Kerala seeks inclusion of Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode in Smart City list
The Kerala government has requested the Centre to include Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode in the Smart City list, state Minister for Local Self- Governance K T Jaleel today said. Jaleel met Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and urged him to include the state capital, along with Kozhikode, in the list. “Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode need to fulfill certain requisites to become eligible to be considered in the Smart city list and we have requested the Union minister to include these two cities along with Kochi, which is already in the list,” Jaleel said in a press meet organised at Kerala House here. The Union minister also promised help through the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) or Housing for All Scheme under which homeless urban dwellers who own land in rural areas would be given assistance to construct houses, the minister said. “The state will finalise a list of homeless people in urban areas who have land in rural or panchayat areas and submit it to the Union government soon so as to avail the grant from the Centre,” the minister added. The minister also said the state has requested the Centre to relax the selection criteria of the homeless under this scheme as according to the present norms, a majority from the state won’t be able to avail the benefit. “If you have a scooter or a television or a refrigerator, you are not eligible under the scheme, but in Kerala most of the families own a television or a scooter which makes many of the able beneficiaries ineligible. We have requested the Centre to relax the norms,” the minister said. Jaleel also met Union Minister for Rural Development Chaudhary Birender Singh and sought help for the state under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). “The Union minister has agreed to allow grants for 105 roads in the state under the PMGSY scheme and also promised to consider a further assistance for 2,000 km in addition to the present 570 km in state,” the minister said. The Union minister has accepted the state’s proposal of Rs 304 crore in addition to the Rs 11.37 crore under the Prime Minister Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), he said. “Under this project, we plan to formalise methods to recharge the rivers and other water bodies in the state,” the minister said, adding Bharathapuzha in the state is being considered under this scheme. The minister will also participate in the Conference of State Panchayat Raj Ministers and Principal Secretaries which is scheduled to take place tomorrow at Vigyan Bahavan here. Indianapolis Colts Authentic Jersey
Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das seeks Centre’s help in building road infra
Jharkhand today sought Centre’s help in building infrastructure in the state, specially the four-lanes of over 635 km National Highways at eight different stretches at the cost of about Rs 8,000 crore. Addressing the 22nd Eastern Zonal Council meeting held here under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief Minister Raghubar Das raised the matter and said proposals in this regard have been sent to the NHAI and the Road Transport and Highways Ministry. Asserting that being a land-locked state, Jharkhand requires very good road and rail infrastructure, Das requested the Centre to expedite the projects. For trade and commercial activities, the state is dependent only on roads. Most of the roads maintained by the NHAI have heavy traffic because of the mineral transports, he said. The Chief Minister also requested the Centre to bear the cost of operations of the CRPF deployed in the state to contain Left Wing Terrorism, as it is a national problem and urged that pending bills to the tune of over Rs 4,000 crore on this account be waived off. Das also raised the issue of distribution of liabilities and assets with Bihar, which according to him was not properly distributed during the bifurcation in the year 2000. The Chief Minister also said, “Bihar is like an elder brother to Jharkhand and we can have mutual differences, but that is not going to come in the way of extending development for the people.” Matt Kalil Jersey
Government may guide Electronics, Leather biggies to set shop in coastal SEZs
The government is considering to handhold some big players in the labour-intensive sectors like garments, leather and electronics to set up shops in coastal special economic zones (SEZs). The idea is to help them set up units at two-three ports, which are yet to be identified, so that these big players build an ecosystem where they create jobs and manufacture products that would cater to both domestic and export markets. A senior government official, privy to the recent high-level meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on employment generation, told ET that Niti Aayog has mooted this proposal as part of government’s strategy to speed up job creation. India is adding nearly 12 million people to the job market every year and more than 65% of its population is below the age of 35, a big demographic advantage for the nation that is aspiring to become human resource capital of the world. “Employment generation is one of the top priorities for PM. Hence, the government is exploring all possible ways to push for job creation in labour intensive sectors,” the official quoted above said on the condition of anonymity. According to the official, government’s premier think-tank Niti Aayog through a long presentation explained the scenarios existing in countries such as Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and outlined the initiatives in these nations that have translated in job creation following which it had recommended for a dedicated employment generation strategy. “The proposal is under consideration and soon the concerned ministries will work out the roadmap to identify the ports and players that could be given incentives to set up manufacturing units at these ports,” the official added. While the contours will be worked out over the next month, the initial plan is to allow products rolled out from these SEZs to be sold in the domestic market as well, unlike the existing provision where manufacturing units in the SEZs are exclusively producing for global market. This would be the first direct intervention by the government to help create jobs. In the last two years, the BJP-led NDA government has liberalised its foreign direct investment policy, indirectly creating opportunities for jobs creation in almost all sectors. Michael Pierce Womens Jersey
Roads, Railways & Power may get Rs 25,000 crore push
The government is mulling an additional Rs 25,000 crore allocation to roads, railways and power sectors over and above the allocation made to them in the Union Budget, potentially providing a mid-year boost to public spending. All three ministries — road transport and highways, railways and power — are currently in advanced talks with the finance ministry to secure additional allocation. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is also pushing for enhanced allocation in these sectors, which coupled with recent reforms, would boost the economic growth of the country. The finance ministry has asked the ministries to come up with the final list of projects that would be undertaken with additional budgetary funding, a senior government official said. The road ministry had soughtRs 15,000 crore as additional allocation, a senior official with the ministry said. However, it has been assured of Rs 10,000 crore by the finance ministry. The highway construction target for the current fiscal year has been set at 15,000 km (41 km a day), which would cost aroundRs 1.5 lakh crore. However, total allocation made to the ministry in the budget has been Rs 57,000 crore along with the permission to raise tax-free bonds worth Rs 15,000 crore. The ministry hopes to raise the remaining amount through funding from Life Insurance Corporation and Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) and by leasing out its completed projects to private equity firms and pension funds. Despite 21 policy changes in recent months, private sector investment is yet to pick up in the roads sector. According to the road ministry official, the additional allocation would be used for four laining the existing highways and for upgrading the state highways into national highways. The railways ministry, which is facing its worst ever financial crunch due to falling revenues and increased project costs, is likely to get an impetus of Rs 12,000 crore. “The additional gross budgetary support (GBS) is likely to be used for clearing stuck projects, upgrading and modernizing the safety of railway lines and decongesting some of its routes. Some high traction electrification projects could also be taken up,” a senior railway board official said. The Railways has a target of constructing 7 km of rail lines per day. In the current year, it has received Rs 45,000 crore as gross budgetary support (GBS) and its total Plan outlay for the year is Rs 1.21 lakh crore. The ministry would also have to bear the burden of the seventh Pay Commission and its wage bill would go up by at least Rs 29,000 crore due to this. The power ministry is hopeful of getting Rs 3,000 crore. It has a target of electrifying at least 14,000 villages across the country. Justin Smoak Jersey
Farmers want MNCs to invest in rural infrastructure
Farmers across India are demanding that 100% foreign direct investment in food retail is welcome only if multinationals entering the sector invest in infrastructure and help agricultural communities become self-sufficient. Chengal Reddy, secretary general, Consorsium of Indian Farmers Association (CIFA), said farmers will welcome FDI in food retail since this will develop competitiveness in a market marred by monopolistic and manipulative practices. “But MNCs should be asked to invest in back-end infrastructure in a timebound manner, giving them enough time to understand the local systems,” he said. Analsyts shared his views. “We should have FDI investment in the backend infrastructure as far as possible with dynamic FPOs and monitoring by a project management agency,” said V Padmanand, director of Grant Thornton (India). Bharatiya Kisan Union president Balbir Singh Rajewal sounded sceptical, saying farmers will not allow unfettered entry of multinationals unless the government keeps in mind the welfare of rural communities. “You have to listen to farmers first before making big policy announcements. If Britain can hold a referendum over leaving the European Union, why can’t our government consider the interest of farmers before announcing such a policy…If the companies are asked to invest 15% in rural infrastructure, it will be very good,” he said. Farmer leaders said a large number of farmers, who have organised themselves into the Farmer Producer Companies (FPO), are keen to do business with MNCs, and benefit from the higher investment capacity of foreign players, and their knowledge. Farmers also think that foreign players, who know the demand of consumers from developed countries, can help them upgrade their skills to match those requirements, if they are made to invest at the back-end. “Farmers are small and widespread and it needs high investment to connect with them, which none of the Indian food retailers have done so far. They can introduce standardisation of agricultural produce, its branding and upgrade the skills of Indian farmers,” said Reddy. Gangadhar Chindhe, chairman, Garbhagiri FPO, reckons that farmers can benefit more if investors are made to pump in money at the farm level. Matt Martin Authentic Jersey
India needs $1.5 trillion for infrastructure: Arun Jaitley
India needs over $1.5 trillion in investment in the next 10 years to bridge infrastructure gap as the government intends to connect seven hundred thousand villages with roads by 2019 as part of a massive modernisation plan, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today. “We have been able to sustain growth in the phase of global slowdown essentially on the strength of the infrastructure creation in India where the gap is huge,” Jaitley, who is in China to attend the Board of Governors of AIIB, said. “Over the next decade, we require over $1.5 trillion in India alone to fill up the infrastructure gap. We also use the additional resource which is available with us as a result of falling prices because that regime helps us. “In investing large public finance into infrastructure, for instance, we have seven hundred thousand villages in India. We intend to connect each of them by 2019,” he said while addressing a seminar on “Infrastructure and Global Economic Growth” organised by China sponsored Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) along with Finance Ministers of many countries. He also spoke of massive rural sanitation programme as part of India’s current infrastructure programme. “In terms of highway construction this year alone our target is 10,000 kms. Our railway system is over 100 years old. We are going in for a massive modernisation,” he said. Jaitley said the government is seeking private sector participation in converting railway stations into commercial hubs. The government plans to build more airports, sea ports and generate more power, particularly renewable energy which is ecologically also better from all points view, he said. “These are all the emphasis areas we have under taken,” he said. About arranging funding for the massive development, he said “we realise that starting point is public finances. It is only when the public finances are put into it, you start attracting and the activity begins a lot of private funds”. At the same time there are large number of developmental institutions like World Bank, ADB which put in lot of money because infrastructure funding also brings in long time returns on a sustainable basis, Jaitley said. The government has set up India infrastructure investment fund where the government holds minority stake, Jaitley said. “This a new experiment we have undertaken which we hope will be a success,” Jaitley said, adding that the emphasis of the India in the next decade to fill up the infrastructure gap which will also generate growth, employment, pull up number people out of poverty. “In our bid as emerging economy graduating into developed economy category, we feel that this is extremely vital for a country with a large population like India,” the Finance Minister said. Besides Jaitley and his Chinese counterpart Lou Jiwei, those who took part in the seminar were Pierre Egide Gramegna, Minister of Finance, Luxembourg, Imad Najib Fakhoury, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Jordan, Jin Liqun, AIIB President and Chris Heathcote, CEO, Global Infrastructure Hub, Thomas Maier, Managing Director, EBRD and Chair of the WEF Global Agenda Council on Infrastructure. Denver Broncos Authentic Jersey
Toll on six-lane highways only after construction
After burning its fingers by allowing developers to collect user fee (toll) during construction of 6-lane highways such as Gurgaon-Jaipur and Panipat-Jalandhar for years, the government will now abandon this practice in all new projects that will be rolled out. Tolling will start only after construction is complete. Corroborating this, NHAI chairman Raghav Chandra said, “I had raised this issue with the Planning Commission and submitted our views to the present government. If tolling starts from day one of construction, commuters suffer and there is no suitable incentive for developers to complete the work fast.” “The government has agreed to carry out six-laning under hybrid annuity mode. This means tolling will start only after construction is complete.” The move will not affect the projects that have already been awarded. According to the National Highway Authority of India, there are 23 ongoing contracts for six-laning of highways. Sources said that all new six-laning projects will be built under the hybrid annuity model. “Since in this model the user fee comes to NHAI as it pays back the entire investment of private investor in installments, it will be easy to do away with tolling during construction,” a government official said. Chandra said about 2,756 km are scheduled to be expanded from four lanes to six lanes and the hybrid annuity model will ensure responsible and speedy delivery. NHAI officials said that the six-laning projects constituet a large share of the delayed contracts. There had been several protests by commuters against toll hikes on Gurgaon-Jaipur, Faridabad-Agra and other such stretches complaining against poor facility and road diversions, forcing the UPA government to approve a policy allowing developers to charge only 75 per cent toll during six laning work. The Cabinet decision of October 2013 had also provisioned that tolling can be suspended for failure of developers to meet the deadline. Jalen Mills Authentic Jersey
Coastal shipping of commodities to save Rs 40,000 crore/year: Government
Promoting coastal shipping of just six commodities, including coal, cement and steel, could result in a huge Rs 40,000 crore annual saving, according to government estimates. Of the total, coastal shipping of thermal coal alone could result in savings of about Rs 20,000 crore while promoting steel and cement would save an annual Rs 5,500 crore and Rs 4,000 crore, an official said. “By promoting coastal shipping of across six commodities – thermal coal, steel, fertilizers, foodgrains and containers, the annual potential savings is estimated at about Rs 40,000 crore,” the official told PTI. Government has already announced a port-led development of coastal areas under its ambitious Sagarmala project that aims at harness India’s 7,500-km long coastline and 14,500-km of potentially navigable waterways. To encourage shippers to shift cargo to waterways and coastal shipping, the government is planning to provide an incentive of Re 1 per km for a tonne of cargo. “To encourage modal shift of cargo to coastal shipping and Inland Waterways Transportation, the government is planning to offer financial incentive to shippers who switch to waterways from roads and rails for movement of cargo,” the official said, adding that the incentive is planned at Re 1 per tonne per km. Initially, the government plans to include 9 commodities that include foodgrain, automobile, cement and marble. Sources said a note on the incentive scheme would soon be sent to the Cabinet for nod. “Government is working hard to shift the cargo to waterways as is not only an environment-friendly mode of transportation but economise cost,” Additional Secretary, Shipping Alok Srivastava said when contacted. He said the government is planning to redefine incentives to boost the share of transportation through waterways and coastal shipping. Industry players are of the view however that although waterways is an environment-friendly and fuel-efficient mode of transportation, impediments including inadequate infrastructure need to be addressed fully for desired results. They has been seeking an increase in the share of plan investment towards port and shipping sector which is 6.5 per cent only. The government has already expressed its commitment to promote coastal shipping and inland waterways transportation and has envisioned increasing of the share of waterways transportation mode from the present level of 7 per cent to 10 per cent by 2020. “Across all commodities, coastal shipping volumes could grow to 5-6 times of current levels to about 400-480 million tonnes (MT) by 2025,” according to a blueprint on Sagarmala unveiled by the government. Logistics costs account for a large part of the country’s non-services GDP compared to benchmarks of 8-10 per cent for developed nations, as per the blueprint. Citing an example, it said up to 100-150 MT of coal can be moved from the east coast to coastal power plants in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. In addition, up to 50 MT could be moved coastally for non-thermal coal users. “There is potential to move steel, cement, fertilisers and foodgrains coastally to the extent of about 60 MT by 2025. Further, about 50 MT of petroleum products could be moved coastally from refining centres in Gujarat and Odisha to demand centres in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh,” it said. Government has identified over 150 projects under Sagarmala. It expects to mobilise more than Rs 4 lakh crore of investment, besides creation of 1 crore new jobs, including 40 lakh direct jobs, in the next 10 years. These projects have been identified across the areas of port modernisation and new port development, port connectivity enhancement, port-led industrial development and coastal community development. The Cabinet approved Sagarmala project last year. Kevin Garnett Authentic Jersey
Logistics parks for Rs 30000 crore to aid cargo flow, cut costs
The government has prepared a road map for setting up 15 multi-modal logistics parks around major cities, which have a share of about 40 per cent of country’s freight movement by road. With an estimated investment of Rs 30,000 crore, the project aims to make transport of cargo faster, reduce cost and improve the supply chain, key for taming inflation. In a concept note titled ‘Logistics Efficiency Enhancement Programme’, the road transport ministry has identified Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, north and south Gujarat, Hyderabad, south and north Punjab, Vijayawada, Kochi and Chennai as some of the major transport nodes for this project in the first phase. This is part of a study funded by the World Bank. Logistics parks, act as hubs for freight movement enabling cargo aggregation and distribution. Freight from production area will be shipped to nearby logistics parks where it will be aggregated and transported to a logistics park near the consumption zone on a larger vehicle. Freight arriving at the destination logistics park will be disaggregated and distributed to the consumption zones inside the city, accord ing to the government paper. “It’s a welcome move. But we have also suggested the ministry to focus on low hanging fruits such as simplifying of documentations, connecting all major transport hubs. Road, shipping, rail and aviation ministries have to work together,” said World Bank senior transport specialist Rajesh Rohtagi. Logistic costs in India is higher at 13-14 per cent of the value of goods against 7-8 per cent in developed countries. This is due to several inefficiencies including smaller and inefficient trucks resulting in lower average speed 25-30 kmph, which is 50-60 per cent less as compared to the US. While in states like Gujarat and Rajasthan it is 37-40 kmph, in Odisha and West Bengal it is only 18-20 kmph, the report says. It’s estimated that the transport costs would fall by about 10 per cent and pollution will also be less. According to estimates, CO2 emission may reduce by 12 per cent and even congestion will be less by about 20 per cent on these 15 nodes. Adam Larsson Womens Jersey
Ministry of HUPA to promote regional planning to meet urban housing demand
Minister of State for Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation and Urban Development Shri Babul Supriyo has said that the Government will promote regional planning by moving beyond city-centric planning for construction of houses in satellite townships, peri-urban and peripheral areas to meet the housing demand in urban areas. He inaugurated an international workshop on “Human Settlements-Planning and Design : A Shared Understanding” here today. Shri Supriyo said that the Government is committed to ensure housing for urban poor by 2022 and further observed that “the government while acknowledging problems in urban areas is striving to solve them in an integrated and goal centric manner”. The Minister stressed the need to assist the poor even in remote and far off places in planning , design and construction of safe and resilient houses. Shri Supriyo referred to various initiatives launched by the Government to address infrastructure bottlenecks and housing shortage in urban areas. Dr.Nandita Chatterjee, Secretary (HUPA) said that “ the Ministry is close to finalizing a pro-acive, practical and pragmatic Rental Housing Policy keeping in view that 27% of the housing demand is for such rental housing”. She emphasized on the need for effective planning and design so as to meet the housing needs of all sections of the people in the context of rising costs of land, labour and availability of materials. Dr. Chattejee noted that to move beyond city-centric planning for housing, construction of houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) is being allowed in planning areas which go beyond city limits. She said that planning needs to be done in the context of rural – urban continuum and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission is a step in this regard. Ministry of HUPA has organized the workshop for sharing of ideas and experiences in respect of housing among the Asia-Pacific countries. Representatives from 9 countries viz., Japan, South Korea, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Fiji have attended the workshop. Alcides Escobar Authentic Jersey