Eyeing 5,000-5,200 km of projects by the end of fiscal: NHAI
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) plans to award 10-15 percent more projects this year compared to FY16, said Yudhvir Singh Malik, Chairman of NHAI. Speaking to CNBC-TV18 Malik said they look to award closer to 5,000-5,200 kilometres of projects by the end of the fiscal year. In April 2016, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had announced an ambitious target of awarding 25,000 kilometres of road projects in FY17. Of this, 15,000 would fall under NHAI and 10,000 under the Ministry and National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation (NHIDCL). Malik agreed land acquisition posed the biggest challenge in achieving the target. To counter this roadblock in future, he said, NHAI plans to avoid any project awards unless 80 percent of the land is in possession and statutory clearances received. He said availability of funds is not an issue in achieving the target. Malik also said the compensation process to land owners is being streamlined subsequent to which they are looking forward to achieve about 7-8 kilometres on a daily basis. JJ Redick Womens Jersey
Giant power outage hits Amsterdam rail, roads
Amsterdam was hit by a giant power outage Tuesday, causing road and rail chaos that left scores of rush hour commuters stranded, authorities said. The power cut meant no trains to or from Amsterdam’s busy main rail station, resulting in a rush of drivers onto the road and heavy traffic. “Other parts of the country are hit by the knock-on effect,” Dutch National Rail said on its website. “The power cut has since been fixed but rail traffic is still seriously affected,” it said shortly before 10:00 am (0900 GMT). The power cut was repaired by 0800 GMT, electricity provider Liander said, but it warned “problems may still occur due to the start-up process.” It did not give a reason for the cut, but The Netherlands has been experiencing sub-zero temperatures overnight. Early Tuesday, large parts of Amsterdam and its northern neighbours Zaandam and Landsmeer were hit by the massive power cut, affecting some 360,000 households and public transport including the capital’s tram service, Liander said. Dutch road safety association ANWB warned that heavy traffic jams had formed on the A2 highway between Amsterdam and Utrecht. Dutch public newscaster NOS meanwhile showed television images of commuters resignedly waiting for the problem to be fixed at Utrecht’s central station, while long queues formed at bus stops at Amsterdam Central station. A.J. Greer Authentic Jersey
A bumpy ride for road construction firms
The December quarter is set to be a rough one for road construction firms because of problems related to demonetisation. The fortnight of toll-free days in November forced analysts to cut revenue growth estimates. The government has assured compensation for loss of toll revenue, but that would come with a lag. Worse, it will take care of only costs and the interest to be paid out for that period on the project, but not the profits. Effectively, therefore, firms such as NCC Ltd and IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd may see revenue contraction because of lower toll collections. Some firms such as PNC Infratech Ltd are stuck with slow-moving orders because of land acquisition delays. Those with a larger mix of engineering, procurement and construction orders may be better off during the quarter than those with exposure to toll revenue. Another big disappointment is the slow pace of tendering by the government. Yes, it was known that the target for 25,000km of roads to be awarded during FY17 was too ambitious. After all, the target was two-and-a-half times that of the year before. With barely three months to go for the fiscal to end, the progress both on tender awards and execution is nothing to write home about. ICRA Ltd’s data shows the ministry of road transport and highways awarded only 5,688km of roads. A little less than half of this was from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which was actually expected to award about 15,000km during the year. But the estimates were revised down to less than half by NHAI. In fact, the awards may not even be close to that achieved in FY12. This implies lower-than-anticipated order inflows. And there’s more to prove the naysayers right. The pace of project execution until date for FY17 signals the failure in achieving estimates. NHAI’s 5.8km/day execution is 17% higher than a year ago, but is just a quarter of the target pencilled in for the year. Subdued progress was noticed even prior to demonetisation. This is partly because the newly-introduced hybrid annuity model was being worked out. Also, not many bidders came forth due to highly leveraged balance sheets. Financial closure of the first few projects took longer than expected. As reality struck the Street, the stocks of these firms fell from their highs. Most of the leading firms have underperformed the benchmark indices and fallen between 5-15% since a year ago. Add to this the credit rating agencies have decided to tighten rating metrics. Crisil Ltd, for instance, is adding “expected loss” through the life of the project. This will help investors take better decisions, given that the ramp-up periods and cash flows are unpredictable in infrastructure projects. Of course, the Union budget is expected to offer more sops and support to road construction. Investors may do better to wait until the euphoria settles down and reality sinks in, as it did in 2016. Dion Jordan Authentic Jersey
Bangladesh secures more tariff cut rate in power import from India, saves Tk 128.70 million
Bangladesh has secured a negotiated cut-down rate of tariff to import around 250 megawatts (MWs) of electricity from India, officials said. The reduction is estimated to save around Tk 128.70 million for the country in power purchase from the Power Trading Corporation (PTC) of India over the next six months. The Power Division under the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources (MPEMR) secured the electricity-tariff cut to Tk 6.14 per unit (1.0 kilowatt-hour) from the previously quoted Tk 6.26 per unit, a senior power official told the FE Sunday. “We have been able to have the electricity tariff reduced for extension of the deal as the PTC would not require any additional installment cost to supply the electricity,” he said. The proposal would be sent to the cabinet committee on government purchases this week for final nod, said the Power Division official. Meanwhile, the existing deal on electricity import through the PTC would expire on January 31, 2017. The Indian PTC had sought to sell electricity at Tk 6.26 per unit to the state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB). Bangladesh currently imports around 650MW electricity from the neighbouring country under different mechanisms, devised amid electricity crunch in the recent past. Of the imported electricity, 250 MW comes from Indian government-allocated quota at an average tariff rate of Tk 2.78 per unit. Another 250MW power comes through PTC. Bangladesh imports 100 MW of electricity from Tripura at a tariff rate of Tk 6.13 per unit. Another quantum of around 40 MW come from open market at a rate of Tk 4.46 per unit. Bangladesh had initiated import of around 250 MW of electricity through PTC since July 2013 at a tariff rate of Tk 6.30 per unit under a three-year agreement. The deal was extended for a six-month period until January 2017, with the tariff rate reduced to Tk 6.26 per unit that helped save the power-purchase costs by Tk 81.70 million for six months. Christian McCaffrey Jersey
Central sector power, a burden on Gridco
Even after repeated requests to deallocate its share of power from NTPC’s Barh Super Thermal Power Station (STPS) in Bihar, the cash-starved Grid Corporation of Odisha Limited (Gridco) is forced to buy costly power from Central sector. While the average cost of power from Central thermal power stations (Odisha’s share) is estimated at `4.38 per unit, power from Barh STPS-II will cost `6.36 per unit. Tariff of Central thermal generating power stations is fixed by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC). With the State’s share of 14.79 per cent from the two units of Barh-II with an installed capacity of 1320 MW (2X660MW), Gridco will draw 1105.83 million unit (with Central sector loss of 1.98 per cent) during 2017-18. The total cost of power has been estimated at `704.30 crore. The State Government has been requesting the Ministry of Power (MoP) from 2012 for de-allocation of power from NTPC stations outside Odisha including the Barh-II STPS. On August 31, 2015, the MoP notified for surrendering allocated power by different States including Odisha and sought willingness from other States to avail such surrendered power. “The proposed de-allocation in favour of Odisha is yet to take effect as no alternative buyer has offered willingness to purchase power from Barh-II. Power from NTPC plan is being thrust upon Gridco in spite of any requisition to draw power from the two units,” Gridco sources said. The State trading utility Gridco has projected the energy availability from Barh STPS-II of NTPC as per the share allocation in favour of Odisha in its annual revenue requirement (ARR) application for 2017-18 financial year. This is bound to increase the power tariff in the State as Gridco will pass on the high tariff to consumers, the sources said. Earlier, the MoP had de-allocated 155 MW from New Nabinagar STPP in Bihar last year following request from the State Government. The State’s share has been allocated to Uttar Pradesh. Gridco has projected power procurement of 7371.37 million unit at estimated cost of `3227.39 crore from Central sector thermal generating station for the ensuing financial year. Chris Doleman Authentic Jersey
Bids for 750 mw Rewa solar tender may break Rs 4 per unit barrier
Solar power tariffs are expected to fall substantially below Rs 4 per unit in the bids for 750 mw Rewa solar project anticipates Bridge to India. Tariff of Rs 4 per unit is the lowest till now for any utility scale project in India. According to the solar sector analysis firm, bids for the proposed and much delayed 750 MW solar power tender in the Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh are expected to be submitted early next week. The project is being tendered by Rewa Ultra Mega Solar (RUMS), a joint venture between Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) and the Madhya Pradesh government. Developers can bid for three project units of 250 MW each in a solar park being developed by RUMS. Price bids are expected to break the Rs 4 per unit tariff barrier because the tender offers large scale and enhanced bankability because power generated will be sold to Madhya Pradesh utilities and Delhi Metro Rail on an open access basis. The projects is also expected to benefit from state government payment guarantee and deemed generation compensation for grid unavailability thus significantly improving their risk profile particularly in comparison to other state government tendered projects. “There are three unique features of this tender, which has been designed by the Madhya Pradesh government with assistance from International Finance Corporation (IFC) – inter-state open access sale of about 25% of power output to Delhi Metro Rail, a state government offtake payment guarantee and deemed generation compensation for grid unavailability. All these features are being adopted for the first time in a public solar procurement tender in India and may provide a template for future,” said Jasmeet Khurana, associate director – from Bridge to India. According to Khurana the overall risk profile for Rewa tender is amongst the best in India and similar to projects tendered by National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), which received the lowest-ever tariff bid in India of Rs 4.34 per unit for a 70 MW project in Rajasthan in January 2016. Since then, module prices have declined by about 28%. Bidding interest in the tender seems strong with likely participants including SoftBank, Adani, ReNew Power, Enel, Engie, AES, FRV, Essel Infra, Azure Power and Hero Future Energies amongst others said a Bridge to India statement. Looking at all these factors, Bridge to India expects tariffs to fall substantially below the Rs 4.00 per unit mark, especially as there is a 5 paise annual escalation in tariffs for 15 years and the tender provides 18 months for execution in a phased manner. The Rewa tender addresses two of the most critical risks for solar project developers in India – offtake and grid availability. If the tender results are as competitive as expected, it would provide a template for other states for solar power procurement. Buster Skrine Womens Jersey
India poised for huge growth in solar energy: Piyush Goyal
India is poised for huge growth in solar energy and it won’t stop at the 100GW solar power target to be achieved by 2022, Power Minister Piyush Goyal has said. “The 100 gigawatt target for solar should not be a constraint. India won’t stop at 100 GW,” Goyal said addressing the first India-specific session at a conference in Abu Dhabi. “With the advent of new technology in storage, we are poised for huge growth. Solar growth will support landowners to derive income and solar industry to build their business,” he said as per a statement issued today by industry body Ficci which has organised the World Future Energy Summit from January 15-18. Goyal said: “With the advent of new technology in storage, we are poised for huge growth. Solar growth will support landowners to derive income and solar industry to build their business.” The minster was of the view that India should manufacture in India for India and should assess what it would take for the country to be an end-to-end solution provider for solar energy. “We can manufacture at scale. A subsidy regime is not the best way to move forward. We need to draw up a regime where government can be an enabler for manufacturing to compete at good quality and prices,” Goyal said. He added: “We need to foster partnerships with high quality technology suppliers. We will provide large tracts of land to manufacture at scale. Indian developers should also promote Indian manufacturing.” Matt Calvert Jersey
No returning to subsidies on petrol, diesel: Government
The government today ruled out reverting to the system of subsidising auto fuel but said it may resort to cut in excise duties if rate hike “pinches hard” even as there has been Rs 5.21 per litre hike in petrol price and Rs 4.45 in diesel rates since December. “There will be no subsidy regime in petrol and diesel,” Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said. “Petrol price was deregulated in June 2010 and diesel in October 2014 and the same will continue.” The surge in international oil prices has led to petrol prices being hiked for the fourth time since December and thrice in case of diesel. Petrol price was hiked by 42 paisa and diesel by Rs 1.03 a litre (excluding local levies), effective last midnight. Petrol in Delhi now costs Rs 71.14 a litre as against Rs 65.93 in end November. Similarly, diesel rates have gone up from Rs 54.57 a litre to Rs 59.02. “There will be no going back to subsidisation. Subsidies are anti-poor. Subsidy should be given only to needy persons and not to people who can afford,” he said, indicating that auto fuels are being mostly consumed by people who can afford them. Asked if the government will look at cutting excise duty, he said no developed country had passed on the entire slump in global oil prices that began in second half of 2014 to take crude to more than a decade low, to consumers. Even oil producing nations like Saudi Arabia and UAE used it as an opportunity to cut subsidies, he said, adding that India raised excise duty to take away part of the gain arising from slump in global oil prices then. “We passed on 50 per cent of the benefit of oil prices slump to consumers and the rest 50 per cent we recouped by way of raising excise duty. This additional revenue was used to fund infrastructure and social projects,” he said. When oil prices slumped in the second half of 2014 and early 2015, the government hiked excise duty on petrol and diesel nine times to mop up additional revenues that helped it meet its revenue and fiscal deficit targets. In all, it raised excise duty on petrol by Rs 11.77 a litre and that on diesel by Rs 13.47. But global oil prices have been moving up since oil cartel OPEC last month agreed to cut output for the first time in eight years. India, which depends on imports to meet 80 per cent of its oil needs, will have to spend Rs 9,126 crore (USD 1.36 billion) more every year for one dollar per barrel increase in crude oil. Besides, the rising crude oil trajectory impacts inflation and growth. India spent USD 63.96 billion on crude oil import in 2015-16, about half of USD 112.7 billion outgo in the previous fiscal and USD 143 billion in 2013-14. For the current fiscal, the import bill has been pegged at USD 66 billion at an average import price of USD 48 per barrel. International oil prices currently are trading above USD 52 per barrel. Every rupee per litre increase in petrol price leads to 0.02 per cent rise in WPI inflation and 0.07 per cent for the same amount of increase in diesel rates. Nathan Noel Authentic Jersey
UAE beats India as top exporter of petroleum to Kenya
India has lost ground to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as Kenya’s top supplier of petroleum amid a shrinking oil import bill linked to lower global prices. Kenya’s fuel imports from New Delhi shrunk to Sh51.3 billion in the first 10 months of last year, from Sh89.1 billion in a similar period of 2015, representing a 42 per cent drop or a cutback of Sh37.8 billion. Over the period, petroleum imports from UAE jumped 18 per cent to Sh58.1 billion in the review period, overtaking India as the single largest supplier of fuel consumed in Kenya, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data shows. The Middle East nation has made a comeback on Kenya’s top import table for petroleum, having lost the position to India after the closure of Kenya’s only refinery in Mombasa in 2013. Kenya now imports all of its refined products with the defunct refinery turned into a storage facility. The country’s petroleum import bill narrowed by Sh30 billion to Sh167.8 billion in the year to October 2016, despite a sharp rise in consumption, official data shows. This was helped by lower global prices which are, however, on the rebound following a recent pact by oil producers to cut production. India had in recent years ramped up oil supply to Kenya on the strength of Gulf Africa Petroleum Corporation’s (Gapco) operations in Kenya, which is 76 per cent owned by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries. Gapco is now set to be acquired by French firm Total. The firm has been Kenya’s largest oil importer for the past three years under the open tenders system (OTS) floated by the Ministry of Energy. Under OTS, one marketer buys oil consignment in bulk to supply the rest of the industry, entitling the country to huge discounts. The system also made it possible for the energy regulator to introduce maximum price controls at the pump in December 2010, to cushion consumers from cartels in the industry. The KNBS data shows that Kenya took in Sh34.7 billion worth of petroleum from Saudi Arabia in the year to October 2016, up from Sh25 billion a year earlier, making the Arab nation the third supplier of Nairobi’s fuel needs. Bahrain comes in fourth with Sh4.2 billion worth of supplies, followed by Oman (Sh4.1 billion) and Sh3 billion for Netherlands. The UAE was once Kenya’s top exporter of goods, mainly oil, but lost the pole position to India in 2012, which has since been overtaken by the bullish China. The KNBS data shows that Abu Dhabi is now the third seller of goods to Nairobi at Sh79.6 billion in the year to October 2016, behind India (Sh170 billion) and China (Sh275 billion). Gilbert Perreault Womens Jersey
HPCL in talks with six foreign suppliers for gas at LNG terminal
Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL) is in talks with six foreign suppliers to source liquefied natural gas (LNG) for its Rs 54 billion LNG terminal coming up at the Chhara Port in Gujarat. The company also plans to enter the spot LNG market this year, said two officials aware of the development. HPCL has an equal joint venture agreement with Shapoorji Pallonji Port Pvt. Ltd to build the 5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) LNG terminal at Chhara Port. The terminal is expected to be commissioned by 2019. “HPCL is in dialogue with at least six parties internationally to source gas for the Chhara LNG terminal that it will complete by 2019. Currently, it is studying the segments and catchment areas where it can market its gas,” said the first of the two people mentioned above, speaking on the condition of anonymity as he is not allowed to speak to the media. Stephen Hauschka Jersey