RIL to commission $35 billion projects in FY17
Reliance Industries (RIL) expects to commission projects with a total investment of $35 billion in 2016-17. These include petrochemical expansion projects that would place RIL among the top 10 global producers in that sector, the company said in its annual report for 2015-16. RIL has also sought shareholders’ approval to raise Rs10,000 crore through non-convertible debentures (NCDs) this fiscal year. “In the polyester chain, we added substantial volumes in an effort to further integrate our business …Reliance is confident of placing all our incremental output from the new projects in the domestic markets to meet India’s growing demand,” chairman Mukesh Ambani said in a letter to shareholders. RIL said its petrochemical plant expansion was on schedule and would provide the company the capacity and earning potential of a top pro ducer in the world. It is also upbeat on the impending launch of the Reliance Jio Infocomm telecom service. During the year, RIL and its subsidiaries arranged long-term foreign currency facilities of about $6.3 billion. RIL, which repor ted a gross refining margin of $10.8 a barrel in 2015-16, ma naging to outper form the Singapore benchmark with a premium of $3.3 a barrel, expects mar gin pressure, but ho pes to perform better than the benchmark. “The ability to ope rate at high utilisa tion levels and switch product slate et conditions enabled to suit market conditions enabled RIL to capture margin optimisation opportunities in the market.Overall, effective utilisation of secondary processing units, innova tive approach to optimise logistics cost and utilisation, production flexibility to swing to higher netback products and sourcing of bestvalue crude and feedstock-enabled RIL to sustain its performance even in a challenging margin environment,” the company said. RIL said it expanded its fuel retail pump network to 1,000. It sees opportunity for further expansion. The company also said: “Both Reliance and its partner BP are evaluating the new policy and investment plans to develop discovered resources.” AFFORDABLE 4G RIL has said its telecom arm Reliance Jio Infocomm will launch its 4G LTE services at “substantially lower “rates than rivals, rekindling fears of a bruising tariff war in an already competitive industry. “Affordability is a key to success of the digital revolution. Jio will make its services accessible and affordable to all consumers, “RIL said in its annual report on Thursday. Robert Newhouse Authentic Jersey
NHAI extended Rs 130 crore undue benefit to developers: CAG
Undue financial benefits to the tune of Rs 130 crore were extended by NHAI to developers of three highway stretches in Bihar and Jharkhand, official auditor CAG today said. The benefits were extended with regard to Mokama-Munger section of NH 80 in Bihar and Hazaribag-Ranchi section of NH 33 in Jharkhand besides construction of a four-lane bridge on river Kosi on NH 57. “National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) paid undue financial benefits to the concessionaire of Rs 51.03 crore,” CAG said regarding Mokama-Munger Highway stretch in its report tabled in Parliament today. NHAI and developer M/s Mokama-Munger Highway Ltd had signed an agreement in 2010 for construction of two-lane road on the stretch for a length of 68.58 km including construction of a 8.1 km bypass and two rail bridges. The undue financial benefit to the developer were extended in the form of “early completion bonus of Rs 21.83 crore in violation of the concession agreement and Rs 29.20 crore being part of annuity that was not payble due to reduction in scope of work,” the government watchdog said. The project was scheduled for completion in 730 days. Likewise the CAG said NHAI extended Rs 47.05 crore undue benefit to the developer of Hazaribag-Ranchi Expressway Ltd relating to 4-laning project between 71.16 km stretch of Hazaribag-Ranchi section of NH 33 in Jharkhand. “Payment of Rs 47.05 crore to the concessionaire as bonus for early completion was irregular and amounted to giving undue financial benefits to the concessionaire,” CAG said. It also said NHAI paid undue financial benefits of Rs 31.90 crore to the Kosi Bridge Infrastructure company for construction of four-lane bridge across river Kosi on NH 57 in Bihar. “NHAI paid undue financial benefits of Rs 31.90 crore to the concessionaire due to deficiencies in the issue of provisional completion certificate with effect from February 8, 2012 without completion of tests prescribed for safe and reliable commercial operation,” the CAG said. Emmanuel Sanders Womens Jersey
Mega NH project on lines of golden quadrilateral likely
‘Build Roads to Move India’ is likely to be the government’s mantra for a proposed massive widening of highways across the country in the next 4-5 years. On Thursday, the road transport ministry presented before PM Narendra Modi it’s ambitious plan to expand 16,000 km of national highways into six lanes and another 14,000 km to four lanes. About two dozen projects of six-laning would require an expenditure of at least Rs 2.5 lakh crore, which will be mobilised through a mix of 100% government funding or through public private partnerships. Sources said the proposal has been prepared to improve the average speed of vehicles, particularly those transporting cargo. Thursday’s meeting was attended by highway minister Nitin Gadkari, top officials from his ministry besides officials from Niti Aayog and finance ministry. “Now the issues will be thrashed out among departments for implemention. Some of the identified corridors are already under expansion and have also been included in the Bharatmala scheme,” a government source said. TOI has learnt that the ministry has proposed empowering the board of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to take decisions to implement the six-lane projects on the lines of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-era Golden Quadrilateral project — the country’s first major highway programme. Projects to be implemented by NHAI will connect areas of economic importance such as ports and manufacturing hubs. Sources said the identified 14,000 km, which would be widened to four lanes, would be taken up by the ministry or its agencies such as the state public works departments. “GQ (Golden Quadrilateral) brought revolution in the highway sector connecting four corners of the country. But then little was done to improve connectivity across the country in a planned manner and hardly any ring roads were built to improve traffic movement. Despite building so many kilometres of roads, we don’t see much difference in the average speed of cargo. That needs to be corrected,” said a government source. Deatrich Wise Jr Authentic Jersey
Gadkari reviews progress of highway projects in Punjab
Government has decided to issue a notice to developer of a highway stretch in Punjab over slow execution of project. The issue of slow execution of Ludhiana Talwandi package 1 project came up during a review meeting of highway projects in Punjab, which was chaired by Road Transport and Highways Minster Nitin Gadkari. “The road transport and highways minister today held a review meeting of the status of road projects in Punjab. The main focus of the meeting was to look into reasons for slow and delayed projects,” the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement. All problematic issues related to Ludhiana Talwandi Package 2, Bidhipur Dhilwan, Amritsar Bypass and Ludhiana Talwandi Package 1 were closely looked at, it said. “In the case of the Ludhiana Talwandi Package 1 project, the minister directed the official concerned to send a notice to the concessionaire for the delay in the project,” the statement said. Daryl Worley Womens Jersey
IRB’s AE Tollway commneces work on Agra-Etawah bypass
IRB Infrastructure today said its special purpose vehicle (SPV) AE Tollway has commenced construction work on the Rs 2,650 Agra-Etawah bypass road project. The company said it has also started toll operations on the road from August 1, 2016. Sudhir R Hoshing, Joint Managing Director, IRB Infrastructure Developers said, “We are pleased to commence the widening work of Agra-Etawah bypass road. Once completed, the corridor will provide congestion free, safe and more comfortable travel to commuters with much reduced travel time.” The company has recently achieved a financial closure for the project. It had bagged Rs 2,650 crore project of six laning of the 124 km section of Agra-Etawah bypass road on NH-2 in Uttar Pradesh. The project is on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis, as envisaged by the NHAI under its Phase-V of the National Highway Development Projects (NHDP). Mike White Jersey
COMPLETE CONSTRUCTION WORK OF FOUR-LANE ROADS WITHIN DEADLINE: AKHILESH YADAV
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav directed officials to complete construction of four-lane roads connecting district headquarters and bridges over rivers within the stipulated deadline. “Good roads help in speeding up development. The roads not only reduce commutation time but also help in improving financial health of the state,” Yadav said during review of construction of roads and bridges on Wednesday. Yadav said that the SP government always stresses on good roads. “So when we came to power, our first priority was to improve roads and construct bridges over rivers. We ensured that all district headquarters were connected with all-season four-lane roads,” Chief Minister said. He gave specific directives to officials asking them to construct roads connecting Chitrakoot by November 2016, Deoria by October 2016, Balrampur by December 2016 and Lakhimpur Kheri, Hardoi and Gonda by March 2017. “All these should be four-lane all season roads and should be completed within specified time,” he said. Officers informed the CM that NHAI would connect Banda and Meerut headquarters by October 2016 and Uttar Pradesh State Highway Authority (UPSHA) will connect Sonebhadra by the end of this fiscal. Besides, Varanasi-Shaktinagar highway would be thrown open to public soon. Directives were also given to complete construction of bridge at Balua Ghat in Varanasi by October. The renovation of ghat in front of BHU’s gate facing Ramnagar should also completed by October 2016. Yadav also directed officials to complete the construction of bridges in Ghazipur, Bahraich, Mirzapur, Firozabad and Ballia. George Iloka Jersey
Will auction of public funded highways work?
With the Union cabinet’s clearance to monetize public funded national highways in the country on Toll Operate Transfer (TOT) model, the road transport and highway ministry is expecting the sector to revitalize. Under this arrangement, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) is now authorized to lease as many as 75 National Highway projects, which are operational and have been generating toll revenues for at least two years to various entities on TOT model. The decision has come as the NHAI’s present model of Operation Maintenance and Transfer (OMT) has been partially successful. A highway ministry official requesting anonymity said in the traditional public funded NH projects once the project is completed and the contractor exits, the entire responsibility of regular and periodic maintenance and day-to-day operations including toll collection comes on to the NHAI and they usually outsource it to various vendors and contractors. However, the market feedback, which the NHAI and highways ministry has got, indicates that there are a lot of international institutions, which have a long term investment appetite and are keen to participate in operational highway projects with stable toll revenue outlook. These investors generally hesitate from taking construction risk but are willing to look at de-risked Brownfield road assets, he said, adding that the investors include Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, etc. He said that under this TOT model, the right of collection of user fee (toll) in respect of selected operational NH stretches constructed through public funding is proposed to be assigned for a specific time period, to developers/investors against upfront payment of a lump-sum amount to the government. Further, during the tenure of the contract, the operation and maintenance responsibility would remain with the assigned developer/investor. A senior NHAI official on condition of anonymity said, “This is not a ‘distress sale’ of assets. These assets continue to remain in the sovereign. Only the toll collection rights are being transferred for a specific period along with maintenance obligations in lieu of a lump sum upfront fee. The fee is to be determined by market in an open competitive and transparent manner. Such asset recycling has successfully being tried in other geographies of the world in the past.” With the increase pace of National Highway construction in the country, the number of public funded operational highway projects is likely to increase over time. Such completed and operational public funded projects in some cases have been bid out under the OMT contracts wherein the selected concessionaire is required to take care of the projects operation and maintenance of around six-nine years depending on when the major periodic maintenance is due. But the biggest limitation of this model is that it’s a short tenure model and NHAI fails to get an upfront payment for investments which the TOT will provide now. The road ministry official said, “The corpus generated from proceeds of such project monetization could be utilized by the government to meet its fund requirements regarding future development and operation and maintenance of highways in the country. This could address development/strengthening of highways in unviable geographies. The model would facilitate efficient toll realization through private sector.” The initiative is also likely to create new business opportunities for a new vertical of developers who specialize in operation and maintenance of highways, category of investors (Institutional Investors including Pension and Insurance Funds, Sovereign Funds, etc.) which is averse to taking construction risks but is adequately equipped for making long-term investments in road infrastructure. Greg Pateryn Jersey
Tamilnadu won’t join UDAY scheme until Centre meets our demands: Minister
MINISTER for Electricity, P Thangamani on Thursday clarified that the State government won’t join the UDAY scheme of the Central government until the demands put forth by Tamil Nadu were met. Replying to the discussion on the demands for grants for his department, he referred to the statement of DMK president M Karunanidhi, raising doubts as to whether Tamil Nadu had joined the UDAY scheme since TNEB officials had held talks with the Centre. “Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa already made the stand clear and even requested the Prime Minister to make some alterations in the Scheme. She opposed revision of power tariff once in three months as envisaged in the UDAY scheme,” Thangamani said and asserted that Tamil Nadu would not join the scheme unless its demands were met by the Centre. The revenue deficit of TNEB was brought down to Rs 8,542.12 crore in 2015-16 and is expected to touch Rs 6,374.17 crore this financial year. Due to the incessant efforts to reduce the debt burden, TNEB would start earning profit within three or four years. Soon, Tamil Nadu would get an additional 563 mw from the Phase-II of Kudankulam atomic power project, he noted. Giving a detailed account on the State’s power scenario, he said the average requirement of power now ranges between 13,500 and 14,000 mw. This would go upto 20,000 mw within the next five years. To meet this demand, three power projects would be implemented at a cost of Rs 34,375 crore. These projects were expected to be commissioned between 2018 and 2020, and steps are being taken to set up projects to generate 12,720 mw. Haydn Fleury Jersey
UPERC asks discoms to increase CGRF meeting
The UP Electricity Regulatory Commission (UPERC) on Thursday directed that the number of meetings of Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum (CGRF) be increased to address the problems faced by the power consumers in the state. Commission issued the direction after it came to know that as against six sitting in each district headquarters, only meeting was held in districts like Hathras, Aligarh, Bulandshahar and Muzaffarnagar, three sittings at Mainpuri, Badaun, Shahjahanpur, Ambedkar Nagar and Hapur, and four to five sittings in the other districts. UPERC chairman Desh Deepak Verma said that the representatives of Discoms have been directed to widely publish the place, date and other details of Consumer Forums through Radio, TV, Pamphlets and by providing the details on billing stations and on the back of electricity bills, so that the benefits of the CGRFs may reach to the consumers. Reviewing the status of disposal of cases, the Commission came to know that Kanpur had 26 cases pending for over 6 months while Bareilly had 201 cases pending for over 6 months. Likewise, Faizabad had 17 cases pending for more than 6 months and 9 for more than 1 year and Varanasi 7 cases for more than 6 months and 6 for more than 1 year. Similar situation prevailed in many other districts, UPERC said. Jim Otto Jersey
UP’s energy deficit has reduced on increased power supply:Govt
Uttar Pradesh, where the power situation is “serious”, witnessed a steep decline in energy deficit as more electricity was supplied to the state from central generating stations, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said today. Around 6,544 million units of additional power was supplied to Uttar Pradesh in 2015-16. As a result, the state’s energy deficit came down from 15.6 per cent to 3.2 per cent, Goyal told the Lok Sabha during Question Hour. The Power Minister said this has happened in one year as electricity supply was increased about 20 per cent to the state from central generating stations. When a member asked why in certain places the name Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana is not displayed, Goyal said despite directions it has not been done. After coming to power, the NDA government renamed the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana as Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana. In a written reply, Goyal said the government has specified norms and standards for reduction in specific energy consumption for energy intensive sectors. Under the Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT), 478 industries from eight sectors were given targets to reduce their specific energy consumption in the first cycle, which was from 2012-13 to 2014-15. “The cumulative target for energy saving for the first cycle was 6.68 million tonnes of oil equivalent (MTOE) to be achieved by the end of 2014-15, against which energy saving of 8.67 MTOE have been achieved which is about 30 per cent more than the target,” Goyal said. Alejandro Villanueva Authentic Jersey