20 airports ready for regional flights: AAI chief
As the Centre finalises the contours for the ambitious ‘Regional Air Connectivity’ scheme, the Airports Authority of India today said as many as 20 un-utilised airports were ready to start operations for regional flights. Another 30 airports can be made ready for operations under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) by making “some investments”, AAI Chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra said. Under the scheme, announced in the new civil aviation policy, the ministry has proposed capping fares at Rs 2,500 for one-hour flights on un-served and under-served routes besides various financial concessions for airlines. Speaking to reporters here, Mohapatra said 20 unutilised airports owned by AAI were ready from where flights under RCS can take off. He said the government plans to have no-frills airports for regional air services and AAI was studying the design parameters for such aerodromes. RCS refers to operation of an air transport service between any two airports, of which at least one has been declared by the Central government as un-served or under-served, according to the draft rules. There are 394 un-served and 16 under-served airports in the country. Under-served aerodromes are those which have less than seven flights a week. Under the new civil aviation policy, the Airports Authority of India would be the nodal agency for implementation of RCS. Mohapatra said cost of setting up an airport depends on the size. “Today the construction cost is about Rs 1,00,000-1,10,000 per sq metre of the terminal building,” he said. About Juhu airport in Mumbai that is at present used for helicopter operations, he said AAI has appointed a consultant to study the feasibility of using the runway for non-scheduled flight operations. The AAI chief added that since runway extension from one side was not possible due to land constraints, various other options including extending the runway into the sea, were being explored. Rod Carew Womens Jersey
NTPC bullish on power demand, to add 24 GW at Rs 1.6 lakh cr
Amid global economic uncertainty, state-owned NTPC remains sanguine about domestic electricity demand and has planned a total capacity addition of 24 GW entailing an investment of Rs 1.6 lakh crore. “Various projects of the company having an aggregate capacity of around 24 GW are under implementation at 23 locations across the country,” NTPC CMD Gurdeep Singh said while addressing the company AGM today. Singh said, “This (24 GW) includes 4,050 MW being undertaken by joint venture and subsidiary companies. This translates into a capex of about Rs 1,60,000 crore.” The installed capacity of the NTPC group today stands at 47,228 MW, which includes 800 MW of hydro and 360 MW of solar generation capacity. The company has planned an all-time high stand-alone capex of Rs 25,960 crore exceeding the MoU target of 23,000 crore (with the power ministry) and the NTPC group capex stood at Rs 32,091 crore last fiscal. Singh is of the view that the national trends suggest a promising future for NTPC despite the overall atmosphere of uncertainty in the global business scenario. “India is the fastest growing major economy in the world with a huge potential appetite for power consumption… On September 9, 2016, actual energy demand met in India was all-time highest at 3,539 MU and NTPC (with group entities) contributed 866 MU (million units),” he said. “Thus, green shoots are visible as far as upswing in power demand goes and this is in line with our long held expectations of growth.” NTPC has commissioned 10,125 MW in the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17) so far and aims to commission around 4,500 MW more during 2016-17. He also said that under UDAY scheme for revival of debt-laden discoms, bonds worth about Rs 1.66 lakh crore have been issued, relieving the balancesheets of state utilities and thereby enabling higher capacity utilisation by generators. He further informed shareholders that with about 7 billion metric tonnes of geological reserves estimated at its 10 coal blocks, NTPC expects to produce about 107 million tonnes of coal per annum. He also told that the mining operations have commenced in Pakri Barwadih and the company has progressed well in other coal blocks too. The company has moved forward on coal freight rationalisation, thereby reducing coal transportation cost. With improved domestic coal supplies, NTPC has been able to minimise import of coal. With these steps, it has been able to reduce the tariff by 14 paise (4.3%) in the first quarter of 2016-17 from a year ago. Kevin Hayes Jersey
Government looks to change rules to boost piped gas consumption
The government looks to overhaul its city gas distribution policy to clear major hurdles holding back expansion of piped cooking gas in the country. The government has started work on reviewing rules, which companies say need to be changed to encourage them to take up gas distribution in cities and set up gas stations on highways without time-consuming procedures and unnecessary costs. The government aims to treble its domestic piped gas consumer base to one crore by 2019, a target set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who presided over a deeper penetration of piped gas in Gujarat during his term as chief minister of the state. But at the current pace — the country added barely 3 lakh new domestic piped gas consumers in 2015-16 — the target is unlikely to be met, oil ministry officials said. At the beginning of the current fiscal year, the number of domestic piped gas consumers stood at 31.6 lakh. This has driven the oil ministry to set up two committees, with members from small and big city gas companies and Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB), the downstream regulator. One committee will look at making the bidding process more effective by suggesting a replacement of the current process where fewer cities attract bid in auctions and all bids offer the same tariff, the key competing criterion. The other panel will suggest ways to deal with key obstacles city gas companies face such as high restoration charges levied by local authorities, and delays in obtaining permissions. The panels are to submit their reports by the end of this month, following which the oil ministry will initiate changes. “The current bidding parameters are not working well. So the panel will look at other possible parameters,” said an oil ministry official. In the sixth round of city gas distribution auction at the beginning of 2016, 14 of the total 34 geographical areas, or districts, received no bid while six attracted just one bid each. Similarly, last year, of the 20 districts, eight got no bid and two got just a single bid each. A scan of some bids in previous auctions shows all gas companies offered Rs 0.01 per unit as network tariff bid and also as charges for compressing natural gas, the two key price bid criteria, forcing the regulator to pick winners on the basis of the bid bond value. Bidders submit a bank guarantee that’s forfeited if the winner does not take on the job in time. Some gas companies have suggested switching to viability gap funding model with the company seeking the lowest support getting the contract. Besides this, another key impediment is the way areas are defined for auction: A geographically large district with mainly rural population makes a project less attractive. Some gas companies consider the minimum targets on laying pipelines and connecting households also challenging. Missing targets result in companies losing their bank guarantees. The government is also separately figuring out a framework to allow gas pumps on highways that can make it easier for gas-run vehicles to go to other cities. Nick Perry Womens Jersey
ONGC plan to increase oil production
In line with North East Hydrocarbon Vision-2030, ONGC’s management is concentrating on augmentation of oil and gas production from the region. In this connection, the newest asset of ONGC was visited by director (onshore) VP Mahawar recently. Mahawar inaugurated two 400 m3-capacity tanks and one bachelor accommodation named after river Dayang. Mahawar appreciated the efforts of the asset team headed by ED asset manager RK Vij to increase the production up to 400 tpd (tons/day). Expressing satisfaction over the progress of the asset in a very short period of time, he said, “The two new tanks will improve the process of management at Borholla GGS. The new accommodation facility will improve the quality of life of ONGC field personnel working near the Assam-Nagaland Border,” said a press statement. Latrell Sprewell Authentic Jersey
French spot power prices fell in Q2 despite strong demand
French spot electricity prices fell in the second quarter by an average 6.7 percent year-on-year due to a prolonged slide in oil and carbon prices, and despite a rise in demand, energy regulator CRE said on Tuesday. The regulator said spot prices averaged around 26 euros ($29) per megawatt hour (MWh) during the quarter. The year-ahead contract for 2017 delivery, however, rose during the same period by 23 percent to average 33.13 euros/MWh following the rebound in commodity prices and a French government decision to put in place a floor price on carbon emissions from January next year. Traded volumes for the year-ahead contract also rose by 43 percent year-on-year during the quarter. European electricity prices have tumbled in recent years due to the combined effects of efficient energy policies and rising supplies of power from renewable wind and solar sources. CRE said prolonged cold weather during the quarter boosted demand for heating, pushing consumption up by 2.3 percent. It added a corresponding 2.5 percent fall in power from nuclear sources led to an increase in supply from hydro and coal-fired power stations. France depends on nuclear power for about 75 percent of its electricity needs. Power from hydro stations rose by nearly 5 percent during the quarter, and by 6.8 percent from coal-fired plants despite a 39 percent fall coal power generation capacity, the regulator said. Electricity from gas plants jumped 16.7 percent during the same quarter, boosting French gas consumption by 13 percent during the period. Charles Woodson Jersey
Oracle and Maharashtra partner to launch Smart City Centre of Excellence
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is pretty pleased with the recent announcement of five cities from his state being added to the Smart City mission launched by the Modi government. Currently on a trip to San Francisco, USA, he delivered a keynote speech at the Oracle Open World 2016, a first for any Indian politician, announcing his CEO-like vision for the state he administers. Quick to make a move and deliver on the smart city promise, he signed a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with Oracle Corporation to create a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Mumbai to help connect 29,000 villages of Maharashtra and launch government-to-citizen and government-to-business services in the state. The MoU plans to accelerate the state’s digital transformation initiatives, leveraging Oracle’s Cloud solutions and develop the state’s smart city programme. The Centre will become a research platform to design, develop and test new capabilities and offer a flexible and scalable common framework to run various government schemes and create robust IT infrastructure that aids government utilities and services for citizens. Oracle will use the learnings from this first Centre of Excellence and drive its Smart City initiatives in other states of India and also take the learnings to other countries, said Safra Catz, CEO, Oracle Corp. Making the first move, Fadnavis said the CoE can become a prototype for all other states to emulate and learn from their experiences of building a smart city. Using cloud capabilities, Catz believes Maharashtra can leapfrog to using the latest technology and skip what other cities having legacy technology capabilities have had to go through to bring about the transformation. If Fadnavis’s plan goes through, expect Mumbai city itself to have about 1200 hotspots for instant Wi-fi connectivity; he says 500 of them will be ready by November this year. Using technology and by inviting many other partners on this tech-transformation journey, he also plans to unify Mumbai’s transportation infrastructure and offer its residents a single ticket to hail a ride on the city bus, metro train, mono rail as well as the trusty old Mumbai suburban local trains. Much like the one-ticket for all rides offered globally by cities like London and Paris. He admits it’s not an easy task but he has set a firm deadline to achieve it – end of 2018. The biggest challenge is to take the network to all villages, catering to the 113 million people in Maharashtra. As one of the many solutions to achieve his goal, he plans to use the electricity poles to help spread the tentacles of optic fibre network across his state. The proposed projects to be covered under the CoE initiative include: Smart city in a box, mobile platform to address service queries, unified app development for services like drivers license, renewals or property tax payments, resources to manage transportation logistics, including analytics, asset tracking, fleet management and resources to manage utilities, including water and power Oracle and the government of Maharashtra plan to invest in IT infrastructure, training and skill-set resources to run the CoE. “Cloud computing has changed the landscape of governance. It has the power to enable inclusive growth and to transform the state into a digitally empowered society,” said Fadnavis. “Together with Oracle, we want to build a new, efficient, transparent and inclusive system that benefits our people. The CoE is a step in that direction and will make more government services available with the click of a button.” Catz plans to use this initiative to invite many other technology companies and join hands with them to support the Digital India initiative outlined by Indian government. “We are thrilled to further our commitment in India by working with the Government of Maharashtra and the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, to help position India as a world-class design and manufacturing epicentre. The Cloud Center of Excellence powered by Oracle will play a key role in improving the lives of the people of this state,” said Catz. “By moving to the Cloud, the government has the opportunity to create a digitally empowered society and a growing knowledge economy. We look forward to making this partnership a success.” Oracle plans to tap the potential business that will emanate from the India over the next few years. She expects Oracle India’s revenue to grow 10 times in near future. On an earlier trip to India, Catz unveiled a state-of-the-art campus centre at Bengalaru. Oracle also has nine incubation centres in India, and has launched an initiative to train more than half a million students each year to develop computer science skills. When Catz joined Oracle Corp, it had 40 thousand employees globally; today Oracle India alone employs about 40 thousand people. She believes India has the single largest growth potential for Oracle and thus is committed to invest in resources that will help it grow the India business 10 times. Evander Kane Authentic Jersey
22 underserved airports ready for operations, says AAI
About 22 airports to get connected under regional connectivity scheme in the first phase, Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman G P Mohapatra told media persons today. “In the first phase, there are 22 airports that are already in place and flights can start as and when airlines plan to,” said Mohapatra. About 22 airports include one is in Andaman Nicobar, three in Assam, two each in Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan. As part of the plan, the government plans to connect these underserved airports to key airports through flights that will cost Rs 2,500 for per hour flight. The government plans to provide subsidy to airlines to offer these fares. Mohapatra also said that AAI would invest Rs 17,500 crore in upgrading airport infrastructure over a period till 2019-20. “The amount we will invest will be generated through internal accruals. We may require to need money at a later stage and may raise money from outside,” he added. The money to be spent will be on upgrade in building airport terminals and expanding runways at many existing airports. The money would also be invested in upgrading 30 smaller airports for regional flights. AAI also plans to build 50 no-frills airports across the country. Trey Flowers Womens Jersey
Jharkhand changed power policy to help Adani: Opposition
Jharkhand’s opposition parties have alleged that the Raghubar Das government here has changed the power policy of 2012 to benefit Adani Power in the state. The Jharkhand cabinet had on Monday made some changes in its 2012 power policy. As per the earlier policy, any power company setting up plant in Jharkhand was bound to provide 25 per cent of the generated power to the state. Of the 25 per cent 13 per cent was to be provided at fixed rate by the Jharkhand Electricity Regulatory Commission while the remaining 12 at the production cost rate. Under the new policy, the power company will now provide 12 per cent power at production cost only if the Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corporation provided coal at cheaper rate. The opposition parties have alleged that the BJP government in the state made the changes to help the Adani group’s power company. Adani Power has refused to provide power to the state at production rate. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) General Secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya told IANS: “At the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP government here …is formulating policy to grab tribal land and help the corporates. The power policy was changed to help Adani Power …” “Now the state will purchase power at rate fixed by the commission which will be much higher than the production cost,” said Bhattacharya, adding, “the proposed changes in the land acts were also to help the corporate houses”. Congress spokesperson Kishore Sahdeo told IANS that Raghubar Das was giving in to demands of the corporate houses. He said that land acts and power policy were being changed for the same. Sahdeo said, “There should be a high level probe to investigate the circumstances under which the power policy and land acts were being changed.” He accused, “The Raghubar Das government first reduced land rates in Santhal Pargana to help Adani and now they are making policy changes to benefit the same company.” The opposition parties had raised objection over the state’s move to make changes in the power and land policies during the assembly session this year. Adani Power has planned to set up 1600 MW thermal power plant in Sanathal Pargana which will be supplied to Bangladesh. In June the then Energy secretary S.K. Rahate had gone on a long leave as he refused to bow down to make the changes. Rahate had noted that Jharkhand will suffer a loss of Rs 2000 crore if the environment cess was not taken from Adani Power. Alex Lewis Authentic Jersey
ADB clears $631 million loan for Vizag-Chennai industrial corridor
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $631-million loan for construction of industrial corridor between Visakhapatnam and Chennai, part of India’s first coastal industrial corridor running from West Bengal to Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu. “The fund will help develop the first key 800-km section of the planned 2,500-km East Coast Economic Corridor expected to spur development on India’s eastern coast and enable seamless trade links with other parts of South and Southeast Asia,” ADB said in an official statement on Tuesday. The total cost of the project is $846 million and work on it is expected to be over by 2031. The remaining $215 million will be funded by the Andhra Pradesh government. Loans and grants from the Manilabased bank comprise a $500 million two-tranche facility to build key infrastructure and a $125 million two-tranche loan to help in industrial policies and business promotion. The loan is for a period of 25 years at interest rate of 0.5% plus libor. The ADB loan will help the government build state-of-theart industrial clusters, roads, efficient transport, and reliable water and power supplies with a skilled workforce and good business policies. The new infrastructure will be built in the four main centres — Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Amaravati and Yerpedu-Srikalahasti — along the corridor. It will include 138 km of state highways and roads, water treatment plants, 488 km of drinking water pipeline, 47 km of storm drains, 10 power substations and 281 km of power transmission and distribution lines. According to ADB’s projections, automobile and electronic manufacturing will grow 24% a year over the next two decades along the coastal corridor districts. During this period, 7-13% growth is expected in plastics, food processing, textiles and apparels, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and petrochemicals sectors. Reggie White Jersey
AAI expects bid documents for Jaipur,Ahmedabad airports by November
Airports Authority of India (AAI) plans to come out with documents for seeking bids from private players for operating and managing terminals at Jaipur and Ahmedabad aerodromes by November, months after rejecting a proposal in this regard from Singapore’s Changi Airport. Seeking to revive the long pending plans to hand over the terminals of the two airports to private players, AAI Chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra on Tuesday said the proposal is to go for public private partnership. “We have to go to the Finance ministry since these are the PPP projects. We are working this out and hope the proposal goes to the Finance Ministry by this month end,” he said here. Mohapatra said that AAI expects to float the bid documents, which would also be open for foreign entities, by November. This year, AAI rejected twice Singapore’s Changi Airport’s proposal to operate and maintain Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports. The proposal to rope in Singapore’s Changi airport for the projects was first floated during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the island nation last November. The revised plan from Changi Airport, owned by the Singapore government, also sought a “higher” quantum of revenue in managing Jaipur and Ahmedabad aerodromes. This is “unfeasible” and not commercially viable for AAI, sources had said earlier.