France to stop granting oil exploration licences -energy minister
French energy minister Nicolas Hulot said on Friday the government planned to present a draft law this autumn that would stop granting licences for oil and gas exploitation in France and overseas territories. “There will be no new licence granted for exploration of hydrocarbons, we will pass the law this autumn,” Hulot said on his Twitter account following an interview on BFM-TV. Hulot, an environmental campaigner before he became a minister last month, also said diesel and petrol taxes would converge in the not-too-distant future, as laid out in plans by the previous Socialist government. Blidi Wreh-Wilson Jersey
BMRC sets ball rolling on Metro link to Bengaluru airport
The Metro link to Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) inched closer to realisation, with the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) calling for tenders to take up land and property survey along the proposed route from Nagawara to KIA. BMRCL proposed five possible routes to KIA, and sought public opinion on the same. Subsequently, the Nagawara-Jakkur-Yelahanka line that runs parallel to Ballari Road was finalised for the Metro link. Besides a topographical survey, the exercise will include a Differntial Global Positioning System (DGPS) study in order to ensure accurate alignment of the link with improved location accuracy . pleted, we have shifted our focus to expediting the implementation of Phase 2 and the KIA link. The link will help thousands of air passengers, many of whom have to cover 30km by road from the city, reach the airport faster,“ he added. The proposed survey (and study) along the Nagawara-KIA will be taken up at the cost of Rs 24.42 lakh and the implementing agency will have to complete the exercise, and submit its report within six months.BMRCL has also floated another tender inviting bids to take up geotechnical investigation, which includes surface and subsurface exploration, along the proposed route. The proposed link to the airport is, in effect, an extension to the Gottigere-Nagawara line work on which is under way -that is being developed under Phase 2 of the Namma Metro project.The deadline that has been set for the completion of the airport metro link is 2020. Bryan Bulaga Womens Jersey
30 new cities selected to be made Smart; Bengaluru, Patna, Jammu make the cut
The government today announced the third list of 30 cites to be made smart under its flagship 100 Smart Cities mission, taking the total number of smart cities to 90. Trivendrum in Kerala topped the chart, which included other prominent capital cities like Amaravati, Patna, Srinagar, Bengaluru, Shimla, Dehradun, Aizawl and Gangtok. A total of 45 cities contested for 40 available smart city slots but only 30 were selected to ensure feasible and workable plans that match the aspirations of the citizens as directed by prime minister Shri Narendra Modi while launching the mission,” said Venkaiah Naidu, minister of urban development and housing & urban poverty alleviation. He was speaking at a National Workshop on Urban Transformation here today. Another 20 cities will be contesting for the remaining 10 slots under smart city mission, he informed. The 30 cities announced on Friday will involve an investment of Rs 57,393 crore under respective smart city plans. This includes Rs 46,879 crore for ensuring core infrastructure in the areas identified by citizens for area based development and Rs 10,514 crore for technology based solutions for improving governance , service delivery and utilization of infrastructure. With this the total investment approved under the smart city plans of 90 cities has gone up to Rs 1,91,155 crore. “Selection of cities for smart city development is running ahead of schedule and the remaining cities would submit revised smart city plans for filling up the vacant slots,” Naidu said. Of the 30 cities announced today, 26 of them have proposed affordable housing projects, 26 cities will be taking up school and hospital projects, 29 will be taking up redesign and redevelopment of roads to enable walking and cycling. All the 30 cities will put in place Integrated Command and Control Centres that enable coordination among various agencies for better service delivery and effective management of scarce resources like water and power. The 100 Smart City Mission was launched on June 25, 2015. List of 30 Smart cites: S.No City State/Union Territory 1 Trivendrum Kerala 2 Naya Raipur Chattisgarh 3 Rajkot Gujarat 4 Amaravati Andhra Pradesh 5 Patna Bihar 6 Karimnagar Telangana 7 Muzaffarpur Bihar 8 Puducherry Puducherry 9 Gandhinagar Gujarat 10 Srinagar Jammu & Kashmir 11 Sagar Madhya Pradesh 12 Karnal Haryana 13 Satna Madhya Pradesh 14 Bengaluru Karnataka 15 Shimla Himachal Pradesh 16 Dehradun Uttarakhand 17 Tirrupur Tamil Nadu 18 Pimpri Chinchwada Maharashtra 19 Bilaspur Chattisgarh 20 Pasighat Arunachal Pradesh 21 Jammu Jammu & Kashmir 22 Dahod Gujarat 23 Tirunelveli Tamil Nadu 24 Thootukkudi Tamil Nadu 25 Tiruchirapalli Tamil Nadu 26 Jhansi Uttar Pradesh 27 Aizawl Mizoram 28 Allahabad Uttar Pradesh 29 Aligarh Uttar Pradesh 30 Gangtok Sikkim Dennis Cholowski Jersey
Land acquisition a major hurdle in NH projects in Rajasthan
Land acquisition (LA) for construction of national highway (NH) projects continues to face major hurdle in state. As per official figures, award of about 330 hectares land which is needed under several NH works is pending. In addition to that, nearly 230 hectares of land is pending for declaration of final acquisition through publication of gazette notification by competent authority land acquisition (CALA). According to officials of national highway authority of India, delay in providing land slows down pace of work and escalates cost. “LA for highway construction is a key problem across India so as in Rajasthan,” said a NHAI official adding, it is SDM or ADM who are CALA. For them, implementation of state government schemes is first priority and land acquisition figures very low in that. Districts that are lagging behind in awarding land of NH are Jodhpur, Nagaur, Bikaner and Udaipur. Though, officials claim that Rajasthan government has slammed its official asking to expedite the process. Non-availability of land continues to delay construction of flyovers on Gurgaon-Jaipur stretch even seven years after work started on the corridor. As per policy decision, NHAI has decided not to invite any bids for road projects until it has completed the process of land acquisition and shifting of utilities and obtained in-principle forest clearance. Similarly, authority will not commence work on structures, such as flyovers, bridges and rail over bridges, until it has 100% of the land available. This is among new norms that NHAI has set in its bid to end the trend of huge delay in highway construction on account of lack of required land, statutory clearances and shifting of utilities such as water and gas pipelines and power transmission lines. Along with it, disbursement of compensation to land owners by CALAs is also proving to be a stumbling block. More than Rs 1,000 crore is lying undisbursed with various CALAs for more than six months. State government has asked officials of six districts where pendency is maximum to speed up the disbursement. Mike Vernon Womens Jersey
Relax, GST won’t impact your power bills next month
Electricity tariffs will not rise after the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime gets implemented from July 1, power, coal, renewable energy and mines minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday. He said 75 industry associations that he met in the day had given unanimous support to the GST rollout from July 1. “We don’t foresee any upward impact on power tariffs from the GST,” he said. “Not a single participant at today’s meeting requested deferment (of GST implementation),” the minister told reporters after meeting industry executives in New Delhi. Goyal said the technical issues about rollout of GST in power, coal and mines sector have been largely resolved, except two issues. He said that these issues would be flagged off in the next GSTN council meet. The minister said one of the unresolved issues concerns fly ash, which is an environmental friendly product, but the ministry was not in favour of a separate classification for it under the GST. The other issue was a dual slab rate structure for cable industry products, which may require a re-look. To a query whether the lower GST of 5% on coal would help reduce power tariffs, Goyal said he would meet the forum of regulators on Friday to discuss ways to transmit the benefits of tax reduction to consumers. Ryan Braun Womens Jersey
Mumbai airport unlikely to be part of next bidding under UDAN
The Mumbai airport is unlikely to participate in the second round of bidding for air routes for the government’s regional connectivity scheme or UDAN because of capacity-crunch at the busy aerodrome. The Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport handled 837 flights a day, or one in 65 seconds, on an average in fiscal 2016-17, becoming the world’s busiest airport with single-runway operations. According to sources, while the airport has a capacity of 45 flights per hour, it often sees an aircraft movement rate of 54. Under the regional connectivity scheme, also known as UDAN, routes are bid out to airline operators based on certain criteria, including that related to tariff and requirement of subsidy from the government. After stakeholder consultations, the routes and airports that would be made available for bidding are decided. Participating airports are required to provide certain incentives to the carrier concerned. The UDAN scheme aims to connect unserved and under-served airports as well as make flying affordable by offering fares capped at Rs. 2,500 per hour on select routes. “Mumbai, Juhu and Safdarjung airport in Delhi are unlikely to be part of second phase of the regional connectivity scheme (RCS),” said a senior official at the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Because of slot constraints, the GVK-AAI run airport was able to accede to only six out of the total 20 requested by the government for the first round of bidding in March. Of the total 128 routes awarded in the first round of bidding, seven routes were from Mumbai and they were granted to three carriers — SpiceJet, Air Deccan and True Jet. Low-cost carrier SpiceJet will be launching daily direct flights to Porbandar and Kandla from Mumbai from July 10. Ahkello Witherspoon Womens Jersey
‘Proposal to sell highways a lower-risk option for investors’
The government’s proposal to sell 10 existing highways for USD 1 billion is a unique opportunity for foreign investors, Fitch Group company BMI Research said today. The move will provide scope for global investors to become involved in the country’s highway sector, it said. “The highways segment will be one of the fastest-growing areas of India’s infrastructure market, and the government’s plan to sell 10 existing highways to private investors for USD 1 billion, provides a lower-risk option for foreign investors to target the vast Indian market…,” BMI Research said in a statement. The government’s goal of attracting foreign capital in the sale is particularly opportune, as greenfield highway projects in India increasingly favour domestic contractors and operators, as local companies build up their expertise in the sector and make the overall competitive landscape more challenging, it said. “While demographic and economic development factors bode well for traffic growth and highway demand in India, we note that the country remains a relatively high-risk environment. “Highway PPPs have been operating in India for decades with varying degrees of success, with some operators finding stable traffic flows, while others have run into disputes with government bodies over inaccurate traffic projections and maintenance standards,” the report added. Contract data from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for the ongoing National Highways Development Programme (NHDP) shows that the majority of projects launched in recent years were PPPs, and that the proportion of contracts awarded to a consortium consisting of, or including, a foreign company has declined significantly. BMI Research attributed these trends to the rising expertise of Indian companies in the highway construction and operation sector, which gives them a greater advantage over international companies when combined with their greater knowledge of local risks. At the same time, it said the government has been pushing for greater use of PPPs – ranging from traditional annuity and toll models to a recent ‘hybrid annuity model’ – as the NHAI lacks the capital to fully implement its planned projects. The upcoming sale, proceeds of which will go towards financing the construction of new assets, continues the current government’s trend of using public-private partnerships (PPPs) to expand the country’s underdeveloped highway network, it said. James Daniels Womens Jersey
Gadkari assures to improve connectivity
State transport minister, P Paiwang Konyak, who called on the Union minister of Road Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari, at his office in New Delhi has appealed for a better connectivity between Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh especially Mon in Nagaland and Khongsa in Arunachal area. P Paiwang Konyak, who recently called on the union minister, made the appeal to improve the economy of the people through better road connectivity especially to the most backward area of the State which has a rich mineral deposits. A press release issued by Kuolie Mero, PRO of Nagaland House, New Delhi, said the union minister had agreed to take up some roads projects in those areas to improve the lives as well as connectivity of the people in the interior parts of the country. Ron Duguay Jersey
Naidu: Orvakal airport will accelerate growth
Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu has said the greenfield airport being constructed at Orvakal will help weed out faction feuds in Kurnool district. With the construction of the airport, many industries will come up in the district thus helping business in this area and generating more employment. The Chief Minister, who laid the foundation stone for the airport on Wednesday, said that it will be constructed in 2,000 acres at a cost of Rs 120 crore. He said as of now businessmen of Kurnool have to go either to Hyderabad or to Bengaluru airports by travelling hundreds of kilometres for not having the airport facility in Kurnool. He said the Orvakal airport would be constructed with international standards and would be completed just in a year. Naidu also laid the foundation stone for a food processing unit at Tangadancha village in Jupadubungla mandal. The food processing unit is being established by the Jain Irrigation System at a cost of Rs 400 crore. He also inaugurated a school building constructed at a cost of Rs 7 crore funds of the Self Help Groups. CPM district secretary K Prabhakar Reddy said the construction of the airport is to benefit the realtors only. Hector Rondon Womens Jersey
Qatar Airways considers India, Italy plans
Qatar Airways is in talks with Bombardier concerning the possible use of CSeries jets for the Qatari carrier’s proposed Indian venture, CEO Akbar al Baker has said. “Instead of ATRs [from Avions de Transport Régional] or Q400s [from Bombardier], I could use the CSeries on short-runway destinations in India,” he told Reuters during the 2017 Paris Airshow. In March this year, al Baker revealed plans to take advantage of India’s proposed relaxation of laws governing foreign investment in local carriers. Under the plan, though foreign carriers may not own more than 49% of an Indian airline, sovereign wealth funds are and have been permitted to own up to 51% of Indian scheduled passenger airlines. As such, al Baker said the proposed venture would use the Qatar Investment Authority, Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund and Qatar Airways’ parent, as a likely vehicle to establish the carrier. The future of the project, as well as the proposed finalization of Qatar Airways’ acquisition of a 49% stake in Italy’s Meridiana fly, will have an impact on what the carrier does with its LOI with Boeing (BOE, Chicago O’Hare) for sixty B737 MAX 8s. Markus Golden Womens Jersey