RCS traffic to be 4 lakh-plus passengers during FY18: ICRA
Ratings agency ICRA on Wednesday estimated that passenger traffic generated from the central government’s ambitious regional air connectivity scheme UDAN would be around 4.43 lakh passengers only during FY2018. According to a study conducted by ICRA, UDAN’s impact would be marginal at 0.4 per cent of total passenger traffic during the year. The report pointed out that the majority of the RCS routes are expected to operate only for six-to-nine months during FY2018 as per the current schedule. “Once the routes are operational for full year, the traffic contribution is expected to be 0.6 per cent (6.94 lakh passengers). Even with optimistic assumptions for PLFs (passenger load factors) as well as number of flights on RCS routes, the contribution of RCS passenger traffic remains modest at 0.7 per cent during the fiscal,” the study said. The government announced the UDAN scheme in October 2016 with the key objective to facilitate balanced and affordable regional air connectivity through fiscal support and regional infrastructure development. In March 2017, five airlines were selected to operate a total of 128 routes connecting 65 distinct destinations and 45 RCS airports under phase-I of the scheme. “The full potential of phase-I will be realised in FY2019 when the impact of RCS on overall industry is expected to increase. Further, the expected phase-II auction would add to the RCS traffic,” said Anand Kulkarni, Assistant Vice President and Associate Head – Corporate Ratings, ICRA. “We expect the contribution of RCS traffic to overall industry to increase to 1.5-1.8 per cent during FY2019. However, issues like possible delays in matters like air operator permit (AOPs) issuance, readiness of airports, availability of adequate crew and presence of safety mechanisms could cause variations in estimates.” Kyle Fuller Authentic Jersey
AAI ropes in Tata Elxsi to design IT guidelines for airports
Design services provider Tata Elxsi has been roped in by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) to design information and technology guidelines for all upcoming AAI airports. Tata Elxsi will help AAI set up a team and create a process to design and implement customer-centric information and wayfinding system, which will cover the entire passenger journey, right from parking to boarding the plane, the company said in a statement today. Tata Elxsi Chief Designer, Service Design, Narendra Ghate said prior experience on redefining passenger experience for some leading airports in India gave Tata Elxsi an edge to bag the mandate. AAI Member Planning Sudhir Raheja said the authority was looking out globally for a company that can understand what people in India need and found that Tata Elxsi can help AAI in setting guidelines for all future airports at par with global standards. Tata Elxsi has already commenced work across airports, including Goa, Kolkata, Varanasi and Lucknow. The other short-listed airports are Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Pune, Trivandrum, Coimbatore and Guwahati. Jeff Skinner Jersey
High court dismisses PIL, paves way for Greenfield Airport
Itanagar: In a major relief which may pave way for construction of the Greenfield Airport at Hollongi, the Gauhati High Court Itanagar Permanent Bench has dismissed the PIL filed in 2015. While disposing off the case, the court directed the Papum Pare Deputy Commissioner, “To ensure that compensation that is payable on account of acquisition of land, is done upon due and proper verification of the claims of the genuine land owners and as per rates permissible under law.” The Court also noted the government advocate’s submission that proposed land at Hollongi has already been deserved by the government and therefore question of it coming under forest reserve does not arise. The government advocate also made it clear that Chakma families are not being paid compensation and are only being rehabilitated. Recently, the state Cabinet also decided to accept the recommendation of technical committee constituted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, which selected Hollongi as permanent site for construction of a Greenfield Airport. However, the Cabinet put the condition that Hollongi will be selected subject to outcome of PIL filed by Tadar Takio. Stefon Diggs Authentic Jersey
Mahindra Aerospace’s Airvan 10 achieves type certificate
Australia’s first 10 seat Single Engine Turbine aircraft, the AIRVAN 10, has been awarded its FAR 23 Type Certificate from the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority, which was followed, by the US Type Certificate being issued by the Federal Aviation Administration. S P Shukla, chairman, Mahindra Aerospace, and Group president-Aerospace & Defence, Mahindra Group, commented, “This (certification) comes as a cornerstone for civil aviation. This certification under stringent safety standards in place today, aligns with Mahindra Group’s focus on introducing world class products in fast changing general aviation world which will be dominated significantly by turboprobs in this class of aircraft. It enhances our global reach further with specific focus on large markets for regional connectivity such as India, USA and Africa.” “This not only allows us to expand our existing markets but also provides much needed boost to regional low cost connectivity to those areas in the world where AvGas is a constraint. Our focus on engineering and in world class execution is the key to this milestone, said Arvind Mehra, executive director & CEO of Mahindra Aerospace. Keith Douglas, CEO of GippsAero said, “For our Australia and India teams, this is a much deserved recognition. This now gives us an opportunity to progress into the next stage of the programme which will address customer and region specific enhancements to the aircraft. We expect delivery of the first aircraft to identified customers by the early 2018. There has been a significant demand for such aircraft in expanding general aviation turboprop market and we are confident we will fill the gap by providing this cost effective solution.” Ameer Abdullah Jersey
Gov’t shelves private bids for new airports
Manila: The government has put on hold unsolicited proposals for new airports to serve Manila as it focuses on measures that can be undertaken immediately to address congestion at the country’s main international gateway. Manuel Antonio Tamayo, undersecretary for aviation at the Department of Transportation (DOTr), told reporters the National Economic and Development Authority has decided to defer the unsolicited proposals submitted by All Asia Resources Reclamation Corp. (ARRC) and San Miguel Corp. (SMC) for a new airport. “It’s still there. It’s still being considered. But it’s not immediate. It’s more of medium term. What we need now is the short term. We need to immediately decongest Manila,” he said. ARRC is proposing to build an international airport, seaport as well as a mixed-use development on reclaimed land off the coast of Sangley Point in Cavite. Unsolicited proposals for the Clark Airport are also taking a backseat for now. The group of GMR Infrastructure Ltd. of India and Megawide Construction Corp. submitted a proposal to the government to develop the Clark International Airport to be able to handle up to 100 million passengers per year over a period of 50 years, worth close to P200 billion.
Hero Future Energies eyes renewable assets of Equis energy
Hero Future Energies, the renewable energy arm of the Pawan Munjal led Hero Group is evaluating options for its biggest bet yet in the burgeoning clean energy segment. The company backed by IFC, the private sector investment arm of the World bank is eyeing the renewable energy portfolio of Singapore based Equis Energy, sources familar with ongoing negotiations told ET NOW on the condition of anonymity. Credit Suisse & JP Morgan have the sale mandate for the proposed transaction. “Hero Future Energies has aggressive expansion plans and is amongst the numerous suitors keen on the assets, though no final decision has been taken as yet. The portfolio on sale covers the Asia-Pacific region and the India portfolio would expand their domestic footprint and put them in a different league. If required, they may also bid as part of a consortium, based on deal discussions. Many international power utilities & pension funds are in the race for the deal and an information memorandum will be shortly sent to all prospective bidders,” said a source on the condition of anonymity. “The India portfolio of Equis Energy has a capacity of nearly 700 MW and has an estimate enterprise value between Rs 6000-Rs 6500 crores,” added a second source familar with the proposed transaction. Renewable energy develepor Equis Energy plans to exit the Indian market and has put Energon and Energon Soleq on the block. Energon is focused on wind power projects with 414 mega watt (MW) of operating assets while Energon Soleq works in the solar sector and is developing projects totaling 260MW in Telangana and Karnataka. In response to an email query from ET NOW, Equis Energy Chairman David Russell said “Equis Energy is considering a restructuring of its entire renewable energy business with longer term investors looking to support management’s growth strategy. Equis Energy believes combining its various renewable energy businesses will yield significant synergies and allow the group to continue to provide competitive, low-cost pricing and technology solutions for the long term. The process involves the restructuring of 100% of Equis Energy.” The company added “We don’t have any comment on the identity of parties involved in the restructuring process” and confirmed that Credit Suisse and JP Morgan have been appointed to manage the process. Hero Future Energies said, “The company will like to maintain its policy of not commenting on rumours except as required by law. The company or any of its business unit is not aware of any information supporting these rumours. Hero Future Energies is present nearly 10 states of India with high quality operating asset base of ~500 MW across wind, solar PV (grid connected) & rooftop plants. Equis Energy is headquartered in Singapore is the largest renewable energy IPP in the Asia-Pacific region and operates from 15 Asian offices. As of 30 June, 2017, it owned 97 renewable energy assets, totaling 4.4 GW across Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand. In addition to our current portfolio of 4.4 GW, Equis Energy has a further 74 assets and 6.7 GW under development. Al Jefferson Womens Jersey
Chinese firm inks deal with Adani, to invest $300 million in Gujarat
India’s Adani Group inked a deal with East Hope Group, one of China’s largest companies, which will invest over $300 million to set up a manufacturing unit for solar power generation equipment in Gujarat. “The MoU signed between the two leading companies from India and China proposes to set up manufacturing units in Mundra SEZ, Gujarat to produce solar power generation equipment, chemicals, aluminum and animal feed, and to put in place East Hope Group’s engineering and industrial integration chain to recycle and economise the product cost at Mundra SEZ,” said a statement. An estimated investment of more than $300 million is expected to be made by East Hope Group in India, as part of the proposed cooperation between the two conglomerates. East Hope Group, a 70 billion yuan company, is one of the largest corporate houses in China. Headquartered in Shanghai, it is among the top 10 aluminium producers in the world, having 150 subsidiaries. Lane Taylor Jersey
Govt advises RINL to foray into renewable energy, reduce dependence on fossil fuels
Union Minister of Power, New & Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal has advised RINL to make a foray into solar and renewable energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels to generate thermal power. Goyal, who is also the minister for Coal and Mines said the government will provide necessary support and incentive to industries which will come forward to set up solar power plants in the country. The minister, who was on his maiden visit to RINL-VSP, also assured full support to RINL in allocation of coal blocks. With expansion in steelmaking capacity, raw material security is one of RINL’s top most priorities. The steel major does not have access to captive iron ore mines which makes its input costs higher. It has thus been betting big on getting access to iron ore from the Kukunoor iron ore mines. Incidentally, with production capacity going up to 6.3 million tonne post expansion, RINL’s iron ore requirement is estimated to go up to around 10 million tonne per annum. Later, the minister visited major production units of the Plant including the Blast Furnace-3, Steel Melt Shop-2. He was accompanied by P Madhusudan, chairman, RINL and other senior officials including, P C Mohapatra, Director (Projects), P Raychaudhury, Director (Commercial) and K C Das, Director (Personnel). Mallex Smith Authentic Jersey
Major bureaucratic reshuffle; renewable energy secretary Rajeev Kapoor moved to petrochem department
n a major bureaucratic reshuffle effected today, as many as 17 bureaucrats were assigned new secretary-level portfolios at various ministries. New and Renewable Power secretary Rajeev Kapoor has been moved to Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals as secretary and has been replaced by Anand Kumar, Managing Director, National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited. Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Director General Foreign Trade has been appointed as secretary, Ministry of Power as the current secretary PK Pujari will retire at the end of this month. Ajay Prakash Sawhney, additional secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has been appointed as Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. He is replacing Aruna Sundararajan who has been given the charge of secretary, Department of Telecommunications. Rajeev Gauba will replace Rajiv Mehrishi as Home Secretary from September 1 when the latter retires. Gauba will be replaced by Durga Shankar Mishra as Secretary of Ministry of Urban Development. NK Sinha, Secretary in Ministry of Culture, has been made secretary in Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. He will replace Ajay Mittal who has been given charge of Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training. Ravi Kant, additional secretary, Department of Defence has been made secretary in Ministry of Shipping while Subhash C Garg, Executive Director, World Bank, has been given charge of Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs. Yudhvir Singh Mallik, Chairman, National Highways Authority of India, will now be the Secretary in Road Transport and Highways Ministry. He will be replaced by Deepak Kumar who is currently the director general of Employees State Insurance Corporation. Arun Kumar Panda, Additional Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, will now be the secretary in Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises while Avinash K Srivastarva will replace Jagdish Prasad Meena as Secretary, Ministry of Food Processing Industries. Mario Addison Womens Jersey
845 Megawatt capacity solar power plants installed across India: NTPC
The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) of India has recently revealed that India now hosts solar power capacity worth 845 MW, after the recent addition of the 225 MW Mandsaur Solar Power Project- a 250 MW solar farm located in Madhya Pradesh. The remaining 25 MW will be commissioned as soon as evacuation constraints pertaining to the solar park developer Rewa Ultra Mega Solar Limited are eradicated; PV Magazine quoted the Mercom Capital Group, as reporting. Apart from this, Vikram Solar, BHEL and Tata Power also have 50 MW plants currently operating on the site. Solar power is being increasingly promoted as an alternative source of energy, the latest one being the installation of solar panels on the rooftop of all Kochi Metro Rail stations. Apart from this, the Delhi Metro is also enabled with solar PV, and is set to further expand the capacity. Mumbai is also considering the creation of a rooftop solar network to be incorporated with the Central Railways. Korbinian Holzer Jersey