Rs 2 lakh crore for development of highways in Madhya Pradesh: Nitin Gadkari
Union Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari today said Rs two lakh crore have been allotted for the development of highways in Madhya Pradesh. The minister also informed that state’s 2021-km roads will be converted into national highways. “The Centre will provide Rs two lakh crore to Madhya Pradesh during a period of next two years,” Gadkari announced while laying the foundation stones for different road projects at Naugaon, a town in Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh. On the demand made by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Gadkari announced conversion of 2021-kilometers long seven different roads in the state into national highways. The minister claimed that new roads are being constructed according to international standards and these roads will “not develop potholes for next 200-years.” “The roads being constructed these days will not get damaged or develop potholes for next 200-years,” he said, adding, his ministry was also focussing on development of inland waterways. “We are not only concentrating on road construction work but also focussing on developing 20,000-km of inland waterways in the country. In Madhya Pradesh, the waterways will be developed on Chambal, Narmada rivers,” he added. At the function organised in the campus of a school in Naugaon, Gadkari laid the foundation stones for the widening of 85-km long road from Chhatipahad to Khajuraho costing at Rs 920.46-crore, widening with paved shoulder of 44.70-Km long road from Angor to Chhatarpur costing Rs 178.23-crore and widening of 90-km long road from Sanchi to Sagar worth Rs 287.34-crore. In another function at Beora town under Rajgarh district today, Gadkari also dedicated a newly constructed paved shoulder on 61-km long stretch at two lane road from Rajasthan border to Beora costing Rs 220-crore. In the same function, he also laid the foundation stone for the widening of 141.26-km long road costing Rs 1583.79-crore from Beora to Dewas. DeMarcus Ware Womens Jersey
“Exceptionally Low PLF’s” and Tariffs Posing Challenge To Private Power Producers: Survey 2017
The Economic Survey 2017 tabled in Parliament by Finance Minster Arun Jaitley on Tuesdaynoted that private firms are reeling under cost-overrun pressure and “exceptionally low” plant load factor’s (PLF’s) and tariffs in the short-term market are not likely to rise in the near term.These two factors, the Survey said, were hurting the profitability of private power producers. Higher cash flows are important for any company to service debts and interest obligations. Low profits reduces the pay back capacity of a power producer. “There is scant sign on the horizon that PLFs and tariffs might improve,” the survey said. PLF indicates the performance of a power plant in terms of its generation capacity vis a vis its actual generation. Low PLFs mean that the plant is generating less power than what it is capable of generating. A 100 mw power plant running at 60% PLF means that it is producing 60 mw power as against its actual capacity of 100 mw. As per the survey, PLF — actual electricity production as a share of capacity– tumbled to just 59.6 per cent during April-December 2016 from 62 per cent during the same period last year. Commenting on the falling merchant tariffs, the Survey said, “Meanwhile, merchant tariffs for electricity purchased in the spot market have slid to around Rs 2.5/kwh, far below the breakeven rate of Rs 4/kwh needed for most plants, let alone the Rs 8/kwh needed in some cases.” The Survey said the setbacks have led to cost overruns at the new private power plants of more than 50% in nearly every case, and much more than that in many. “To cover these costs, these companies need to sell all the power they are capable of producing at high tariff rates. But the opposite is happening,” it said. It further said while much electricity is being sold at higher long-term rates under power purchase Agreements (PPAs), in some of these cases even these rates remain below costs and the share of electricity purchased under PPAs is falling, as state electricity boards increasingly rely on the cheap and abundant power available in the spot market. “Note that if there had not been cost overruns, a tariff of Rs 3/kwh would have been sufficient to ensure profitability for most new plants,” the survey said. Zach Ertz Authentic Jersey
Highways allocation stepped up to Rs 64,000 crore: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today announced enhancing the outlay for National Highways by 11 per cent to Rs 64,000 crore for 2017-18. Presenting the Budget in Parliament today, Jaitley said, “In the road sector, I have stepped up the budget allocation for the National Highways from Rs 57,676 crore in the BE of 2016-17 to Rs 64,000 crore in 2017-18.” “For transport sector, including railways, road and shipping, government provides Rs 2.41 lakh crore,” he added. Jaitley said 2,000 km of coastal connectivity roads have been identified for construction and development. This will facilitate better connectivity of ports and remote villages, he said. “The total length of roads including those under the PMGSY built from 2014-15 to current year is about 1,40,000 km, which is significantly higher than the previous three years,” Jaitley said. He said 133-km roads per day were constructed under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) as against 73-km in 2011-14. Darren Woodson Jersey
Has FM Jaitley done enough for the energy sector?
he Union Budget 2017-18 has come as a mixed bag for the energy sector. While Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has retained the government’s focus on rural electrification, renewable energy and a push for the oil and gas industry, there were no major provisions for other crucial areas of thermal power, wind, hydro and nuclear energy. Key announcements: One of the major energy related announcements in today’s budget was the merger of Indian state oil companies to create a global behemoth. Jaitley said the government will create an integrated public sector ‘oil major’ which will be able to match the performance of international and domestic private sector oil and gas companies. The FM also announced a reduction in basic customs duty for liquefied natural gas (LNG) to 2.5 per cent from 5 per cent. He also said two additional strategic crude oil reserves will be created at Chandikhole in Odisha and Bikaner in Rajasthan to ramp up domestic reserves to 15 MT. Significantly, this budget also maintains the last year’s allocation for the oil ministry’s flagship scheme to provide LPG connections to poor households at Rs 2,500 crore. Also, in an indication of things to come, Jaitley identified the ongoing rise in global crude oil prices as one of the key three factors that will be major challenges for the emerging economies, including India. This year’s budget also attempts to maintain focus on rural electrification flowing from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision. Jaitley said India was confident of meeting its 100 per rural electrification target by May 2018 and allocated a sum of Rs 4,814 to its flagship scheme Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana. On the front of renewable energy, the FM said the government would add 20,000 Megawatt by taking up the second phase of solar park development in the country. Stressing on the government’s seriousness to focus more on solar energy, he said around 7,000 railway stations would be fed through solar power in the medium term and work has already begun in that respect in 300 stations. Major misses While the government maintained its push for the renewable sector, the lack of any relief provision for private thermal generators struggling with huge investments stuck for want of long term PPAs left a part of the domestic industry disappointed. there was not even a mention on thermal power and coal apart from Jaitley’s announcement on rural electrification. The Economic Survey, released on Jan 31, had pointed out to the difficulties being faced by the private power generation sector due to falling tariffs. The survey said private firms were reeling under cost-overrun pressure and PLFs and tariffs in the short-term market are not likely to rise in the near term. The industry had expected some, if not major, relief in terms of corporate tax and minimum alternate tax (MAT) for the power sector. But there was no such mention in the FM’s budget speech. Thermal power producers had also expected some relief in terms of the Rs 400 per tonne clean energy cess that was imposed last year. Experts also flagged the lack of major provisions for hydro or nuclear energy. The wind power sector had also hoped for a revision of the generation based incentive (GBI) for wind generators which is expiring on 31 March. The oil and gas industry had also demanded a revision of the high crude oil cess — another demand that remained unheeded in this budget. Overall, experts said the budget was a mixed bag for the energy sector. Research and ratings agency ICRA said the budget has several favourable proposals such as creation of two more strategic oil reserves projects, reduction in basic customs duty (BCD) on LNG and creation of an integrated oil PSU major. “The creation of additional strategic oil reserves will boost the energy security of the nation. Reduction in BCD on LNG will make LNG more affordable to end users. This is a credit positive for existing regasification terminal owners such as PLL, GAIL and Shell India,” ICRA said in a statement. Experts also said the idea of creation of an integrated oil major is laudable as it will strengthen the business and financial risk profile of the combined entity but integration issues, especially on the HR side, will e key challenges. Globally, the concept of stated-owned oil majors is a well established one, which confers advantages to the stakeholders. Vince Williams Jersey
Aerospace Industry to come up in Donakonda in Andhra Pradesh
In what could be realising the long-cherished dreams, the sleepy town of Donakonda in the Prakasam district is going to turn into a major industrial hub in the coming years as the state government has succeeded in roping in big-ticket investments to the region. At least three major industrial houses are going to launch their operations in the industrial corridor of Donakonda shortly as the firms signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state government at just concluded CII-partnership summit at Visakhapatnam. The works on Rs 6,000 crore aviation industry to be owned by the Titan Aviation a subsidiary of Titan Metals and Minerals Ltd are expected to kick-start anytime now as the company is making arrangements for laying the foundation stone for the big project. The project will come up in an extent of about 5,000 acres in Donkonda industrial park. “At least three firms, which have promised to invest in Donakonda are readying to conduct foundation laying ceremony in next few weeks,” disclosed district minister Sidda Raghava Rao. The Titan Aviation will make foot in Donakonda in collaboration with several Ukrainian companies which have strong presence in aviation and aerospace businesses across the globe. Mike Napoli Authentic Jersey
Privatise civil aviation, banking to push reforms: Economic Survey
The Economic Survey 2016-17 tabled in Parliament on Tuesday by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley called for more privatisation in the civil aviation, banking and fertiliser sectors to further the economic reforms process. “India needs an evolution in the underlying economic vision across the political spectrum and further reforms are not just a matter of overcoming vested interests that obstruct them,” the survey said. The Economic Survey 2016-17 elaborated the many difficulties that are faced during the privatisation process of the public sector enterprises. “In this context, the survey points towards the need to further privatise the civil aviation, banking and fertiliser sectors,” the survey pointed out. Besides, the survey listed ambivalence about property rights and the private sector, deficiencies in state capacity, especially in delivering essential services and inefficient redistribution as major challenges that might impede India’s progress. Andy Pettitte Womens Jersey
Record Rs 3.96 lakh cr allocation for infrastructure to spur growth
Allocating a record Rs. 3.96 lakh crore to infrastructure sector, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said the magnitude of investment will spur economic activities and create more jobs. Presenting Budget for 2016-17 in Parliament, Jaitley said, “Total allocation for infrastructure stands at a record level Rs. 3,96,135 crore in 2017-18.” “The magnitude of investment”, he said, will spur a huge amount of economic activities in the country and create more job opportunities. Transport As a whole, including railways, road, shipping, the Finance Minister said, “I have provided Rs. 2,41,387 crore in 2017-18.” The FM said, “I feel privileged to present the first combined budget of Independent India that includes the Railways also. We are now in a position to synergise the investment in railways, roads, waterways and civil aviation. For 2017-18, the total capital and development expenditure of Railways has been pegged at Rs. 1,31,000 crore. This includes Rs. 55,000 crore provided by the government from the Budget.” Highways For highways, he said the budget allocation has been stepped up to Rs. 64,000 crore in FY18 from Rs. 57,676 crore. He said, “In the road sector I have stepped up the budget allocation for the National Highways from Rs. 57,676 crore in the BE of 2016-17 to Rs. 64,000 crore in 2017-18.” Jaitley said 2,000 kms of coastal connectivity roads have been identified for construction and development. This will facilitate better connectivity of ports and remote villages, he said. “The total length of roads including those under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) built from 2014-15 to current year is about 1,40,000 kms which is significantly higher than the previous three years,” Jaitley said. He added that an effective multi-modal logistics and transport system will “make our economy more competitive. A specific programme for development of multi-modal logistic parks together with multi-modal facilities will be drawn up and implemented.” On solar power front, he said the second phase of solar power development will be taken up with an aim of generating 20,000 MW. Also, he said select airports in tier-II cities will be taken up for operations and development on PPP mode. A new metro rail policy will have innovative methods of financing, the FM said. Mike Modano Womens Jersey
Survey comes down heavily on govt for propping up Air India
The Survey has come down heavily on the government’s attempts to prop up Air India. “Defying history, there is still the commitment to make the perennially unprofitable public sector airline world class,” the Survey says. The Manmohan Singh government had committed ?40,000 crore to Air India, which helped the airline report an operating profit of ?105 crore for 2015-16 against a loss of ?2,636 crore in the previous year. Air India is now looking at a consortium of 19 public sector banks to convert its loans worth ?10,000 crore into equity. If the proposal goes through, as much of 40 per cent of Air India’s equity will be held by the consortium. The revamp comes as the Reserve Bank of India has come out with S4A guidelines which look at ways and means of providing sustainable restructuring for financially stressed companies. Conversion of debt The new guidelines allow conversion of outstanding debt into sustainable and non-sustainable debt, with the latter being converted into equity. The RBI allows this if a majority of the lenders, who hold nearly 75 per cent of the value of the debt, get approval from their respective boards. State Bank of India, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, Oriental Bank of India and Canara Bank are among the banks that are part of the consortium which is examining the proposal. It also points to the steps taken for airport privatisation that have taken the form of awarding management contracts rather than change in ownership. Tenders for handing over airport terminal management at Jaipur and Ahmedabad are already out and the winner will be the party which quotes the lowest cost for managing the airports as well as the highest revenue increase. While the city side land at these two airports will not be given, the car parking areas at Jaipur and Ahmedabad will be part of the contract. The contract for airport terminal management will be for 10 years. Brooks Laich Authentic Jersey
AAI to be allowed to monetise its 50,000 acres land bank
In a move that will make flying out of airports cheaper from Airports Authority of India (AAI) airports, the finance minister today announced changed in rules to allow monetisation of land assets owned by the state-owned airport operator. AAI owns over 55, 686 acres of land in and around its airports across the country and is likely to start the process of monetising about 10% of the land owned (about 5,500 acres). AAI welcomed the announcement. “This announcement in the Budget is a welcome news for us. Change in the act will allow us to lease out land for various other purposes like shopping malls and convention halls and help us increase our non-aeronautical revenues,” AAI Chairman G P Mohapatra told ET. He further said that the increase in non-aeronautical revenues would help us reduce aeronautical charges on airlines, which will benefit them as well as passengers. “We are already in discussions with the civil aviation ministry on changing the AAI Act and will start the process now,” he added. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced in the Budget that “the AAI Act will be amended to allow monetisation of land assets owned by AAI. The rules currently do not allow the land around airport to be used for limited purposes, which means a hotel can be made on the land but the same land cannot be rented for convention centres or shopping malls. Another AAI official said that this move will help us utilise land in smaller cities in the country. “Land around airports in smaller cities would not find takers, if we bid it for hotels. By allowing it for businesses like shopping malls and others, I am sure our land in smaller cities will find takers. This will help in increasing non-aero revenues,” the official said. Non-aero revenues constitute as high as 40% of the total revenues for airports globally. In the case of AAI, its just 20% of the total revenues, which increases the airport operator’s dependence on aeronautical revenues to fulfil their needs. Nick Bellore Jersey
NPCIL to conclude negotiations for Kudankulam units by this month-end
State-run Nuclear power Corporation of India (NPCIL) is in the final stages of negotiations with Russian companies for establishing two nuclear units at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu. “NPCIL is in final stages of negotiation with its Russian counterparts for establishing KKNPP 5&6 at Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu. The General Frame work Agreement for the same is expected to be completed by the end of January, 2017. Government may have to allocate US$80 million (Rs 544 crore approx) for KKNPP 5&6,” the documents said. The government has announced plans to augment the investment in nuclear power generation. It said Budgetary allocation up to Rs 3,000 crore per annum, together with public sector investments, will be leveraged to facilitate the required investment for this purpose. NPCIL has drawn up a roadmap for 10 indigenous 700 MW Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors to be set up over the next 10-15 years. The Atomic Energy Commission has approved the proposal and recommended to approach the Cabinet Committee on Security. A draft cabinet note has been circulated amongst nodal ministries as part of inter-ministerial consultations. Some ministries have already concurred with the proposal and NPCIL has been requested to prepare detailed project report for the proposed Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors, the documents said. M.J. Stewart Authentic Jersey