Bangalore:TOLL COLLECTION UP ON NHAI BOOTHS BUT ROADS CRY OUT FOR ATTENTION
The toll collection at booths erected by the National Highway Authority of India has gone up over the years, but there has been no corresponding relief for motorists on the roads. There are many stretches which are nightmares for motorists to drive on, with many accidents being reported in the absence of proper safety measures. The purpose of toll collection by NHAI is to build a good network of roads between cities and bring down freight charges. The roads from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu, which provides the ports for the state’s exports, are in poor condition, adding to the burden of industrialists in the state. A recent report released by the central government shows that the total toll collection in the state in the year 2016-17 till December 16 was Rs 217.39 crore; the total collection made in 2014-15 fiscal was Rs 216.94 crore. The toll collection for the year 2015-16 was around Rs 268.37 crore. Despite the increase in collection and allocation of funds for building of roads, there are many stretches on the highways that are crying for attention. The stretch connecting Bengaluru to Northern-Karnataka, fast evolving as an industrial hub, is one such example and could do with better infrastructure.
Allow global bids only for projects with land, green clearances: Amitabh Kant
In a bid to make India’s vast infrastructure sector more attractive to foreign investors, a senior government official has suggested that India open only projects that have secured land acquisition and environment clearances for international bids. “As the infrastructure sector opens up in India…. it is important that when many of these projects are structured, they are de-risked with all approvals, including land and environment, taken upfront and put in the SPV (special purpose vehicle) and then the SPV itself should be bid out, so that international companies can come in and play a major role and they don’t have to run around getting clearances,” said Amitabh Kant, chief executive officer of NITI Aayog. Kant was addressing a seminar on Quality Infrastructure: Japanese Investment in India, organised by New Delhi-based think tank Centre for Policy Research and the Japanese embassy. Instances of foreign infrastructure projects languishing for want of environmental clearances are common in India. Projects slowing down or coming to a halt due to the lack of land acquisition permissions are also common. Land acquisition problems have dogged the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) Project, under which freight railway lines will be constructed along the Western Corridor between Delhi and Mumbai and the Eastern Corridor between Ludhiana, Delhi and Son Nagar. The DFC is an important part of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) initiative, which is an India-Japan collaborative project for comprehensive infrastructure development to create India’s largest industrial belt zone, linking the industrial parks and harbours of the six states between Delhi and Mumbai in order to promote foreign export and direct investment. Under the DMIC initiative, plans are also being implemented to create industrial parks and logistics bases with well-developed infrastructure up to 150km on either side of the Western Corridor. Besides this, India is seeking investment in roads, ports, railways and other areas. In his speech, Kant said Japanese companies in India should be provided with a conducive ecosystem to “enable them to create top class quality infrastructure in India because it will be very difficult for us to create good quality infrastructure of the next century”. “India’s future for infrastructure lies with Japan and in many ways the future of Japan does not lie in Japan, it lies in India,” he said. Kant also urged Japanese firms to be “cost-competitive” and take more risks in India. “I would like to say that Japanese companies should take more risks and they need to become cost-competitive…by relocating their manufacturing bases to India,” he said. Citing the example of Canada’s Bombardier, Kant said that the firm had created a manufacturing base in India and was producing Metro train coaches for the Indian as well as the Australian markets. Kevin Kiermaier Authentic Jersey
Jaipur:Ministers to take up joint venture contract’s termination with Nitin Gadkari
To resolve the long-pending Ring Road issue, two state ministers will meet Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday in New Delhi. In the meeting important discussions regarding termination of Jose-Supreme joint venture (JV) contract and appointment the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) for construction of 47-km Ring Road project will be made. A senior JDA official informed, “Representatives of existing firm and bankers will too be present in the meeting. Final negotiations will be done in the presence of minister.” The JDA has recently sought legal opinion regarding terminating the firm. The advocate general (AG) has suggested termination of the contract after providing it the expenditure spent by the firms. The decision has to be taken regarding payment of expenditures. As no concrete decision to terminate the firm till date , the project is getting delayed continuously and is all set to miss the June 2018 deadline. After getting assurance of Centre’s support from Union minister Nitin Gadkari, the empowered committee recently decided to terminate the contract of San Jose-Supreme. However, there are possibilities that these firms might approach court and this is the reason JDA consulting law department to avoid any future hassles. “The Centre has directed the state government to forward the proposal after resolving the dispute between both the firms. After this, discussions on proposal to appoint the NHAI will be done by the Centre. We will also inform chief minister Vasundra Raje in this regard,” added an official source. Presently, work on 47km Ring Road, which will connect Ajmer Road to Agra Road, is stalled due to infighting of concessionaire. In June 2011, JDA had selected the joint venture of San Jose-Supreme as final bidder for Ring Road project. As per contract, the awarded firm had to complete work in 24 months. However, even after five and half years, the firms have spent only Rs 78 crore against sanctioned Rs 890 crore. Max Scherzer Jersey
NHAI pledges to complete ingress point in six months
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on Monday pledged to complete the ingress point project on Mumbai-Agra highway near hotel Seven Heaven within six months. The TOI had in its February 24 edition reported how motorists were using the puncture at the ingress point to take the highway towards the Mumbai direction or taking the service road from it in the absence of safety arrangements. Senior NHAI officials, who did not wish to be quoted, said the project will be completed on the engineering procurement and construction (EPS) basis. An official said the contract of the company that had constructed the 60-km stretch of the highway from Pimpalgaon to Gonde was terminated in February last year. “As a result, the additional work taken up by the company for the convenience of motorists was left incomplete. The NHAI will finish it now on the the EPS basis, which is a contract arrangement to make all responsible for activities from designing, procuring, constructing to commissioning and handing over of the project to end user or owners,” the official said. The ingress point is under construction for more than three years. In the absence of the ingress point, the motorists who cannot take the highway from Indiranagar have to drive for nearly 5km to take it. In the meantime, some motorists have removed the concrete slab that blocked the incomplete ingress point and are using the puncture to take the highway. The highway, passing through Nashik city, is more of an elevated structure of about 12km comprising flyovers and underpasses, which descend to the ground level in three spots. Thus the speed of vehicles using the elevated structure is extremely high, considering that there is no obstruction to the vehicles. The puncture of the incomplete ingress point used by motorists could prove risky as vehicles simply enter the highway, which catch the motorists on highway unawares. At the same time, many motorists who take the service road from the highway also disturb the traffic on the service road. Four years ago, the widened stretch of the NH-3 passing through the city was thrown open after the completion of the elevated corridor. The widened stretch of the highway has quite a few flyovers, underpasses and bridges between Garware point and Adgaon naka to ensure there is no hindrance to traffic. On completion of the highway, it was noticed that while the rush on service roads along the highway was heavy, the six-lane highway was hardly being used by motorists. If a motorist from the city has to take the Mumbai-Agra highway to go towards Pimpalgaon, Dhule and other places, the only access point were at Dwarka and Mumbai Naka, so a large number of motorists, mainly heavy trucks coming from the Ambad industrial area, had to ply through the service road for nearly five to six km to reach Mumbai Naka or Dwarka to access the highway. Keeping all this in mind, an ingress point was created near Gabriel Company about three years back and opened for motorists. While the problem of motorists (on the stretch between Mumbai Naka and Garware point) of accessing the highway towards Dhule was solved, the problem of motorists towards Mumbai on the other side of the highway is pending. DeShone Kizer Jersey
Lack of space derails AAP plan to redesign roads
The AAP government’s ambitious plan to redesign 11 stretches, along the lines of roads in foreign countries, has hit a roadblock due to “technical faults”. Sources said the roads selected for the project had little or no space to accommodate the proposed redesign. Funds earmarked for the project, Rs 100 crore, have reportedly been surrendered to the ministry. “The road redesigning plan included a non-motorised vehicle lane, designated parking areas, benches and bus shelters and a space for pedestrians to walk. This is not feasible as the width of the road would be compromised. Also, it would create more bottlenecks instead of reducing them, leading to traffic snarls,” a source said. Traffic police had also objected to the move on grounds that it would be a “nightmare” for commuters. The government had announced the plan in 2015 and even sent two of its ministers, Satyendar Jain and Gopal Rai, to Sweden to study the country’s road design.
Philippines seeks investors to power growth, extra 7,000 MW needed
The Philippines needs to build an additional 7,000 megawatts of power generation capacity over the next five years to support its fast-growing economy and wants foreign investors to help, its energy minister said on Monday. Firms from China, South Korea, Russia and Japan were interested in new Philippine power projects, and the president would soon sign an executive order to address soaring power demand by giving priority status to get new projects ready in half the time, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi told Reuters. The Philippines, with a population of more than 100 million people and one of the world’s fastest growing economies, aims to double its power generation capacity by 2030 to avoid a return to the frequent blackouts suffered during the 1990s. At the end of June 2016, installed capacity was 20,055 megawatts, a third of it fuelled by coal, according to government data. Power is generated 34 percent by coal, 34 percent by oil and gas and 32 percent from renewable sources. The Philippines would be technology neutral, Cusi said, to avoid being shackled to caps and quotas and create more competition, with the aim of slashing electricity prices for industry and consumers. With no state subsidies, prices are the highest in Southeast Asia. “What we want is to build our supply to a level that is meeting the demand with sufficient reserve for industry,” Cusi said in an interview. “So it’s competition at work. Whoever comes first, offers a good project development, and it will bring down the cost – yes.” CHINESE INTEREST Chinese firms were interested in a lead role, he said, in areas such as hydro, nuclear, coal and LNG areas, plus construction of those facilities and their financing. “We were there basically to tell (the Chinese) that our energy sector is open for business,” he said, asked why an energy ministry delegation was in Beijing last month. At least three Japanese firms, including Osaka Gas and Tokyo Gas had been in talks about investments in new LNG projects, he added. Plans for gas power plants and storage facilities are in preparation for the anticipated depletion by 2024 of gas fields at the Malampaya project, an offshore field that fuels 40 percent of Luzon island, home to the capital Manila. Although energy security was a priority, Cusi said it was too early to discuss exploration of offshore gas fields known as SC 72 and SC 75, at the Reed Bank in the South China Sea. Though those are located within the exclusive economic zone of the Philippines, the sites fall within the vast area of the waterway that China lays claim to. By some industry estimates, SC 72 alone may have triple the reserves of Malampaya. But Cusi said the energy ministry needed to await direction from the foreign ministry on the status of diplomatic relations with China before lifting a suspension on exploration in those areas. “It needs to be clarified,” he said. “We want to go forward with it without any disruption.” He said it was too soon to discuss whether the two countries could share the resources, as has been suggested by President Rodrigo Duterte. Donald Trump Jersey
Drama unfolds in wind
Last Thursday 3 pm onwards, every player of the Indian wind industry geared up for real action which continued till wee hours of Friday. In the first ever wind bidding by state-run Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI) for 1000 MW bidders were allowed to locate projects in the state of their choice and most have opted for Tamil Nadu and Gujarat. We congratulate the winners and are sure that comparatively they possess all right rationale and better knowhow / cost economics sense on desired returns to equity investors. While I believe every tariff is viable when you invest in a project. But the term ‘viability’ in renewables has assumed a new definition recently. It is time come to a consensus what should be the viable IRR for renewable projects in India? What is baffling me today is how the nightlong action packed thriller resulting in tariffs as low as Rs 3.46 can be considered as ‘investor friendly’ or ‘discom friendly’ tariff? Surprisingly, only a few months back majority of wind developers were fighting to improve the tariff of Rs 4.19 with regulators in Gujarat, which was ‘then’ considered quite low, not to mention that 50 paisa GBI was available over and above this tariff. At the above tariffs did the projects actually look unviable then, even when Gujarat discom is ‘A’ rated or will the recently bid wind projects be viable now? The power offtake is guaranteed in both cases. But I am sure people who have won this bid have figured a smarter way out as developers will not put up projects to lose money. Another interesting twist in this drama is that some turbine manufacturers themselves have also bid for quite low tariffs. My immediate thoughts are: Has the turbine prices crashed by 15 – 20 per cent in those 24 hours? What is the logical justification of their past project costs based on IRRs viz a vis new pricing to clients based on tariffs. Have they embraced the changing realities? However, ‘The End’ of this thriller is on a positive note where wind has competed with solar on ‘paisa’ to ‘paisa’ basis and is likely to give thermal a run for money. Let us wait for this blockbuster to perform at the box office. In my opinion the winners are A- Renewables B- Government C- Environment. Pierre Turgeon Jersey
KERC mulls surcharge for those opting out of grid power
A move by major stakeholders to shift from grid to captive and or green energy could come at a cost. Seized about anomalies this move could cause in terms of cross subsidy offered to domestic consumers’ vis-à-vis the industries opting for green power, the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) is mulling imposing cross subsidy surcharge for those opting out of grid power and as demanded by the electricity supply companies (Escoms). Noting that the move by industries to switch over to green power and their conviction to opt out of grid power supplied by Escoms is purely market driven, M K Shankaralinge Gowda, chairman, KERC told TOI, “Escoms have represented this issue to us as part of their annual tariff filings for FY 2017-18 and we are taking a close look at it. The final orders that the commission issues will have something to state about this issue include their demand for surcharge,” he said. Averring that this move to reduce dependency on grid power is per se not a question mark on the ability of Escoms to provide quality power as demanded by the industries, the KERC chief said, it could be more borne out of the economics of such a decision. Besides, if bulk consumers feel they can get power in open market at rates that are competitive than what their respective Escoms offer, it is natural that they will shift to such power and reduce dependency on the grid. The other major challenge before the commission as it decides on tariff filings by the Escoms for revision in power tariffs, Shankaralinge Gowda said is the challenge that supply peak will pose sooner than later. At present, Escoms are grappling with morning and evening load peaks. Once the state gets that 2000 MW solar power in the pipeline mid 2018, the question of supply peak will have to be dealt with and the commission is applying its mind to this issues as well. Supply peak will not address either the morning or evening supply peaks usually that Escoms experience from 6am to 8am and 6pm to 8pm. This comes between 8am and 6pm when solar power production is expected to be at its peak. Since it is not possible to store the power generated and used to manage morning and evening peaks, the power generator, Escoms will have to find consumers who can utilize this supply peak in a manner that it brings them revenue. Drew Brees Authentic Jersey
J&K: Govt mulls Power Trading Corporation to minimize purchase bill
In a bid to bring down power purchase bill, Jammu and Kashmir government is mulling to establish State Power Trading Corporation to “save substantial amount” on buying power from outside state entities. As the power liabilities on account of electricity purchased from outside entities have soared to above Rs 7,000 crore, the State government in a report has stated that “power purchases need professional outlook.” Ironically, despite JK having potential to generate 20,000 MW of electricity, the state is largely dependent on outside power supply to meet local demand, as major share of power generated in the State is controlled by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) whose control on power projects on JK’s waters is being seen as “illegal” exploitation of resources of the State. “As management of power purchase from different sources is a serious business and has to be dealt with very professionally. The government wants to create State Power Trading Corporation to streamline the area of concern,” Economic Survey 2016 reads. “In respect of the power purchase mechanism it has become absolutely essential to run the power procurement on professional lines,” the official report mentions adding that “ expertise in trading of power has of late emerged as an important area and is bound to definitely save substantial amount once put in place,” it states. “Another major issue in the power sector is that of carrying forward liabilities on account of power purchases which has resulted in very high interest rate not favorable to the State Exchequer. PDD had conveyed that Rs 7,000 crore liabilities had been created over years due to extra purchase of power.” As per the report, Jammu and Kashmir government has spent Rs 20,000 crore for buying electricity from outside state in past five years denting the state’s economy. It reveals that in past five years, the JK government spent whopping Rs 20,000 crore to buy power from Central Public Sector Units (CPSUs) in India. The figures dished out in the survey report mentions that in 2015-16, JK government spent Rs 4,803 crore on power purchases from outside. In 2014-15, Rs 4,661 crore were spent on power purchases, in 2013-14 Rs 3989 crore, in 2012-13 Rs 3510 crore and in 2011-12 Rs 3051 crore were spent on power purchased from outside the state. The report states to meet the gap, the PDD enters into arrangements with NVVN, Punjab, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and also arranges from Power Trading Corporation (PTC), NTPC, Vidhyut, Vyapar Nigam Ltd, besides over drawls from Northern Grid. “The ever increasing power purchase cost and consequent mounting of liability is serious cause of concern for the economy of the state,” the report cautions. Devin Funchess Jersey
‘Power demand not to go up in 2017-18’
A society headed by a former chairman of the Madhya Pradesh Electricity Board P L Nene has said that there will be no growth in demand for power in the coming financial year 2017-18. This comes against likely projection of 10.32% increase in power demand by discoms. Electricity Consumers Society, headed by Nene, has submitted its objections against tariff hike and revenue requirement petition filed by discoms of the state. As per the submissions of the society, “In the past four year, actual consumption has been 15-20% less than what was projected. Further, there is unlikely to be any growth in power demand during 2017-18 because of energy efficiency programme ‘UJALA’ undertaken by Madhya Pradesh Urja Vikas Nigam. In an advertisement carried in local papers dated January 5 of this year, it was mentioned that one crore LED bulbs purchased in Madhya Pradesh will help save power to the extent of 50 lakh units per day. This works out approximately 1800 MU per year.” “The society therefore submits that no growth be allowed on domestic consumption during 2017-18 annual revenue requirement will improve by over Rs 150 crore,” says a petition submitted by the society. The society, in its petition, suggested various options, including loss reduction and proper management of power while claiming that these initiatives can save Rs 1000 crore and thus bridge the revenue gap. “The balance can be controlled by proper management of power purchase costs and progressive reform decisions like UDAY, meant for revival of debt-ridden power discoms. The society therefore submits that at this stage, no tariff revision is called for,” said the committee. It is noteworthy that discoms have sought an average power tariff hike of 10.65% for 2017-18 against a revenue gap (difference between income and expenditure) of more than Rs 4,000 crore. Johnny Bucyk Jersey