Ban diesel vehicles in 4 states: NGT on Delhi pollution
Slamming the Centre and Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana governments over non compliance and inaction to tackle air pollution, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday proposed to expand the scope of diesel vehicle ban, which is enforced in Delhi, to the four states. The tribunal also directed the central and state governments to declare emergency if the particulate matter (p.m.) 2.5 and 10 reaches in excess of 500 and 300 micrograms respectively. During the emergency, the tribunal said the states must temporarily shutdown thermal power plants and close all construction activities in the affected areas. The tribunal also reached to the corporates and asked them to collect and dispose agricultural residues under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. With regards to stubble burning which has been, reasoned by many, as the major cause of air pollution, the green court asked the central and state governments to constitute committees to tackle crop burning and find out the source of pollution. The concerned committees will then have to report to the NGT and update it about the steps being implemented. The Delhi government on Sunday unveiled a slew of steps, including closure of all schools for three days, to battle unprecedented smog levels that have drastically cut visibility and turned the national capital into a virtual gas chamber. Justin Williams Authentic Jersey
Govt’s target of 25,000 km of highway projects may not be met in FY17
Government may fall short of its target of awarding 25,000 km of highway projects in the current financial year as delays in project clearances impact growth in the sector. So far, a meagre 18% of the highway projects have been awarded during the current financial year as against the target of 25,000 km. “On an average project clearances takes about one and one-and-a-half year, this delays the award process, ” road minister Nitin Gadkari said at the Economic Editor’s Conference. Land acquisition, environment and forest clearance is required prior to award of a highway project. Road projects of 4,433 km have been awarded till October 2016 of which 3,591 km have been constructed. The construction target of roads for the current year is 15,000 km. Gadkari has announced Rs 2 lakh crore investment for constructing expressways in the poll-bound states of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. Of these, projects worth Rs 30,000 crore are already underway in UP. But officials said land acquisition cost may prove to be a real challenge because of the steep cost involved, Business Standard reported recently. Expressways, by definition, are greenfield projects and involve huge land acquisition cost. As much as Rs 10-12 crore per km of cost is incurred in the expansion of a highway from two-lane to four-lane. The number would be five to six times higher in a greenfield project like expressway. Estimates suggest land acquisitions costs constitute around 50 per cent of the total cost of the expressway project. On an average, an expressway is built at a width of 100-feet. The cost of land acquisition varies from state to state and can even differ at two locations in the same state, an official said. The Western Peripheral Expressway (Kundli-Manesar-Palwal) and the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal) are among other projects delayed for over a decade. These are likely to be completed by December 2017. The projects would benefit Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, as they will open both the rural as well as the urban areas for developing commercial spaces and townships along the expressways, apart from generating revenue. The projects are also expected to improve air pollution levels in Delhi and decongest the national Capital. Another project is the New Delhi to Katra (Jammu & Kashmir) expressway, which would also reduce travel time to Amritsar by about two-and-a-half hours. The Delhi-Amritsar-Katra expressway would be executed on an alignment cutting across Jind in Haryana and connecting Amritsar via Barnala in Punjab. The project — that would come up at a cost of Rs 60,000 crore — would reduce the distance between Delhi and Katra by 110 km. The distance from Delhi to Katra via National Highway-1 is 729 km. In addition, the government has prepared a blueprint of expressways stretching across 18,000 km. But experts remain sceptical of the ambitious announcements made by the minister, mainly on account of land acquisition cost involved. At present, there are only a clutch of expressways in the country, including the Mumbai-Pune expressway, that was built at a cost of over Rs 1,600 crore and became fully operational in April 2002. In order to complete the proposed projects on time, the road construction pace has to be set at 30 km per day, as promised by Gadkari, after he took charge in May 2014. Johnny Unitas Jersey
Twenty Five lakh crore rupees investment in highways and shipping in 5 yrs: Nitin Gadkari
To overhaul infrastructure, government is lining up Rs 25 lakh crore for the highways and shipping sectors in 5 years, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Wednesday. “We are doing massive work in the infrastructure sector. There will be investment worth Rs 25 lakh crore in highways and shipping in 5 years,” Gadkari, who holds road transport, highways and shipping, said while addressing the Economic Editors Conference 2016. His estimate is the investment of Rs 25 lakh crore in the sector is bound to boost GDP by 3 per cent and this will also create at least 5 crore jobs. According to the minister, so far projects worth Rs 4 lakh crore have been awarded, including projects worth Rs 3.17 lakh crore in highways and Rs 80,000 crore in shipping. He backed up his claims saying the massive work has led to construction of 22 km of highways per day, whereas the ministry is striving to achieve 42 km a day target and is working hard in that direction. Highway construction target for 2016-17 is 15,000 km and “till October, we constructed 3,591 km”, he said. The minister said that the current BJP government so far has constructed 14,594 km of highways while it has awarded projects for construction of another 21,247 km. The government is in the process of finalising project reports of 12 expressways soon and work on the same will start. Two key projects, Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways will be completed in the next seven months, the minister said. “Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, has asked us to complete both these projects to decongest Delhi within 400 days and accordingly, the work is going on and we are hopeful to complete these in the next seven months,” Gadkari added. The government remains “committed” to increasing the length of National Highways to 2 lakh km. The length of National Highways has already been increased to 1.65 lakh km, from the earlier 96,000 km. Also on the priority list of the government is improving the infrastructure in the North-East, and Rs 1 lakh crore investment has been pencilled in for the same. Asked about the delays in projects in Kerala, he pointed to land acquisition as a major hindrance but the situation has improved recently with a new government there. Turning to Tamil Nadu projects and the one involving elevated corridor of the Chennai Port, the minister said: “I may be a go-getter in India, but I am failing in exam in Tamil Nadu.” Gadkari said policy initiatives and other measures have resulted in unlocking Rs 3.8 lakh crore of stalled projects. He expressed happiness that bankers and and private players interest in the road sector has revived. He is clear that there is no question of scrapping toll fees and people need to pay for the same if they want to avail better services. The minister sees immense potential of waterways in the country, including cruise tourism, and the government is working to give a push in this direction. The government has already approved conversion of 111 rivers across the country into waterways. “Work on 20 inland waterway projects will start soon,” the minister added. Emphasis is on port rail connectivity projects and works worth Rs 22,000 crore are being undertaken through Port Rail Corporation. Indian Port Rail Corporation (IPRCL), which has been set up to take up last-mile rail connectivity for ports, have taken up 25 works across 9 major ports. Of this, 4 have already been awarded and 9 more are in the pipeline for the remaining part of 2016-17. Out of the final list of 27 rail connectivity projects identified under Sagarmala, 21 for 3,300 km worth Rs 28,000 crore are being taken up by the Ministry of Railways and 6 worth Rs 3,590 crore are to be taken up either in Non-Government Rail (NGR) or JV model through IPRCL. The ambitious Sagarmala project is under way, in which five coastal economic zones are being developed. The idea is to reduce logistics cost for exim and domestic trade with minimal infrastructure investment and Sagarmala aspires to reduce logistics costs leading to overall cost savings of Rs 35,000-40,000 crore per annum. As part of Sagarmala, more than 400 projects, at an estimated infrastructure investment of more than Rs 8 lakh crore, have been identified. Master plans have been finalised for the 12 major ports and based on the same, 142 port capacity expansion projects worth Rs 91,434 crore have been identified for implementation over the next 20 years. “Out of this, 30 projects worth Rs 11,612 crore have been proposed for implementation starting 2016-17,” he said. In addition, 6 new port locations have been identified and will be developed – Vadhavan, Enayam, Sagar Island, Paradip Outer Harbour, Sirkazhi, and Belekeri. Seventy-nine road connectivity projects have been identified under Sagarmala and will be taken up, including 18 projects under Bharatmala scheme. An Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) has also been formed to develop a strategy and implementation road map for coastal shipping of coal and other commodities and products, he said. Zack Kassian Womens Jersey
Bankers fear post-S4A, their Hindustan Construction Company stake may fall under 26%
The consortium of 25 lenders to construction firm Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) might end up holding a stake smaller than 26% in the firm after implementing the scheme for sustainable structuring of stressed assets or S4A, a few bankers apprehend. Bankers will finalise the details of the R5,107-crore recast on Wednesday by which a portion of the unsustainable debt will be converted into equity. However,a statement by the company saying banks will hold 24.44% of the equity following the conversion is worrying some lenders. “A 26% stake would have given us the power to block a special resolution,” a banker observed. Of the company’s total debt of R5,107 crore, R2,426 crore has been found to be “unsustainable”. Some part of this will be converted into equity and rest into optionally convertible debentures with a maturity of10 years. The promoters’ stake will fall to 27.44% from 36.07% currently. HCC will be the first company to get its debt restructured under S4A scheme. A senior banker said the joint lenders’ forum (JLF) has to set a timeline for implementation of S4A and banks will have to issue margin guarantees to HCC against R3,200 crore where the arbitration awards were in favour of the company. “The guarantees will be proportional to the money loaned by each bank of the consortium,” he said, adding that it should not take more than a month to implement S4A. The banker added that a techno-economic viability study has found 52.5% of HCC debt to be sustainable. “The sustainable portion would have been higher if the company was able to get its receivables through arbitration. However, under the current guidelines, only current cash flows can be considered to calculate the sustainable debt,” he explained. HCC reported a net loss of Rs 318 crore on revenues of Rs 8,768 crore in FY16. In July, the company had informed stock exchanges the JLF meeting held on July 12, 2016, had decided to resolve the account under S4A. Subsequently, however, bankers clarified that while they had agreed to look into the proposal, no conclusive decision had been taken at the meeting. The S4A scheme has been viewed as an improvement over the strategic debt restructuring plan since it allows banks to retain the promoters whereas SDR envisaged bringing in a new set of promoters. The S4A scheme is more lenient to lenders since bankers may need to take an effective haircut of 50% if only half the debt is found to be sustainable. The scheme, however, does not permit changes in the terms of either the moratorium or the payments of principal or the interest. Banks are permitted to convert the ‘unsustainable’ part of the debt into equity or redeemable cumulative optionally convertible preference shares. To be eligible for the scheme, the projects should have commenced commercial operations and the total exposure (including accrued interest should be more than Rs 500 crore. Moreover, lenders need to have provided for at least 20% of the total loans. Aldrick Rosas Jersey
Toll tax suspended on national highways till Nov 11, banks open this weekend
The government on Wednesday suspended toll collection on national highways across the country till November 11 and asked banks to work this weekend as millions of people grappled to adjust to a life without the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknote. “It has been decided to suspend Toll across all National Highways till midnight of 11th November to facilitate smooth traffic movement,” Union minister for road transport and highways and shipping Nitin Gadkari wrote on Facebook. “There will be logistic issues in returning change for Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes,” Gadkari said. The Reserve Bank of India said ATMs will start dispensing Rs 50 and Rs 100 notes from Thursday. Banks have also been asked not to charge any fee for ATM transactions till December 30. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s late night announcement on Tuesday demonetised Rs 500 and 1000 currency notes , resulting in 86% of currency in circulation by value no longer being accepted as legal tender. However, some concessions are allowed for use of these notes at hospitals and crematoriums, and to buy air, rail and bus tickets till November 11. Toll plazas also continued to accept the devalued currency, according to an earlier announcement by the ministry. “The commuters are giving us Rs 500, but are not ready to accept it. This is the main reason for the chaos and arguments with people. We are facing a lot of difficulty,” said public relations officer Skylark toll company Kirpal Singh. “Eighty percent of the commuters have given us Rs 1000 and are not ready to accept Rs 500 in return,” Singh added. Most commuters tried to hand in the scrapped notes at toll plazas in a bid to get them changed into Rs 100 and Rs 50 denominations, but the concessionaires quickly ran out of paper money and traffic slowed to a crawl. Thousands of commuters and office goers were stranded in a massive traffic jam at the Gurgaon-Delhi Expressway on Wednesday. Wednesday’s decision to declare all roadways toll-free is to give the administration time to resolve logistical issues in replenishing plazas with lower-value currency notes. ATMs, which will remain closed on Wednesday and Thursday, will start dispensing new currency notes on November 11, relieving some of the cash crunch brought on by the surprise announcement. But panic-stricken people rushed to railway stations and petrol pumps to use up the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, spending more than Rs 1 lakh for train tickets. Railway minister Suresh Prabhu said people were lining up with Rs 1,000 notes to purchase platform tickets of Rs 10 each. Delhi Metro sparked anger earlier in the day, putting up notices saying it will not accept Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes but later reversed the decision. It said the notes of the two denominations will continue to be legal tender till Friday midnight. Deion Sanders Womens Jersey
India, ADB sign $48 mn loan agreement for Assam
India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed a $48 million loan agreement towards improving Assam’s power distribution system, an official statement said on Tuesday. “The project will help Assam to enhance capacity and efficiency of its power distribution system to improve electricity service to end users,” the Finance Ministry said. This is the second tranche loan of the $300 million multi-tranche financing facility for the Assam Power Sector Investment Programme that was approved by the ADB Board in July 2014. The first tranche loan of $50 million was signed in February 2015. “This loan will help strengthen the state’s distribution system, improve energy efficiency and reduce technical and commercial losses,” said M. Teresa Kho, country director of ADB’s India Resident Mission. The loan of $48 million from ADB makes up to 80 per cent of the total project cost of almost $60 million, with the state government providing counterpart finance of $12 million. The loan has a 25-year term, including a five-year grace period with an annual interest rate. Bobby Clarke Authentic Jersey
No downgrading in case of loan default: Operational infrastructure projects may get ratings shield
Infrastructure projects that have started commercial operations will not be downgraded to junk ratings if their promoters temporarily default on loan payments, ensuring that the supply of funds does not dry up for developers facing constraints. For this, the government will soon come out with a new ratings methodology that will factor in expected loss and the ratings of such infrastructure projects will only suffer to a limited extent. A senior government official confirmed the development and said that their idea was to prevent the ‘one-day-one rupee’ delay for default recognition that causes lasting damage to a project. “In this scenario, the ratings of the company plummet and it further finds it difficult to service the debt. The idea is to assess the ratings depending upon the project’s viability,” the official said, not wanting to be identified. Finance minister Arun Jaitley in his 2016-17 budget speech had announced that the government was looking to work out a new credit rating system for infrastructure projects that will give “emphasis to various in-built credit enhancement structures” and not rely upon “a standard perception of risk which often result in mispriced loans”. The government official quoted above said that the new rating system would ensure that “if ratings of such a project is marginally impacted, other long-term investors such as insurance and pension funds will still be able to participate in their public issuances”. The official said discussions were on with all regulators including capital market watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India on the new rating system. Initially, this benefit will only be extended to companies whose projects have achieved commercial operations. “All this will depend on the current and expected cash flow of the project,” said another official aware of the deliberations. “Today, if a company defaults for a day, its account becomes a non-performing asset and it becomes difficult for promoters to salvage it. Such ratings will give them the recourse to approach other financial institutions,” the official said. But all regulators are not convinced. “The viability of these projects will depend upon assumptions that some of them may be beyond the promoter’s control. There needs to a benchmark list on what conditions these projects should fulfil before a new improved rating is assigned to them,” said a senior official from a pension regulator. A senior official with Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) said that it is a better idea to start with projects that have achieved commercial operation declaration. “Since most of the risks occur before implementation, in such projects those causes can be identified and if there is a way out, then only ratings can be assigned,” he said. Vince Carter Jersey
I am minister, you have to do it. You do or die: Nitin Gadkari to bureaucrats
India’s plan to sustain its position as the world’s fastest-growing major economy hinges on availability of cheaper funds for the road and port builders, the country’s transport minister Nitin Gadkari said. “Interest rate to infrastructure projects is 11% and it is not good for the sector,” Gadkari said at a Bloomberg event in Mumbai on Monday. “The ideal interest rate to infrastructure sector should be less than 7%.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration is stepping up construction of roads, ports and airports as part of plans to fulfil his 2014 election pledge of boosting economic growth and improving ease of doing business. High interest rates at home makes borrowing overseas cheaper at a time when government plans to triple spending on the sector compared to the average of the past three years. The roads ministry is aiming to boost network of highways covering the vast South Asian nation to about 200,000 kilometres by the end of December, Gadkari said. Eyeing overseas investors, the government will monetize 101 toll roads, he added. Road construction is key to creating jobs crucial for Modi ahead of key state polls next year and a general election that’s due by 2019. Only about 55-60% of India’s roads are paved, while more than a third of China’s 4.5 million kilometers (2.8 million miles) are fully built, based on Bloomberg Intelligence analysis. India’s gross domestic product is expanding at a more than 7% pace and Gadkari said boosting country’s infrastructure, whose quality is ranked below that of China and Indonesia, is key to improving economic sentiment. The government aims to build about 40 kilometers of roads a day in the year ending March 31, according to the roads ministry. As many as 95% of stalled road projects are back on track now, the minister said. A project logjam had slowed the pace to about 3 kilometers when Modi’s government took office just over two years ago. “It is my responsibility as minister to give them a big target and to ensure it is done,” Gadkari said, adding that he has to sometime coax reluctant officers to achieve them. “I tell them I am minister, you have to do it. You do or die.” New England Patriots Jersey
Toll plazas may see trucks pile up on currency freeze
Trucks on the highways may come to a standstill if the toll plazas are to stop accepting ?500 and ?1,000 notes with effect from tonight. “Truckers should be allowed to exchange ?500 and ?1000 at toll booths over the next two-three days. For truckers on the road, toll booths are like petrol pumps and hospitals,” said SP Singh, Senior Fellow, Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRT). The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) Chairman Raghav Chandra said the authority will do whatever is required to protect the interest of commuters and within the legal framework. Railway counters will accept the ?500 and ?1000 notes. However, people travelling in long distance trains could face problems. “Passengers can use ?500/1000 notes to buy train tickets or food from railway catering,” Mohd Jamshed, Member-Traffic, Railway Board. Steve Yzerman Authentic Jersey
SBI plans to raise Rs 5,000 cr via long-term bonds
State Bank of India (SBI) plans to raise Rs 5,000 crore through issuance of long-term bonds in domestic and overseas markets to finance infrastructure and affordable housing in the current fiscal. “A meeting of executive committee of the central board of the bank is scheduled to be held on November 10, 2016, inter alia, to examine and decide for issuance of long-term bonds of Rs 5,000 crore in domestic and overseas markets for financing of infrastructure and affordable housing (Infra Bonds) during financial year 2017 on private placement in tranches at appropriate time,” SBI said in a BSE filing. Ben Tate Authentic Jersey