ONGC’s Rs 780 billion investment seen as credit negative: Moody’s
Ratings agency Moody’s sees Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) planned Rs 780 billion investment in Andhra Pradesh as credit negative in the backdrop of falling gas prices, long gestation period of such investments and expected increase in leverage. On January 27, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said ONGC, amongst other oil public sector utilities, will invest Rs 780 billion in Andhra Pradesh in the development of oil and gas discoveries. “Of the total investment, around Rs 100 billion ($1.5 billion) will be spent on on-shore blocks with the balance Rs 680 billion ($10 billion) spent on off-shore assets in the Krishna-Godavari (K-G) basin. The company expects to commence investment in financial year 2017-18 and finish by financial year 2020-21,” the Moody’s report noted. The decision to invest further in on-shore and off-shore assets comes at a time when gas prices in India are falling due to government’s intervention. Moody’s sees this as a detrimental to ONGC’s future investments in these blocks. “Prices of domestically produced natural gas were revised down on October 1, 2016 to $2.5 per million British thermal unit (mmbtu) from $3.06/mmbtu (on gross calorific value basis). The revised prices remain effective until March 31, 2017. For natural gas produced from deep water and ultradeep water areas, prices are capped at $5.3/mmbtu, which is among the lowest in Asia. Even if ONGC’s entire incremental production from the Andhra Pradesh investment were eligible for the higher gas price, that price would still be materially lower than prices in Asia,” Moody’s said in its note. In addition to falling gas prices, Moody’s said these investments will be credit negative for ONGC and lead to an upfront increase in leverage and typically involve long gestation period. “The development of oil and gas assets has a long gestation period before contributing meaningfully to earnings and cash flows. During the initial development period, ONGC’s borrowings will remain elevated for its Baa1 rating category,” it said. Moody’s expects ONGC’s retained cash flow (RCF)/debt to decline to 40 per cent by March 2018 and 33 per cent by March 2019 if the proposed investment is equally spread over FY18 and FY19. “Although RCF/debt would remain marginally above our quantitative downward rating guidance of 30 per cent for its rating, ONGC will have no room to take on more debt. Any increase in shareholder payments or weak operating performance would exert downward pressure on its ratings,” the report further said. The company’s cash balance, however, could help support its credit assessment. “The company’s sizeable cash balances of Rs 25.80 billion or $3.8 billion as of March 31, 2016 supports its baseline credit assessment, which reflects its fundamental Baa1 credit strength,” Moody’s report added. Marcus Murphy Authentic Jersey
Andhra Pradesh:All decks cleared for laying 64-km long national highway
The Detailed Project Report for the 64-km long national highway road connecting Anakapalle and Anandapuram was finalised. National Highway Authority of India will a lay six-lane road with two bi-pass roads at a cost of ` 2,392 crore. The state government has to acquire 900 acres of land for the project and already 350 acres are acquired and the Revenue department has geared up to complete the entire land acquisition process. However, the state government has not finalised the compensation to the land losers. According to the DPR, `2,392 crore was only for construction of the road and the state government will foot the land acquisition bill. Once the collector sends his recommendations to the government, the cabinet will discuss the issue and announce compensation to the land losers. However, the government is yet to take a decision on the issue, the officials said. In fact, the Central government sanctioned only six-lane road, keeping in view future challenges, the DPR was prepared for 8-lane road and land is also being acquired for the 8-lane road. In the first phase 6-lane road will be constructed and later it will be widened to eight lanes. Meanwhile, a review meeting was held on the project on Sunday in which Anakapalle MP M Srinivasa Rao, NHAI and revenue officials were present. Speaking in the meeting, the special grade deputy collector, land acquisition, N Subba Raju, said that once 60 per cent of land acquisition (540 acres) is completed, tenders will be invited for the project. Srinivasa Rao asked the officials to complete the land acquisition by April-end and call the tenders in May. He stressed the need of the national highway stretch between Anakapalle and Anandapuram since many fatal accidents were being reported. Joe Haden Authentic Jersey
Shabby roads in Kashmir| Govt fails to rebuild damaged roads; of 4000kms, only 1400 kms repaired since 2014
Despite passing of two years since the floods wreaked havoc in Kashmir, the Jammu and Kashmir government has failed to undertake macadamization of 2600 kms of road stretches, which were damaged by September 2014 deluge adding to already shabby roads links which are causing inconvenience to populace. Senior Roads and Building department officials informed Greater Kashmir that the vast road stretches in Kashmir were already in dilapidated conditions, the floods left further 4,000 Kms dilapidated. Of which only 1400 Kms have been repaired so far while remaining 2600 Kms are yet to be repaired despite passing of two years post-floods. To add to it, only 33 kms were blacktopped in 2016 with government blaming unrest for failing to undertake construction works in Kashmir. Minister for Roads and Buildings, A. R Veeri acknowledged that vast portion of damaged roads in 2014 flood are yet to be macadamized. “ It is a fact that of 4000 kms road stretch damaged by deluge only 1400 kms have been repaired,” he said adding that “ We had planned to take up blacktopping of remaining portion of road stretches in 2016, however the situation didn’t allow us.” The Minister said that government will take up the macadamization of roads in the coming season. Deteriorating roads While 2600 kms of roads are already in bad conditions, the few inches of snowfall in Kashmir over past few days has brought to fore the messy road conditions across Kashmir, even the newly developed roads are in shambles and have developed potholes much to the dismay of the commuters. Experts blame the “defunct drainage system, ill-planning during construction of roads in Kashmir for causing damage to already macadamized roads”. As per officials, for construction of 1 km of macadamized road link, the government spends upto estimated Rs 30 lakh rupees. However, it has been observed that most of the roads doesn’t last more than 2 year after being blacktopped. The Greater Kashmir spoke to civil engineers and contractors to know the reasons apart from government apathy about the dilapidated conditions of road links despite government claiming of spending huge amount of money on road constructions. “The main problem which affects the life of roads in Kashmir are defunct drainage system,” said Ghulam Muhammad, a retired PWD Engineer. He said that earlier roads lasted long due to slopes kept in design to allow outflow of water, while now on most roads there is no outflow channels neither are drainage network functional. Chairman, JK, Contractors Coordination Committee (JKCCC) Ghulam Jeelani Purza blamed water logging for roads getting damaged. “Despite using high and rich quality material our roads get damaged due to water logging because macadamized roads are like carpets if a thread gets damaged it slowly starts damaging other parts as well, same thing happens when water gets logged on any road it starts damaging the bitumen and affects its life,” he said. Purza said further the failure of government to undertake repairs of flood ravaged roads is another reason why our roads are in a mess. “ The government has even failed to clear our pending bills of Rs 311 crore for works undertaken to repair 1400 kms of roads damaged by floods.” To this, the Minister R&B, Veeri said that government has already put in clause by virtue of which contractors have to give three years warranty on roads they construct. “If any road link has been damaged within the guaranteed period, the government will ensure that contractor undertakes the repair works as per the contract agreement,” he added. Breshad Perriman Authentic Jersey
Hybrid model roads projects suffer financial commitment hit; NHAI cancels 2
Over a dozen road projects conceived under the hybrid annuity model are stuck for want of financial commitments while a couple have been cancelled by the NHAI. Although nearly 30 such projects were awarded till end July, some of these could lapse since the financial commitments need to be in place within 150 days of the concession agreement being signed. Smaller firms in particular are unable to secure the funds for projects. Spokespersons for Eagle Infra and DRA confirmed to FE they were yet to close out the funding for their projects won in April and May, respectively. Interestingly, a handful of builders appear to have most of the projects awarded so far. While as many as six projects have been bagged by the MEP Infra- San Jose alliance, five have been picked up by Sadbhav Infrastructure. These developers have either managed to arrange the finances for most of their projects or are in an advanced stage of doing so. Among others Ashoka Buildcon and Welspun have won a project each and have tied up the finances while Dilip Buildcon and PNC Infratech are expected to do so soon. The pace of HAM projects awarded has gone up in recent months with a total of 39 projects worth Rs 34,800 crore having been bid out across 2,170 km crore till January 12, 2017. However, bankers remain somewhat cautious of lending to the roads sector despite the fact that the HAM structure entails lower risks for the developer because NHAI assumes the responsibilities of acquiring the land, estimating the traffic and collecting the toll and the concessionaire takes on virtually no risk. Fe had reported on November 21 that two projects—with Gawar Infrastructure and Overseas Infrastructure Alliance (OIA)—had been terminated. At that time, former NHAI chairman Raghav Chandra had denied that bankers’ were uncomfortable with lending to the two projects or to the winning bidders. Given their mixed experience with the BOT model, banks and financial institutions are being choosy about funding HAM projects. The concerns of lenders stem from the very small equity risk that the concessionaire is taking. Given that 40% of the project cost comes as a grant from NHAI, the concenssionaire’s equity contribution is reduced to just 15% of the remaining 60% of the project cost or effectively a mere 9%. Lenders have pointed out the promoter has virtually no skin in the game. A senior public sector bank executive told FE, several large banks have indicated their reluctance to lend to hybrid projects if the promoters’ equity is effectively just 9%. “This is too small a commitment on the part of the promoter and none of the proposals from developers has been closed yet,” the executive added. To assuage their concerns it has been decided that NHAI’s grant of 40% which was to have been milestone-based with most of the payments coming at a later date, will now given at the early stages of construction. Nevertheless unlisted companies and even contractors who have won HAM projects are finding it tough to secure funds. Alok Deora, analyst at IIFL Wealth says HAM projects have attracted the interest of a clutch of little-known, relatively small, unlisted companies. “Such companies may find it difficult to raise funds for projects and there could be a couple of cancellations. This could mean fewer kilometers awarded compared to targets,” Deora said. Devam Modi, analyst at Equirus Securities points out the discomfort of lenders with the balance sheets of smaller companies coupled with their caution on lending to roads could hold up projects. Demetri Goodson Jersey
EAC rejects GMR’s plan to convert aviation SEZ in multiproduct
A committee under the Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has rejected GMR group’s request to convert its aviation SEZ at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport here into a multi-sector SEZ. GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL) cited poor response from the aviation companies for setting up shops in aviation SEZ as the reason to convert it into a multi-product SEZ. However, the Expert Appraisal Committee under the Ministry felt conversion of the aviation SEZ, which is close to the runway, into the planned multi-product SEZ, may attract birds which may become hazardous to aircraft at airport. The infra major said the GMR Aerospace and Industrial Park, spread in the layout of 253.85 acres, has an occupancy rate of just 11 per cent over the last six years, and if allowed to convert into a multi-product SEZ, within 3-4 years it will be fully operational. “The committee also felt that bird hazard is a serious concern for aviation sector and comprehensive study must be done by a reputed institution such as SACON, not just for airport, but also for SEZ areas, especially due the fact that multi-sector SEZ can become heaven for birds and if not planned well, can have serious risks to aircraft. Mario Edwards Jr Jersey
AAI Act amendment unlikely to spell out purposes of land use
The proposed amendment to the Airports Authority of India Act to allow monetisation of land is unlikely to specify for what purpose the denotified land can be used. “The idea of the proposed amendment is to allow usage of land as is required at a particular point in time. It is unlikely to define what all the land can be used for as is the case at present,” said a senior AAI official. Current guidelines In his Budget speech, Arun Jaitley had said the Airports Authority of India Act would be amended to enable effective monetisation of land assets. He added that the money so raised would be used for airport upgradation. At present, the use to which land at AAI airports can be put is specified under Section 12 of the AAI Act 1994. The Act states that the land can be used for constructing residential buildings for its employees, establishing and maintaining hotels, restaurants and rest rooms at or near the airports or establish warehouses and cargo complexes at the airports for the storage or processing of goods or arrange for postal, money exchange, insurance and telephone facilities for the use of passengers and other persons at the airports and civil enclaves among others. Omnibus category Explaining the rationale behind not specifying the purpose for which the land can be used, a senior government official pointed out that at one time there was a lot of demand in various states for land to build malls but now that is on the wane. Wary of such a situation arising again, the government is keen that the proposed amendment to the AAI Act creates an ‘omnibus category’ which will try and take care of use of land in perpetuity. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has already sent a note for inter-ministerial comments on amending the AAI Act. Once all the comments are received and reviewed, the ministry will move a note for consideration of the Union Cabinet, an official said, declining to specify a timeline for the proposal to be taken up by the Cabinet. AAI is the third largest land owner after the armed forces and the Indian Railways. At the end of March 2015, AAI had about 55,000 acres of land, including 12,500 acres in south India and close to 15,000 acres of land in western India.
Spot crude buying time cut to two hours
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has brought down the buying time for some of its spot cargoes to two hours, sharply shrinking from 30 hours just one and a half years ago, a move that would help the country’s largest refiner bring down crude cost and boost margin. IOC picks 30% of its crude from the spot market, a share that went up from 20% in the past two years as state refiners tried to take advantage of the falling crude prices. Last year, the state refiners were also unshackled by the government to decide on their spot purchasing mechanism, which has now helped IOC drastically reduce purchase time. For the past few months, the company has undertaken a pilot in which it calls for pre-specified crude from pre-specified sellers within a price band, a company executive said. Each transaction has taken about two hours and the company has been able to purchase a few cargoes so far, the executive said. This is less than one-fourth of the usual nine hours taken currently for the tendering process in the spot market. Even nine hours is a huge improvement over nearly 30 hours that the company took earlier. “If you accept an offer in a very short duration, you get the price advantage. As you delay, the time risk gets priced in,” said the executive, adding that the effort is towards reducing purchase time so that the company is able to source cheaper crude and is on an equal footing with private refiners. IOC plans to import 50.3 million tonnes of crude oil in 2017-18, about 0.9 million tonne higher than in the current year. The increase in supply will likely be absorbed by the 15 million tonnes Paradip refinery expected to reach 100% capacity utilisation next fiscal year from about 80-85% now. With 15.6 million tonne, Iraq is the biggest supplier to IOC. Saudi Arab comes second with 5.7 million tonnes. The third spot is shared between Kuwait and Iran with 5 million tonnes each. The UAE supplies about 2.5 million tonnes. West Asia remains a big source of supplies to IOC, which controls about a third of the Indian refining capacity, and has been diversifying its supply bases to multiple regions. A global collapse in oil prices in the past two years has boosted the bargaining power of big crude importers like India with respect to the oil producers. Marcus Maye Womens Jersey
Pawan Hans plans to provide Regional Air Connectivity through helicopters
The Government of India Enterprise Pawan Hans Limited is planning to provide Regional Air Connectivity through helicopters, connecting all the districts of the country. Talking to UNI, B P Sharma, Chairman & Managing Director of Pawan Hans said that Company has prepared a detailed plan of expansion. Under the plan, it has prepared a vision document 2020 and formulating the Business Plan 2027. After giving a detailed presentation to Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha last week in the presence of higher officials of the Ministry, Mr Sharma said, “We are already into the process to launch our helicopter services under RCS and may go for providing the connectivity between districts of the country by operating our helicopters as there is no need of developed airports for our operations. We can easily start our operations without much investment on related services. But it all depends how much response we will get from the passengers and the Authorities.” Isaac Yiadom Jersey
BCAS suspends IndiGo’s security training centre licence
Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has suspended the licence of budget carrier IndiGo’s aviation security training facility for alleged lapses in the examination system conducted by it. The orders issued by the apex aviation security agency BCAS last week bar the Gurgaon-based airline from conducting security training programme for its employees any further, sources said. The training academy is run by IndiGo’s parent company, InterGlobe Aviation. BCAS has suspended the licence of IndiGo’s aviation security training centre on Friday after several lapses were detected in the examination procedure that it was following. This is a serious issue, the sources said. Following the suspension of licence, IndiGo would have to outsource the training programme, which would result in additional cost for the carrier, they said. When contacted, an IndiGo spokesperson said the airline was in discussions with BCAS to resolve the issue. “Any lapse on the security front can have major ramifications for the country’s aviation sector. At sensitive airports like Srinagar, a secondary ladder point check of passengers is carried by airline security staff,” sources said. “This major responsibility is entrusted on the airline security staff on the premise and assurance that they would execute this duty in a responsible manner,” the sources said. “If security training is being compromised, it raises serious questions,” they added. The move comes at a time when the airline is already facing frequent glitches in its aircraft, resulting in delay in its flights and inconvenience to the passengers. Regulations make it mandatory for all scheduled airlines to impart aviation security training to its security staff, cockpit and cabin crew either through their own BCAS approved facility or any other similar authorised centre. Besides, BCAS also conducts such training programmes for airlines and other stakeholders at all its regional offices. While cockpit and cabin crew are imparted a one week training in various aspects of airline and airport security, for those deployed in other jobs it runs for more than a week. Russell Wilson Womens Jersey
IGI airport first in India to cross 5 crore flyer mark
In a first for any Indian airport, IGI Airport crossed the 5-crore passenger mark last year. The airport with three runways and as many terminals handled 5.5 crore passengers: 4 crore domestic and 1.5 crore international flyers. Mumbai was a distant second at 4.4 crore. This was 21% higher than 4.6 crore passengers IGI had handled in 2015, according to figures furnished by the Delhi International Airport Pvt Ltd (DIAL). Delhi’s record comes at a time when the country set new highs for both domestic and international air travel last year, primarily because of low international oil prices that allowed airlines to offer cheap fares. Almost 10 crore domestic passengers flew in India in 2016, up 23% from 2015’s figure of 8.1 crore. The number of international flyers last year is likely to be over 5.2 crore, up almost 9% from the previous year’s 4.8 crore. India’s international flyers generally grow at 10% year-on-year while domestic travellers, dependent on oil prices that determine airfares, has grown at over 20%+ in the recent past. With Delhi and Mumbai alone accounting for almost 10 crore of the total (domestic-cum-international) traffic that is expected to be just over 15 crore in 2016, the two mega cities account for twothird of entire air traffic in India. But with both these places facing challenges – Mumbai is majorly low on airport capacity while Delhi is seeing bottlenecks at its domestic budget terminal -the growth is bringing its own challenges. Carlos Correa Womens Jersey