Restructuring Air India debt will make it perform better: Raju
The government is looking to restructure the outstanding debt of state-owned airline Air India and is ready to talk to parties interested to buy stake in the company. In an interview with BusinessLine, Union Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said that Air India is expected to perform better if its debt is restructured. The aviation company has been in loss for years and has accumulated a debt of around Rs 46,000 crore. “I am not someone who will indulge in ‘Air India-bashing’, but neither am I going to commit the taxpayers’ money for eternity,” Raju said, indicating that Air India won’t have the government’s support forever. David Schlemko Authentic Jersey
Telangana gets Rs 8,000 crore highway projects ‘gift’
Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari on Saturday announced Rs 8,000 crore worth projects for development of national highways in Telangana. The road projects, extending to 460 km include development of the Jagityal-Karimnagar, Suryapet-Khammam, Sangareddy-Nanded, Mancherial -Chandrapur and Kodad-Khammam national highways. Speaking at the 77th annual session of Indian Roads Congress (IRC), the Union minister asked state governments to utilize services of engineering and polytechnic students in creation of road infrastructure in their respective states. He said that road projects should be designed to be accidents-free and people should also be encouraged to use alternative fuels such as bio-diesel and methanol. Gadkari said the Centre in creased the length of national highways from 96,000 km to 2 lakh km as national highways play a key role in economic development. He advised the states to make use of waste material such as plastic and mining waste in road construction and asked to take the help of IITs in the waste usage technology. The minister said the Centre would bear the cost of bridges if they were constructed linking check-dams, which would be helpful for conservation of water. He announced that the government would soon invite Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao for inauguration of a bridge across Godavari river at Sironcha in Maharashtra. Telangana roads and buildings (R&B) department minister Tummala Nageshwara Rao, IRC chairman SS Porwal and secretary general SS Nahar, R&B department principal secretary Sunil Sharma, engineers-in-chief of R&B dept, Bikshapathiwere present at the event. Adrian Clayborn Jersey
Cashless is the buzzword as NHAI gears up to make toll levy digital
If the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has its way, the toll plazas on our highways will soon be the gateway to a ‘less-cash, more-digital’ future, as visioned by the Centre. Various measures such as installation of point-of-sales (PoS) machines at the toll plazas, and popularising Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) systems are being introduced to support the NHAI mission of minimising cash use. To arrive there, however, will take more time as NHAI officials say an almost negligible number of vehicle users subscribe to the ETC systems that have been rolled out across India from April 2016. ETC system, also called as FASTag, deducts toll payments directly from the prepaid account of a vehicle user as it passes through a toll plaza. According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, around 1.08 lakh such tags had been issued, that collect a mere 0.29% of the total toll collection till September. The figure is more glaring if the data for Tamil Nadu are considered. The NHAI officials say less than 2% of the entire traffic on the Chennai-Bengaluru highway, where the facility is now in use, use FASTag. Despite the less-than-heartening situation, the NHAI is pressing ahead with its plans. While ETC has already been installed at five toll plazas on the Chennai-Bengaluru highway, officials say they will focus on the Chennai- Madurai stretch soon. “There are eight toll plazas on that highway. Although ETC machines have been installed, they are yet to be synchronised. The process, which was to get over by this month end, has been delayed till March next year,” an official told Express. Talks are going on with regular road users, viz. the large transport providers, including bus and truck services, to use the facility. “The state transport corporation is excited as we have offered an incentive of 10% cashback. Another feature about ETC is that the tags, which are fixed to the vehicle, can monitor its movement,” the official added. Details such as when the vehicle crossed a toll plaza, its speed can be obtained through online tracking. Another important step taken is the provision of PoS machines at all toll plazas in the State. The State now has a network of more than 5,000 km of National Highways with a total of 42 toll plazas. Each plaza has been allotted 10 PoS machines for card payments. Cody Hodgson Authentic Jersey
Centre plans dedicated fund for infra finance
The country’s infrastructure sector, requiring investments of more than $1.5 trillion in the coming ten years, is set to get a boost with a dedicated fund of Rs.10,000 crore to provide credit enhancement for commercially viable projects. The fund — through ‘unconditional and irrevocable partial credit guarantee’ — will help enhance the credit rating of bonds issued by infrastructure firms so that they, in turn, can attract long-term investments especially from global insurance, pension and sovereign wealth funds. Prior to the setting up of the dedicated fund, the Reserve Bank of India is expected to bring out a comprehensive regulatory framework for credit enhancement to infrastructure projects and Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFC) keen on the business. The central bank’s norms for credit enhancement products will include capital requirement and bad loans or asset classification. SPV route The dedicated fund will be in the form of a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) and will be categorised an NBFC-Infrastructure Finance Company. Its promoters are likely to include Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), General Insurance Corporation of India, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Power Finance Corporation, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency and India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL). The government is keen on roping in international financial institutions such as Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, New Development Bank (formerly BRICS Development Bank), International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group), and talks are on in this regard, sources close to the development said. Also, other Indian public sector insurance companies, large state-owned banks and the National Investment & Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) are expected to contribute to the fund that will have an authorised capital of Rs.10,000 crore. The initial minimum paid-up capital will be Rs.500 crore, which will be quickly scaled up with regular capital infusion to Rs.10,000 crore. The SPV will issue an array of credit enhancement products that will initially cover post-Commercial Operations Date (COD) projects (where construction is over and commercial operations have begun, with the project generating cash flows), and subsequently even the pre-COD projects (where the construction process is on). Bond market The development follows the announcement in the Budget 2016-17 on the proposed measures to deepen the corporate bond market. It had been proposed in the FY17 Budget that the LIC would establish a dedicated fund to provide credit enhancement to infrastructure projects. However, the LIC was not keen as it did not have the needed expertise in credit enhancement. The government then asked the state-owned IIFCL, which already has a credit enhancement scheme and is in the infrastructure finance business, to work on the fund and provide inputs to the RBI for firming up a regulatory framework after studying the prevailing credit enhancement facilities in countries such as the U.S., Canada and even Indonesia. Vinayak Chatterjee, Chairman, Feedback Infra, said: “Globally, most infrastructure projects have used a variety of credit enhancement products. “Credit enhancement measures can help reduce interest rate costs by almost two per cent, which is very significant.” State-owned insurers The public sector insurers, leading state-owned banks and multilateral lending agencies are being made part of the large fund as it needs deep-pocketed promoters with an understanding of the risks involved in investing in the infrastructure sector — where projects have huge capital needs, but with long-gestation periods and returns coming in slowly. A majority of the around 1,500 infrastructure projects in the country in various stages of development are rated at BBB-level, and the dedicated fund can help enhance this rating and help them raise more funds, especially from overseas investors who invest only in higher-rated (AA) projects. The fund/SPV will charge a small fee, and the fee structure will depend on the difference in interest rates between the rates offered by banks and that in the bond market (with a lower interest rate than the bank rates). Tomas Plekanec Womens Jersey
CCEA gives nod for Pawan Hans disinvestment
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given the go-ahead for strategic disinvestment in Pawan Hans Limited. The ‘in-principle’ approval for the strategic disinvestment is based on the recommendations of the Core Group of Secretaries on Disinvestment and the decision was taken by the CCEA on October 27. Minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha told the Lok Sabha that CCEA had approved the recommendation for disinvestment of 100%shareholding of the government to a strategic buyer identified through two-stage auction process. Pawan Hans Ltd. is the national helicopter company of India. It was incorporated in 1985. The government holds a 51% stake in Pawan Hans while the rest 49% is held by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. Pawan Hans was incorporated with the primary objective of providing helicopter support services to the oil sector for its off-shore exploration operations, services in remote and hilly areas and charter services for promotion of tourism. “Running an aviation company should be the job of professionals. This is a step in the right direction,” said aviation expert Rajji Rai. Pawan Hans has grown into one of Asia’s largest helicopter company that maintains and operates by offering wide range of services to its clients through its fleet of 46 helicopters. John Johnson Authentic Jersey
India Signs Open Skies Agreement With Six Countries
India has signed an Open Skies Agreement with six countries at the International Civil Aviation Negotiations (ICAN), 2016 which were held in Nassau from December 5-9. These are Jamaica, Guyana, Czech Republic, Finland, Spain and Sri Lanka. The open skies allows unlimited number of flights to six metro airports namely Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Chennai. The Conference was attended by 106 countries out of ICAO membership of 191 countries. India held negotiations with 17 countries and “Memorandum of Understanding” was signed with 12 countries. India also renegotiated traffic rights with Oman increasing the entitlements with 6,258 seats effective from Summer 2017. India agreed with Saudi Arabia to increase the capacity by 8000 seats per week. “This was in response to the needs of increasing traffic between the two countries where Indian carriers have been utilising open sky in Damman to mount more flights than the Saudi Arabian side,” the aviation ministry said. Indian also agreed with Ghana to increase the present allocation of 2 frequencies to 7 frequencies per week. Negotiations were completed with nine countries to enable the legal framework between the governments of these countries to make possible code shares between the airlines ofIndia has signed an Open Skies Agreement with six countries at the International Civil Aviation Negotiations (ICAN), 2016 which were held in Nassau from December 5-9. two sides. “The negotiations have enabled domestic code shares with Czech Republic, Portugal and Malaysia, domestic and international code shares including third country airlines with Guyana, removal of restriction of counting of capacity in case of code share with 3rd country carriers and domestic code share to additional two points to Mauritius, code share with 3rd country carriers and 4 additional domestic code share points with Saudi Arabia and Spain and code share with 3rd country carriers with Sri Lanka.” Dallas Cowboys Jersey
China targets 2020 renewable power output of 1.9 trillion kilowatt hour
China is targeting renewable energy output of 1.9 trillion kilowatt hour (KWh) by 2020, accounting for 27 percent of the country’s total power output, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in its latest five-year plan for renewable energy on Friday. The country aims to have installed renewable power capacity of 680 gigawatts (GW) by 2020, NDRC said. China has released a series of plans for its power industry, pledging to limit coal-fired power and further develop renewables supplies. Melker Karlsson Womens Jersey
Mopa airport: Agrawal to expedite compensation
The state cabinet on Friday appointed former collector N D Agrawal as advisor to the director of civil aviation for four months to expedite the disbursal of compensation against acquisition of land for construction of the Mopa airport. Chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar told reporters that the government had to pay Rs 54.79 crore as compensation. Though the entire amount has been deposited with EDC Limited, the sum disbursed, including deposits made in court, is Rs 13.09 crore. Jared Veldheer Jersey
More international connectivity is need of the hour
Traders and industrialists have for long been demanding more international flights from Madurai. At present, Dubai and Sri Lanka are the only two foreign countries connected directly by Madurai airport. Although many foreign operators are willing to launch flights from the city airport, especially in the backdrop of international cargo facility, they could not do so in the absence of a bilateral treaty. The traders want the ministry of civil aviation to take steps to ensure more flights connecting various international destinations. According to Madurai Travel Club’s estimation, more than three lakh people travel every year between Dubai and Madurai. Two lakh people working in Dubai hail from Madurai and southern districts. In all, 20 to 30 per cent of international passengers from Chennai are from Madurai and southern districts. Around 30 to 40 per cent of international passengers using Trichy Airport are from nine districts around Madurai. Club also says that Dubai being one of the topmost tourist destinations in the world for sightseeing and shopping, direct flights would facilitate more leisure travellers from south Tamil Nadu. Paul Pierce Womens Jersey
Vellore may soon be on civil aviation map
Vellore’s long-felt need for an airport might soon become a reality. On Friday, senior officials of the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Chennai, inspected the airport at Abdullapuram to test the landing and study the infrastructure requirements to start commercial operations. According to officials, the senior AAI officials and a private operator flew to the airport in a six-seat private flight. “The officials visited the airport to test the flight landing. They wanted to see the state of the runway and if it was possible to land on the airstrip or not. The plan is to start commercial operations in the existing place,” an officer said. AAI owns nearly 50 acres of land here. The runway was 750 metres long, he said and added that the authorities looked at the various infrastructure requirements for passengers. “As of now, there are no facilities at the airport. They studied the buildings and amenities that would be required for passengers,” he added. Evander Kane Womens Jersey