) in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu. The coal reserve for the project has been allotted in Jilga-Barpalli coal block of Chhattisgarh. The NLC proposes to set up a 51MW wind power farm at Kaluneerkulam in Tirunelveli district and a 10MW solar power plant at Neyveli and 10MW solar power plant at Barsingsar. With the implementation of the above new projects, the power generation capacity of the corporation will increase from the present 2,740MW to 11,195MW and lignite production from the present 30.6 million tonne to 38.85 million tonne per annum. He said the corporation had initiated recruitment process to fill up OBC vacancies. He said the corporation had inducted 4,219 contract workers in the NLC Indcoserve society. "The common seniority list of contract workers has been published according to the Supreme Court directives," he said.

5612 Algae.Tec, an Australian producer of algal oils used in cleaner fuels, is teaming up with a unit of Reliance Industries to build a pilot production facility in India. The companies will develop a pilot project in India that will produce 2 bpd of biofuel and be funded by Reliance affiliates. Reliance plans to work with its new partner to help bring the technology to market Governments are promoting cleaner fuels to curb polluting emissions from transport. Algae.Tec’s algal oils can be used to make biofuel for vehicles and jets. India is aiming for 20 percent of its fuel to come from clean sources by 2017.

5611 In the next one-and-a-half years, complete crash test of all new cars may happen in India. While a new state-of-the-art facility is being set up in Chennai for such tests, the road transport ministry has started the process of setting standards for New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP). Once NCAP is notified, all new samples of vehicles will have to undergo safety test to ensure that these have safe margins and they have to get certification for their structural strength. At present, cars sold in India undergo front and rear crash tests. Recently road transport minister Oscar Fernandes had announced that his ministry has started consultation with other ministries and Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) to finalize NCAP. However, sources said the process will take little more time since the standards have to be fixed. "Many states have not even notified the maximum speed limit. How can you go ahead with planning big things until you have the basics in place? We should not be in a hurry to do copycat of the norms and standards of Europe," said a government official. The ministers announcement came a couple of weeks before Global NCAP is likely to come out with first ever independent consumer crash tests for some of Indias popular small cars. In Europe, all new car models must pass certain safety tests before they are sold. Even developed countries like United States have their car assessment programme which ranks cars on the basis of their safety features and this information is available to public so that they can take an informed decision. To carry out such safety tests National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRiP) is establishing sate-of-art facility under Centre of Excellence for Passive Safety at GARC-Chennai. Two other passive safety facilities at iCAT and ARAI are also being set up. The Chennai facility will be capable for performing frontal car to car crash, sled test, full vehicle crash test and also angular car-to-car crash. The lab will be able to perform EuroNCAP and USANCAP tests and having special equipments to measure and film crash test and some climatic control of the impact zone are required.

5610 Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha speaker Brij Bihari Lal Butail on Sunday said Hamirpur town and its suburbs would get additional water with a new water supply scheme to be set up at a cost of Rs. 64 crore. Butail was presiding over a Republic Day function at local boys school ground, where he unfurled the Tricolour and took salute from contingents of the Himachal Pradesh police, home guards and cadets of the National Cadet Corps. He also inspected a colorful parade. He said the state government was committed to provide potable water to every household. After completion of the ambitious project, people of the town would get 135 litre water per person per day till 2044, he added.

5609 India Post, which has post offices spanning all over the country, is all set to launch an ambitious ATM installation drive in the country. Sources familiar with the matter reveal that India Post will install 3,000 ATMs and 1.35 lakh micro-ATMs pan India by September 2015. Of these, 1,000 ATMs will be installed within the first year of the project. Pilot Project in New Delhi As a pilot project, the ATMs will be installed in certain select cities including Delhi. The micro ATMs will be hand-held devices and would be kept inside the post offices. "We will be starting with three ATMs to be installed in New Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore on February 5 and then ramp it up gradually," postal department secretary Padmini Gopinath said. These ATMs will be installed at various post offices and will be made available to the 26 crore customers who have a savings account in post offices. The Department is hopeful that it will subsequently get the inter-operability permission from the RBI. Such permission will enable the post office saving account holders to access their accounts using the ATMS of other commercial banks. The move is likely to reduce human intervention in post office services, streamline operations and add to customer convenience. Application for Core Banking India Post has already applied to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a banking license, the approval for which is expected in 2014. Last year, a parliamentary committee made inspections at some post offices in the National Capital to assess the situation. A couple of days before the Republic Day, Kapil Sibal, Minister for Communications and IT assured that his ministry is leaving no stone unturned to convince the Finance Ministry to get banking license proposal cleared for India Post. "We are yet to go some way to convert the postal department into a post bank. We have been fighting this battle and we are not going to give it up till we reach a logical conclusion," the honorable minister was quoted.

5608 Officials of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) held a meeting on Saturday to discuss the ring road project and other works for the city. The meeting follows a proposal sent by VMC to the minister of state of road transport and highways Dr Tushar Chaudhari. The possibility of NHAI making the road was being explored after Chaudhari recently made an announcement in the city that he would be keen to help VMC if its officials came up with a proposal for a road. Earlier this month, a delegation from VMC visited Delhi and submitted a proposal to Chaudhari. VMC mayor Bharat Shah stated that NHAI officials visited various locations in the city to see sites where NHAI could work. Besides the ring road, the VMC is seeking NHAI help for connections from the city to the highway. The issue of waterlogging in the eastern parts of the city due to the national highway was also discussed at the meeting. NHAI officials have asked VMC to send a detailed proposal regarding the works that need to be done. NHAI officials told VMC functionaries that a consultant would then be appointed to conduct a survey and prepare a detailed report. A final decision will be taken after this.

5607 Japan has offered to set up a joint venture company like the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation to finance bullet train projects in India. The project that also figured in the talks between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has already been approved by the Planning Commission. A Commission source said the proposed corporation will announce bullet trains for seven pair of destinations, all of them to be leveraged by a mix of yen debt and equity. Japanese experts from a consulting firm and Indian officials have conducted surveys last week in the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor (about 500 km) for a pre-feasibility study for the first of these projects. Prior to that, Government of India officials from the Commission and rail ministry have been over to Tokyo to complete the details of the project. In the joint statement made by the two Prime Ministers it was agreed that after the issuance of the inception report of the High Speed Railway system on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad route, the joint feasibility study should be completed by July 2015. India has opted for the Japanese Shinkansen technology over competing models including the Chinese offer on two considerations. These include the safety of the Japanese technology and the niggling concerns about a tie-up with China on such a high technology project. “The other is the cheaper funding that Tokyo has promised to make available for the project”, said the official. There were also offers from France and a couple of other countries too for the project, but just as in the case of the DMRC the government has plumped for Japan. Each of these projects at over Rs 30,000 crore is beyond the capacity of the rail ministry to finance. Consequently it is a joint venture corporation that can finance and eventually run the high speed train corridors. A company can raise debt or equity from the markets that a government department will find impossible to do. In the Indian railway sector this will be the biggest single investment project rivalling the freight corridor plans. The project is expected to provide massive backward linkages for the rail based manufacturing sector which sits well with the government’s expectation for them too. The other six corridors identified by the government include Amritsar-New Delhi-Patna, New Delhi-Jodhpur, Howrah-Haldia, Mumbai-Pune and Hyderabad-Thiruvananthapuram. Experts said it was too early to even put a time line to any of them at this stage but work on some of them could begin concurrently.

5606 India and Japan on Saturday signed eight agreements to boost bilateral ties between the two countries. The agreements signed included one Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of Tourism. The Memorandum was signed between Japan Tourism Agency, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and the Ministry of Tourism, India. The MOU aims at promoting tourism between the two countries. The two nations entered into an agreement for implementing bilateral Science and Technology exchanges. The agreement was signed between the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan and the Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology of India. The two sides signed a MoU, which aims at harmonizing standards between the two countries. The memorandum was signed between the Bureau of Indian Standards and Japanese Industrial Standards Committee. The two nations signed a MoU on a Model Project for Energy Management Systems in Telecommunication Towers in India. The MoU was signed between New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan and Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The MoU aims at enhancing energy efficiency in telecom towers. The two sides also exchanged notes on Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan for Uttarakhand Forest Resource Management Project. The project is financed by Japanese ODA. The two sides exchanged notes on aid under the Japanese Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the Project for Improvement of the Institute of Child Health and Hospital for Children, Chennai. (ANI)

5605 Jammu and Kashmir Government has said work on the much-awaited ropeway project from Mubarak Mandi to Mahamaya hilltop via Bagh-e-Bahu in Jammu will commence very soon. "The work on the Rs 40-crore ropeway project from Mubarak Mandi to Mahamaya hilltop via Bagh-e-Bahu will commence very soon," Minister for Tourism Ghulam Ahmad Mir said while chairing a high-level meeting here last evening. Mir said the ropeway would add another tourist attraction to the city of temples. He asked the concerned authorities to complete the spade work so that the foundation stone could be laid in the next month. It was informed that all hurdles like environment, wildlife and forest clearances had been obtained and the construction work would be taken up soon. The minister directed the authorities to ensure early disposal of land acquisition by providing compensation to private land owners. He said for the purpose the government had placed Rs 1.86 crore at the disposal of the Collector, Land Acquisition, Jammu, for speedy clearance of land compensation. Giving details about the proposed project, the minister said the ropeway would have 37 cabin lines from historic Mubarak Mandi Royal palace to Mahamaya Park and onward to Shahbad Bagh-e-Bahu. The ropeway would have two sections across the Tawi river - one from Mubarak Mandi, Peerkho to Mahmaya Park and another from Mahmaya Park to Shahbad. Each cabin would have a capacity of six seats with modern ventilation facilities.

5604 McNally Bharat Engineering Co Ltd has bagged orders worth Rs. 118.59 crore for building three super-speciality hospitals in two West Bengal districts. The West Bengal government is setting up these hospitals under the Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF) at Debra and Salboni in Paschim Medinipur district and Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district. The proposed super speciality hospitals are proposed as separate projects within the premises of existing hospitals at these places. According to the Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners, the State implementing agency, each project would have separate administrations, infrastructure and personnel. The main five-storeyed hospital buildings will have 10-storey foundation. Each hospital building will have around 7,500 sq.m. of built-up area. The project construction will include the administrative block, staff quarters with roads and pathways, drainage, water supply, sewerage, electrical installations and landscaping. Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners is also the implementing agency for four more super-speciality hospital projects in three other districts. These projects will also have a similar construction format and will be financed through BRGF. These four projects would be at Metiaburz and Kakdwip in South 24 Parganas district, Sagardighi in Murshidabad district and Bolpur in Birbhum district.

5603 Kirloskar Brothers has collaborated with TATA Power to install circulating water pumping system for its Mundra ultra modern power plant. With this, 10.5 million litres of water is circulated with the help of KBL’s 10 concrete volute pump sets every minute. Coastal Gujarat Power Limited, TATA Power’s wholly owned subsidiary, which has implemented the 4000 MW UMPP requires massive amounts of water to condense the heat generated in the production of power. Commenting on this, Mr Ravindra Ulangwar, associate vice president and head power sector, KBL said that “The Mundra UMPP is India’s first and most energy efficient coal-based thermal power plant using super critical technology to create lower greenhouse gas emissions and its main power generation equipment is sourced from Japan and Korea.” According to Mr Ulangwar, the pumping system is designed to take care of large fluctuations in the sea water level due to tidal variations. The motors are installed above the high tide level whereas pumps are installed in such a way that enough submergence is available during low tide levels. The Mundra UMPP will meet 2% of India’s power needs and 16 million domestic, industrial and agricultural consumers in Gujarat.

5602 The state governments ambitious plan to turn Agartala into a solar city successfully passed its first step towards implementation on Friday with the launch of a 45 KW-capacity Solar Photovoltaic Power plant for a multi-storied market complex. Tripura Renewable Energy Development Agency (TREDA) joint director Babul Chakraborty said the plant will meet the present electricity requirements of the newly-built modern retail market near Ujjayanta State Museum. "Our aim is not to depend on conventional energy for the markets power requirements unless there is any major mishap in the plant," he said. "A master project of Rs 452.32 Cr. has been drawn for Agartala to turn it into a solar city with the installation of solar hot water systems in all the hotels, nursing homes, school hostels, government guest houses, bungalows, hospitals, shopping complexes and VIP complex but we are waiting for the necessary funds from the Centre," Chakraborty said. He added that the Centre was also positive about the innovative project and if funds flow in on time, Agartala would be the first solar city in the northeast within the next couple of years. TREDA has been providing solar energy to 100 remote villages in the state under the Remote Village Electrification (RVE) scheme during the current fiscal, he said. The solar plant was installed at the cost of Rs 1.5 crore, Chakraborty added. He stressed that the target of Agartala Solar City project has been to reduce dependency on conventional energy at least by 10 per cent in the city, which would help in reducing emission of green house gases (GHGs). Environment minister Bijita Nath, however, pointed out that the Union ministry of new and renewable energy has aimed at turning 60 Indian cities into solar ones by encouraging local governments to adopt renewable energy technologies and energy efficiency measures. The proposed solar cities include Itanagar, Agartala, Guwahati, Jorhat, Aizawl, Imphal, Kohima and Dimapur.

5601 As many as seven projects worth more than Rs 15,000 crore were cleared in Gujarat on Thursday. "The projects cleared include those of Essar Power, ONGC, Cairn India, multi product economy zone, IOCL, among others. The remaining two projects will also be cleared soon," said Anil Swarup, additional secretary and chairman, project monitoring group, in an interactive session at CII here. The project monitoring group was set up by the central government for faster clearance of projects worth more than Rs 1,000 crore. The group co-ordinates with ministries and other agencies to get clearances for projects. Almost 40% of the projects had issues related to environment. On national front, 137 out of 411 projects worth Rs 4.89 lakh crore have been cleared in last one month. "We had begun with 60 projects in June 2013 and still have 235 projects to clear," added Swarup. Swarup also claimed that it was not policy paralysis at the Centre which held up these projects. "The issue was with decision making, policies were in place but other issues took a lot of time," he said. Some 411 projects worth Rs 19.32 lakh crore had 1008 issues due to which they were held up. Of 1008, 394 were state government related issues, 195 pertaining to coal and 175 related to environment. In January 2013, project monitoring group had helped cleared 137 projects. In the remaining 235 projects, there are 560 issues (93 environment and 58 coal related). No action has been taken on 27 projects due to fuel availability and legal issues Gujarat to follow Bihar, Rajasthan To facilitate faster clearance of projects worth less than Rs 1,000 crore, the Gujarat government will set up its own project monitoring group on the lines of the monitoring group set up by Centre. "State government officials will visit the monitoring group in Delhi next week to understand the technicalities and operations," said Anil Swarup, chairman, project monitoring group. Six states, including Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, have already set the project monitoring groups.

5600 British budget hotel chain Premier Inn is planning to open 13 properties in India by 2016, which will take the total number of rooms it has in the country to around 1,300. Speaking at the launch of the chain’s third property, in Kharadi, Pune, Premier Inn’s South Asia MD Aly Shariff said: “We want to open six to seven new properties in India every year.” Going forward, growth will come through a combination of partnerships and managed hotels. In the medium term, the plan is to have 13 properties in India by 2016, he added. The hotel and restaurant group owns and operates three properties in India, including one each in Bangalore and Delhi. Two new properties, in Chennai and Goa, are due to open later this year, taking the total investment in India to Rs 350 crore. With 109 keys, including four serviced apartments, Premier Inn Pune is the first in India to have been built with pre-engineered ‘POD’ bathrooms, which have been designed in the UAE.

5599 The Mumbai airport is likely to become the first in the country to have an underground tunnel for airside vehicular movement. A plan is under consideration to build a tunnel linking the domestic terminal to T2, the new integrated terminal, to improve operational efficiency and reduce delays in departures and baggage delivery. A Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) spokesperson said the plan had not been finalised. London, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur have underground road or rail lines passing under the airport - some connecting the terminals and others for general motorists. The reason behind planning a tunnel for airside vehicular movement in Mumbai is that it will reduce congestion on the perimeter road and apron. “This will improve overall efficiency at the airport. It takes 20 minutes for buses or vehicles to travel from one terminal to another. The vehicles use the same apron space and have to wait when ever an aircraft is taxiing to its bay or the runway. Overall it causes delays in boarding and baggage delivery,” said an airport source. An airline executive said very often they receive frantic calls from passengers who fear missing their flights. While there are several buses which ferry transit passengers between domestic and international terminals there are frequent delays because of congestion. A tunnel is expected to reduce the travel time and cut down the delays. There is another reason why a tunnel may become essential. As a part of master plan, MIAL has proposed to construct parallel taxiway network along both its runways. The secondary runway does not have an end to end taxiway. An extension of taxiway along the secondary runway will require the demolition of old air traffic control tower. "The taxiway will cut across the existing perimeter road which used by airport buses and other vehicles to travel from domestic and international terminal, the source added.

5598 Mahindra & Mahindra is in the process of expanding its product line to light commercial vehicles (LCVs) at its manufacturing plant at Zaheerabad in Andhra Pradesh with an investment outlay of Rs 250 crore. According to an official order, M&M has approached the government seeking sops as the existing plant will be expanded to make four wheeler sub-one tonne light commercial and passenger vehicles with a capacity of 92,000 vehicles per year. Based on the request from the automaker and the recommendation by the State Investment Promotion Board, the government said it would allow incentives based on certain conditions. “In view of the recommendations of the State Investment Promotion Board, we hereby extend the following incentives to Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd for their proposal to set up four wheeler sub one tonne light commercial and passenger vehicles manufacturing facility at Zaheerabad, Medak district, by producing 92,000 vehicles per year with an investment of Rs 250 crore and to provide employment to 500 people...100 per cent Net VAT/CST reimbursement for a period of 10 years from the date of commencement of commercial production or to the extent of 100 per cent of investment made whichever is earlier,” the government order (GO) said. The government further said, out of the 500 jobs that the company is expected to provide, at least 80 per cent of employment should be given to the candidates belonging to the state for becoming eligible to the incentives specified. The state government also allowed fixed power cost reimbursement of Re 0.75 per unit (upper ceiling) on the rates (2010-11) for five years from the date of commencement of commercial production. The facility which currently manufactures tractors has been set up with an investment of Rs 300 crore and with an installed capacity of one lakh tractors per annum which can be scaled up to meet additional demand.

5597 An integrated sports complex in Chennai, at an estimated cost of Rs. 12 crore, would be among the host of measures taken by the State government. The proposed complex would have courts for squash, badminton, volleyball and football. Besides these, there would be an exclusive swimming pool for differently abled, according to an official release issued on Wednesday. On the direction of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, the allocation of Rs. 35.77 crore had been made for the various measures to promote sports. Trainees of sports hostels, which are run by the government, would, hereafter, get dietary allowance of Rs. 250 a month instead of Rs. 75. This would cost Rs. 10.12 crore to the exchequer. Boys and girls attached to centres of excellence and special sports hostels of the government would be given Rs. 250 every month. A sum of Rs. 55.4 lakh had been set apart for this purpose. At present, depending upon the categories, the students were getting Rs. 150 and Rs. 90 a month. It is nearly 10 years since the synthetic turf of the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium in Egmore here was re-laid. For providing the new turf, a sum of Rs. 3.5 crore had been sanctioned. Several district sports complexes were built 15 years or 20 years ago. As they required renovation, the Chief Minister approved a grant of Rs. five crore for this purpose. The State would have three more centres of excellence in Srirangam, Tirunelveli and Erode at a cost of about Rs. 1.6 crore. Facilities for additional accommodation would be created in Chennai and Srirangam at a cost of Rs. three crore. The Chief Minister also approved the sanction of Rs. 12 crore towards establishing a training academy for the National Cadet Corps in Idayapatti village of Madurai district.