Restrict NH 169 width to 30 m, Rai tells NHAI
Dakshina Kannada district in-charge Minister B. Ramanath Rai on Saturday asked the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to restrict the width of National Highway 169 (Mangaluru-Solapura) between Mangaluru and Moodabidri to 30 m instead of the proposed 45 m, particularly in urban areas. Presiding over a meeting to discuss widening of the NH and land acquisition for the same here, Mr. Rai said that the reduction in width should be followed in Mangaluru, and from Gurupura Kaikamba to Thenka, Badaga Edapadavu. Mr. Rai also asked the NHAI not to acquire property belonging to Thodar Masjid and plan the alignment skirting it. Special Land Acquisition Officer Gayathri Nayak informed that about 448 acres of land, including 307 acres of private land, would have to be acquired for the project as per the preliminary notification issued on May 20. K. Abhayachandra Jain, Moodbidri MLA, B.A. Mohiuddin Bava, Mangaluru North MLA, zilla Panchayat president Meenakshi Shanthigodu, Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim and others attended the meeting. Frank Gore Womens Jersey
Govt. allocates funds for key infrastructure projects
The earmarking of Rs.50 crore by the State government for the airport extension of the Seaport-Airport Road is expected to provide the much-needed impetus to the critical thoroughfare that holds the key to decongesting the Edappally-Kundannoor NH Bypass and the Edappally-Angamaly NH 47 corridor. The Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK), which owns and maintains the road, is also expected to widen the Bharat Matha College-Collectorate Junction corridor into four-lane, as part of the project to decongest the road. The project is expected to cost Rs.28 crore. “We will take a call on how best to use the Rs.50 crore based on a Government Order that is awaited. We submitted detailed project reports to the government on the extension of the road. The extension is being carried out at a width of 45 metres, and a four-lane road is being built,” said a senior RBDCK official. The construction of the 5-km-long NAD-Asoka-Mahilalayam Road is expected to commence soon. The project is likely to cost Rs.280 crore. The total cost of extending the road from HMT Junction to the airport by 14 km is estimated at Rs.662 crore. Work is on to develop the 2.7-km-long HMT-NAD corridor. The funds allotted to widen the Thammanam-Pullepady Road has come to a total of Rs.35 crore, with the government sanctioning an additional Rs.10 crore recently. “The government had allotted Rs.25 crore three years ago. But this is hardly enough, since the total project cost hovers around Rs.200 crore, considering the cost of land acquisition for the 3-km-long corridor that will link Padma Junction with Chakkaraparambu on the Palarivattom-Vyttila NH Bypass,” said an official of the Kochi Corporation. Victor Antipin Jersey
Smart city project: Northeast wants 90:10 ratio in funding
Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar has requested Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu to share the investment in smart city projects for the northeastern states by adopting a 90:10 ratio — 90 per cent by the central government and 10 per cent by the state. Sarkar met Naidu on Friday in New Delhi and urged him to adopt a separate funding policy for the backward northeastern states, Tripura Urban Development Minister Manik Dey told reporters on Saturday. The present funding pattern for the smart city project is on a 50:50 basis between the central government and the states. “The Finance Ministry had issued a circular earlier that the 90:10 ratio norms would be followed in all central government launched projects,” Dey said. “Naidu remained noncommittal after Sarkar put up the proposal,” Dey said, adding that northeastern states are unable to bear the huge financial burden to implement the smart city projects. The minister said that other northeastern states have already made similar demands. Three cities in the northeastern region — Guwahati (Assam), Imphal (Manipur) and Agartala (Tripura), have been selected for the implementation of the ambitious smart city plan so far . Other cities of northeastern states that participated in the fast-track competition, included Shillong (Meghalaya), Aizawl (Mizoram), Kohima (Nagaland) and Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh). These cities failed to fulfil the stipulated criteria and can submit their revised smart city plans for evaluation in the third round of competition likely to be held a few months later. Aiming at the all-round development of the infrastructure of the cities, the Smart City Mission marks a paradigm shift towards overall urban development in the country since it is based on a ‘bottom up’ approach with the involvement of citizens in the formulation of a city vision and smart city plans and the urban local bodies and state governments piloting the mission with little say for the Ministry of Urban Development. The Tripura Chief Minister also requested the Urban Development Minister to give relaxation in the centre-state funding pattern for northeastern states in the implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation, Swachh Bharat Mission and Heritage Development and Augmentation Yojana. Louis Domingue Jersey
Tamil Nadu power minister to lead a team to Delhi to discuss UDAY
Goyal, who also handles the coal, new and renewable energy portfolios independently met Jayalalithaa at the state secretariat. During their meeting, Jayalalithaa reiterated to Goyal to consider her government’s request relating to joining the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) – a scheme for financial turnaround of power distribution companies. She told Goyal that she had already requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in her letter dated October 23, 2015 to consider certain requests of the state government to ensure that the state finances are not adversely affected, while taking over the debt of TANGEDCO- the power distribution company. She also requested that the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) and Power Finance Corporation (PFC) which are central public sector undertakings may extend co-operation by providing loans for both revenue and capital expenditure and also for the new power projects proposed by Tamil Nadu. She told Goyal that Tamil Nadu has an installed capacity of 7,600 MW of wind power and is in a position to sell wind power to other states who require to fulfill their Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO). Jayalaltihaa reiterated that it is absolutely essential to provide a dedicated green corridor to export the surplus power to other states. Derrick Shelby Jersey
Essar to fully operationalise Tori, Mahan power plants
Essar Power plans to make its 2×600 MW Tori power plant operational by the next financial year as the company expects to secure new fuel through government’s upcoming coal linkage auction, a company spokesman told ET. The plant, which is 43 per cent complete, will be built at an investment of Rs 4,100 crore. “All approvals for the plant are in place and the company has also signed long-term power purchase agreements for the project with Bihar and Jharkhand,” the spokesperson said. The promoters of the company have infused close to Rs 1,500 crore as equity in the project. The current debt of the project stands at Rs 2,600 crore. The company is also in process of re-operationalising unit II of 2×600 MW Mahan power plant by November this year as it plans to secure coal through special forward e-auctions in the short term. For longterm fuel security, the company looks to make coal available from its Tokisud coal mine. “The restart of unit I has been possible due to the government making coal available through e-auctions and aligning coal prices to the current market scenario. Mahan plant has already secured over 12 lakh tonne coal through special forward e-auction of Coal India (CIL). Company will be participating in further e-auctions being done by CIL,” Essar said. Danny Woodhead Womens Jersey
NGT orders criminal action against TSGenco
In a massive blow to the Telangana State Power Generation Corporation Limited, the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered criminal proceedings against its officials for illegally initiating construction of the 1,080 MW Bhadradri Thermal Power Station in Khammam district without procuring the mandatory environmental clearance. In a landmark judgement delivered on July 11, the green tribunal directed the Union ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEF & CC) to take “appropriate criminal action [against TSGenco] under Section 15, 16 and 17 of the Environment (Protection) Act of 1986” for failing to comply with the norms of the Act. The action, the tribunal categorically stated, must be initiated “within a period of four weeks” from the day of the order and the prosecution be “completed expeditiously”. Incidentally, the Act allows for imprisonment “for a term which may extend up to five years” and fine of up to Rs 1 lakh. Further, lashing out at the Telangana Pollution Control Board for failing to take any against the offenders so far, it directed it to “take penal action against the officials [of TSGenco] who are responsible for such activity under the Water Act and Air Act.” Such action too, the two-member bench of the NGT noted, “shall be initiated within four weeks”. As per the rulebook, such construction activities need a ‘Consent to Establish’ from the concerned pollution control board before commencement of any work. The TSGenco had none. It also failed to conduct any public hearing prior to initiating the project. Trouble for the thermal power station began in October 2015 when members of the Human Rights Forum (HRF) noticed massive construction underway at the site – without a prior EC required under the Environment Impact Assessment Notification of 2006. Subsequently, the forum petitioned before the NGT which, while admitting the application on December 12, 2015, issued “an order of status quo” on the project. Yet, the construction continued. Condemning the violation, the NGT, earlier this month, stalled all work at the site with immediate effect. While observing the impossibility of directing the demolition of the “structures already put up”, it instructed the Experts Appraisal Committee of the MoEF & CC to decide whether “proper impact assessment [of the project] is possible” now and to take a call on the fate of the project. It allowed the experts committee eight weeks’ time to communicate the same to the Union ministry. Reacting to the “landmark” judgement passed by the NGT bench – comprising Justice P Jyothimani and P S Rao – V S Krishna, general secretary of the HRF, said: “It is a rare and extraordinary order. We now look forward to the MoEF and PCB implementing the order and initiating necessary action against those responsible for the violation.” He added, “This order sends out a strong message to authorities who think they can get away with such brazen illegalities. Now, we hope that the experts committee rejects any further appraisal of the project.” In its argument before the NGT, TSGenco, while refuting all charges, had justified the project on grounds that the new state of Telangana was reeling under a shortage of power – deficiency of 2,900 MW – forcing the government to purchase power from neighbouring states. This particular project, it noted, was therefore significant and had to be completed as soon as possible. Its defence, however, has been cold-shouldered by the green tribunal. Aaron Donald Womens Jersey
MSEDCL to pay 16,000 crore for power it will never need!
It is a miscalculation that defies all logic. The number of power purchase agreements (PPAs) that MSEDCL has signed is so large that it doesn’t require all the electricity that it will get from those agreements. However, as per the PPA clauses, it will have to pay capacity charges to the generation companies and this will be recovered from common consumers by the way of higher tariff. The agreements were signed when ex-deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar held the power portfolio. This excess payment in the coming four years will be to the tune of about Rs4,000 crore every year. These payments will be made to Mahagenco, NTPC, Adani Power (Tiroda) and RattanIndia (Amravati). MSEDCL is already paying capacity charges to these generators. It is only now that the miscalculation has been found out by studying MSEDCL’s multiyear tariff petition (MYT). The impact of the miscalculation can be gauged by comparing MSEDCL’s revenue gap in coming four years with the excess payment. The company will face a revenue gap of Rs56,000 crore for the period 2016-17 to 2019-20 if tariff is not increased. Of this, Rs16,000 crore will be excess payment. This means that the tariff hike required will reduce by 28.5% if this excess payment was not to be made. If the total back down (generation reduced deliberately due to oversupply) is compared with the demand for power, the miscalculation is equally shocking. This summer, the peak demand for power was over 17,000MW. Against this, the total back down in 2016-17 is 6,379MW, in 2017-18 it is going to be 8,961MW, 2018-19 — 7,257MW and 2019-20 — 6,463MW. Drew Hutchison Authentic Jersey
Hard to do business in India, but will remain here: AirAsia CEO
AirAsia group chief Tony Fernandes has said it was hard to do business in India due to protectionist policies and “vested interests”, but his joint venture carrier AirAsia India was here for a long haul. Defending the slow-paced growth of AirAsia India, he said the aviation sector here was a “double marathon” and not a “sprint”. “I am not going to storm in like a bull in China shop like Vijay Mallya did, and get caught. Now we have a (civil aviation) policy and the the policy is very clear on what we have to do. So talk to us in a few years time,” he told PTI when asked about the growth plans for his airlines. Observing that the BJP-led government has “at least delivered 80 per cent of what it talked about” in the draft aviation policy, the AirAsia chief said “it is hard (to do business) in India (as) there are so many vested interest who were trying to keep some of the incumbents happy.” “So at least they changed it (norm for international flying by domestic carriers) and we are clear what we need to do. And I would not be dead by the time 5 years come along with 20 aircraft we had before,” the AirAsia (Berhad) Group Chief Executive Officer told PTI on the sidelines of the Farnborough International Airshow in the UK last week. Ryan Jensen Jersey
Defence department agrees to give land for runway expansion
One more hurdle in the way of the runway expansion at the Trichy airport was cleared as the ministry of defence gave an in-principle nod to accept alternative land in exchange for the land which will be handed over to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) for the expansion works. According to P Kumar MP, who chaired the Airport Advisory Committee meeting held at the Trichy international airport here on Saturday, out of the 510 acres of land needed for the runway expansion, 165 acres was attached with the defence department. “As per norms, airport authorities have identified the alternative land to be handed over. Since authorities from the defence in principle accepted to hand over the land for expansion purpose, a major obstacle has been cleared,” he said. Regarding the remaining 345 acres, which comprises purambokku, wet and dry lands, the file is said to be with the transport secretary. “Once the file is signed by the respective authorities, the district revenue officials would expedite the process for acquiring the remaining lands. This would pave way for the expansion of runway from the existing area of 8,000 sqft to 12,000 sqft,” airport authorities said. Jason Spezza Jersey
Provide info on flights at IGI Airport: NGT to Aviation Ministry
The National Green Tribunal has directed the Ministry of Civil Aviation and aviation regulator DGCA to provide data on domestic and international flights at IGI Airport with details of their departure and arrivals. A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar also directed the government to file note on the mitigating steps taken by it to notify noise-level standards for airport noise zones within two weeks. “Statement be filed in relation to the extent of domestic and international flights with the details of departure and arrivals… “Statement shall also consist of measurement of noise level at the recipient end. In other areas, the decibel level be shown at the time of taking off and landing of aircraft, for both, day and night. What is their noise level in the residential area during the day and night times? It must state as to what are the contributing factors of noise in the surrounding area of the airport,” the bench said. The matter is now listed for hearing on August 22. Ryan Callahan Authentic Jersey