New international flights sought from city
Lok Sabha Member from Visakhapatnam Kambhampati Haribabu has written to Union Minister of Civil Aviation Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju seeking new international sectors from Vizag. On a representation received from K.V. Mohan of the Tours and Travels Association of Andhra, the MP sent the proposals for dedicated Air India flight on the Vijayawada-Vizag-Bangkok, Bangkok-Vizag-Vijayawada-Dubai and vice versa daily and on the Colombo-Vizag-Colombo sector thrice a week. The association sought the new flights based on the load factor for the last two years.
Aviation regulator seeks explanation from airlines on high cancellation fees
Taking a serious note of domestic airlines increasing ticket cancellation fees by a significant amount, aviation regulator DGCA has sought an “explanation” from these carriers on the rationale for such a steep hike. Last week, budget carrier IndiGo had done away with the slab system for charging ticket cancellation fee and made it uniform at Rs 2,250. National carrier Air India too had in February effected a massive hike of Rs 500 for cancelling its flight tickets, which now stands at Rs 2,000 per ticket. “The DGCA has written to all the airlines across board, asking them to explain the reason for increasing ticket cancellation fee, which in some cases now is almost equivalent to the airfares charged for a short haul journey,” a source said. The airlines have been given time till Friday to respond, according to the source. Fee for tickets cancelled up to two hours before the scheduled departure of the flight will be Rs 2,250, IndiGo had informed its passengers, saying that the hike was effective from April 1. A passenger will not get any refund for the bookings cancelled 0-2 hours before scheduled departure, it had said. IndiGo had last time revised these charges in February, under which it was charging Rs 1,900 for tickets cancelled more than seven days before scheduled departure and Rs 2,250 for tickets cancelled two hours to seven days before scheduled departure of the flight.
Many parties jealous about Air India’s success: Aviation Secy
Air India’s performance has improved in recent times and “many parties are jealous about its success”, Civil Aviation Secretary R N Choubey today said and asserted that there is no stake sale plan for the carrier. His assertion comes amid reports suggesting that the government might be looking to offload stake in Air India, which is in the red. “There is not any divestment plan for Air India. False rumours are being spread by those who are jealous. Many parties are jealous about Air India’s success,” Choubey said. Speaking at the pre-launch function for Air India’s non-stop Delhi-Vienna flight, Choubey noted that the carrier has improved “its performance in recent times”. The Delhi-Vienna flight launch will be on April 6. It will fly three times a week. Air India is expected to cut its losses by 40 per cent to Rs 3,529.80 crore in the last financial year, which ended on March 31. In 2014-15, the airline had a net loss of Rs 5,859.91 crore.
NOC to hire 50 more gas tankers to boost imports
Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has decided to hire another 50 tankers from two Indian companies to transport liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in a bid to boost imports. Mukunda Ghimire, spokesperson for NOC, said that the board had okayed the temporary measure. He added that two Delhi-based transport companies would be supplying the bullet tankers for this month. NOC has arranged to hire 35 tankers from Ram Batra’s company and 15 from Satish Sharma’s company. Petrol and diesel supplies have improved after the end of the embargo, but cooking gas shortages persist in the market. Ghimire said that NOC moved to hire the extra tankers after its sole supplier Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) agreed to increase LPG supplies to Nepal. NOC had recently requested the Indian government through the Nepal Embassy in New Delhi to increase the monthly consignment of LPG to 40,000 tons from 23,000 tons. “After receiving the Indian government’s assurance, we acted to hire additional bullet tankers,” said Ghimire. According to NOC, 523 bullet tankers belonging to seven Indian shipping companies have been transporting LPG from IOC’s depots in Barauni, Haldia and Mathura to Nepal. Ghimire said that more than 10 percent of these tankers were out of service. It takes around 10 days for a bullet tanker to transport LPG from the depot in India to Nepal. “The length of the route is also one of the factors behind the short supply of LPG in Nepal whenever there is a crisis.” Meanwhile, NOC has also permitted Nepali companies to operate LPG bullet tankers, breaking the monopoly of Indian companies. “However, due to the slow progress of the plan, we have decided to hire Indian companies to supply tankers as a temporary measure,” said Ghimire. Last month, the state-owned oil monopoly had given the go-ahead to Nepali LPG bottlers to acquire 450 bullet tankers. “However, they have been saying that it will take at least eight to nine months to get them,” Ghimire said. There are 55 LPG bottling plants in the country, and there are more than 5 million gas cylinders in circulation.
Oil prices extend losses on looming gasoline glut
Oil prices dropped for a third session in a row on Tuesday, as weakening demand for gasoline and persistent doubts on whether crude producers will be able to reach an agreement to rein in a worldwide supply glut dragged on the market. Growth in gasoline use has been one of the strongest pillars supporting demand across the fuel complex in both North America and Asia and has been largely credited for providing a floor under crude prices that have slumped as much as 70 percent since mid-2014 due surplus supply. The decline on Tuesday follows data showing U.S. gasoline demand during January fell for the first time in 14 months, while overall U.S. oil demand fell 1 percent that month from a year ago. Front month U.S. West Texas Intermediate ( WTI) crude was trading at $35.51 per barrel at 0652 GMT, down 19 cents from their last settlement. International Brent futures were down. “Crude prices and timespreads have weakened in recent days in line with softer fundamentals,” consultancy Energy Aspects said. “Although Q2 is always a slow period for crude demand amidst peak refinery works, it seems like Asia may have somewhat overdone the crude buying and is therefore pausing for breath.” In Asia, traders have stored excess gasoline on tankers as onshore storage facilities in Singapore and Malaysia are filled to the rims.
China firm wins Myanmar approval for $3 bln refinery
Chinese state-controlled commodity trader Guangdong Zhenrong Energy Co has won approval from the Myanmar government to build a long-planned $3 billion refinery in the Southeast Asian nation in partnership with local parties including the energy ministry, company executives said on Tuesday. The project, which also includes an oil terminal, storage and distribution facilities, would be one of the largest foreign investments in decades in Myanmar. Myanmar currently imports most of its fuel. The Myanmar Investment Committee granted the Chinese firm approval to build a 100,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery in the southeast coastal city of Dawei, Li Hui, a vice president of Guangdong Zhenrong and head of the company’s refining business, told Reuters. The Chinese firm will hold 70 percent of the project, and the remaining 30 percent shared by three Myanmar firms – military-linked Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited, Myanmar Petrochemical Corp, an entity affiliated with the country’s energy ministry and Yangon Engineering Group, controlled by privately-run HTOO Group of Companies, Li said. As the approval came before the government led by Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy was sworn in, Li said his firm was ready to work with the new Myanmar authorities to ensure the project gets off the ground. “We are confident (about the project) as it has taken into considerations interests from all parties and the refinery will benefit the local people as well as the economic development of the country,” said Li.
RBI exploring modalities of oil payments to Iran: Raghuram Rajan
The Reserve Bank of India is holding discussions with Tehran on modalities of payment of reported dues of $6.5 billion for oil imports, Governor Raghuram Rajan today said. “We are discussing with them (Iran) the way they want to be paid and certainly, we will work with them on when and how we pay them. I don’t think it will happen as a lumpsum. It is going to be staggered,” Rajan said during the customary post-policy call with analysts. He, however, did not disclose the quantum of payments to be made to the Middle East country, which is getting ready for a life post sanctions. Indicating that the commitments will be honoured, Rajan said meeting the payment should not be a concern as the country has over $350 billion in its forex kitty at present. In August 2015, a central government official had said RBI will be assisting Indian refiners to clear over $6.5 billion of past dues they owe to Iran for crude oil purchases.. The central bank, which previously facilitated payment of oil import bill to Iran, had agreed to help in creating the payment channels to clear the past dues. The then finance secretary Rajiv Mehrishi had led a four member delegation to Tehran in July 2015 to discuss modalities of clearing the dues. After the US and western powers in 2011 blocked payment channels in a bid to bring Iran to the negotiating table over its controversial nuclear programme, RBI had facilitated oil payments to Iran via Turkey. Iran and six world powers last year sealed an accord to curb the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme in return for ending sanctions. The lifting of sanctions is expected to open up banking channels for Tehran. India is keen that repayment of dues since February 2013 should be done in a staggered manner so as to avoid a run on the rupee.
ONGC gets green nod for Rs 350 crore drilling project in Gujarat
State-owned ONGC has received green nod for its Rs 350 crore project of drilling 22 exploratory wells in NELP-9 blocks located at Banaskantha, Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad districts of Gujarat. According to the proposal, wells would be drilled in blocks CB-CNN-2010/1, 6 and 9, which were awarded to ONGC way back in March 2012 through the NELP-9 bidding process. The petroleum exploratory licence to start the activities as per the production sharing contract (PSC) was granted in February 2013. The initial contract period is seven years. “Based on the views of the expert appraisal committee (EAC), the union environment ministry has given environmental clearance to the ONGC drilling project in Gujarat subject to strict compliance of specific and general conditions,” a senior government official said. The clearance has been granted only for exploratory drilling of 22 wells. In case development drilling is to be done in future, the company should take prior clearance from the ministry, the official said. The total cost of the project is Rs 350 crore. Each well will be drilled up to a depth of 3,000 metres. Among conditions specified, the company has been asked to prepare an oil spillage prevention scheme and comply with the guidelines of disposal of solid waste, drill cutting and drilling fluids for onshore drilling operations. The company has been asked to take necessary measures to prevent fire hazards, containing oil spill and soil remediation as needed. On completion of drilling, the company has been asked to plug the drilled wells safely and obtain a certificate of environment safety from the authority concerned. ONGC is engaged in hydrocarbon exploration and production activities in about 26 sedimentary basins of India, owns and operates more than 11,000 kilometres of pipelines in India and contributes 80 per cent of the country’s crude oil production.
Govt releases Rs 345 cr for ‘Smart Jaipur, Udaipur’
Pink City is now a step closer to being a ‘smart city’, with the Centre releasing Rs 186 crore allocated to it under the ‘Smart City Mission’. The amount assigned for Udaipur under the scheme (Rs 159.20 crore) has also been released. It was in January this year that the central government set the ball rolling on its Smart Cities plan by announcing the first list of 20 cities, which included two from the state – Jaipur and Udaipur. “The funds were sanctioned on March 31. We are about to get the money and would initiate work under the Smart City Mission soon,” said local self-government department’s principal secretary Manjit Singh. The meeting of the board of directors of Jaipur Smart Mission Limited, which is the special purpose vehicle (SPV) for taking forward the smart city proposal, is scheduled for April 6 at JMC headquarters. Issues like appointment of a chief executive officer (CEO) for the SPV will be discussed at the meeting. The SPV has been registered under the Companies Act, 2013. It has a 10-member board of directors that includes Jaipur mayor Nirmal Nahata, Jaipur development commissioner (JDC) Shikhar Agarwal, Jaipur collector Krishna Kunal and JMC CEO Ashutosh Pednekar, among others. “The chairman of the board is Manjit Singh. The chief executive officer (CEO) will be appointed from outside. This issue will be discussed at the board’s first meeting,” said the official. The CEO will be supervising and managing day-to-day operations of the SPV. The person would also help the board in overseeing the implementation of the SPV’s long- and short-term plans.
L&T wins Rs 2,125-crore contracts including major Karnataka highway project
Infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has won contracts worth Rs 2,125 crore, including a major highway project in Karnataka. “The construction arm of Larsen & Toubro has won orders worth Rs 2,125 crore across its various businesses. The transportation infrastructure business has bagged a new engineering, procurement and construction order worth Rs 821 crore from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI),” the company today said in a statement. The contract is for four-laning of the Addahole (Gundya) to Bantwal cross of NH-75 (old NH no. 48) in Karnataka. The project is scheduled be completed in 30 months and involves construction of 63 kms of four-lane dual carriage way with concrete pavement in addition to the construction of 14.5 km of service roads, two flyovers, two major bridges, 14 minor bridges, nine underpasses and a toll plaza. “The order is an index of L&T’s expansion in the road infrastructure space, with the company having bagged prestigious road and bridge projects both in the international and domestic markets, thanks to its well-established capabilities,” the company said. It said its Smart World and Communication business has bagged orders worth Rs 761 crore, which involve design and implementation of safe cities using integrated security features and intelligent and integrated traffic management systems. The company said additional orders worth Rs 543 cr have also been received from various ongoing jobs of Power Transmission & Distribution and Buildings & Factories businesses. Larsen & Toubro is an Indian multinational engaged in technology, engineering, construction, manufacturing and financial services with over USD 15 billion in revenue.