What will be the value of the Indian Rupee v/s the US Dollar at the end of this year?
25.5.09
Indus Towers world’s 1st to cross 1L-mark
Indus Towers, a joint venture between three top telecom companies — Airtel, Vodafone and Idea — on Sunday became the first company in the world to have over one lakh towers under its management. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone, each hold 42% stake in Indus Towers while Idea Cellular has 16%. “In a short span, Indus Towers has built a robust, scalable, asset centric operating model, which provides passive infrastructure services to all operators on a non-discriminatory basis with enhanced focus on energy efficiency,” Indus Towers chairman Akhil Gupta said. With the telecom industry infrastructure, especially for mobile services, growing at over 35% in the next two years, Indus Towers is expected to play a crucial role in taking the services across the nation and also in rural areas. It is increasing its portfolio by nearly 7,000 additional tower tenants every month and is working towards a tenancy ratio of two per site. “Indus will also be opening a state-of-the-art 24x7 Tower Operating Center by July 2009, which will monitor, control and analyse all tower site related activities to provide a better network uptime to its customers,” the statement said.
High-speed train on Mumbai - Nagpur route viable
Travelling at a speed of 300 km per hour on the Mumbai-Pune-Nagpur route may not be a distant dream for train commuters as a pre-feasibility report submitted to chief minister Ashok Chavan stated that it is a viable proposition. “The report, prepared by a German company, suggests that it is viable to run a high-speed train on the 900-km long route,” a senior official from the planning department. After the train service is launched, commuters will be able to reach Pune from Mumbai in an hour and Nagpur in three hours. Vossing, the company that was working on the report since last year, has submitted it to the chief minister for approval. The report said the short routes earlier proposed for the train, like those linking the proposed greenfield airport near Panvel to Khopoli (30 km), Alibaug (60 km) and Santa Cruz airport (45 km) and also route between Santa Cruz airport to Nariman Point (18 km), Goregaon (15 km) and Kalyan (50 km) were not viable. The distance between these routes is less and it will not be feasible for high-speed trains to stop at such short distances, the report submitted to the CM stated.
DMIC update
India's largest infrastructure project, the $90 billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, which was initiated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, appears to be heading for a dead-end, with Japan setting tough conditions to finance the project.The conditions include a comprehensive sovereign guarantee by India that will also extend to penal interest and overdue charges in case of late repayments as well as payment of components, including taxes and duties. The Indian government is, instead, mulling roping in more partner countries to get the project going.
DMIC Development Corporation, the company undertaking this project, has a minority ownership of the government. Hence India had initially refused to provide any guarantee for the Japanese loan terming it as a ‘commercial loan’. The government has a 49% stake in the corporation, while infrastructure companies private firms IL&FS and IDFC own 41%and 10%, respectively.In its negotiations with Japan, India had instead suggested that it would give a loan to the state-owned India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL), which will then on-lend this amount to the DMIC project. Since there is an automatic sovereign support for any loans raised by government-owned companies, this would have, from India’s point of view, offered a similar comfort level. The other advantage is that it would have cut the cost of providing the guarantee that a loan of such size entailed.
However, Japan in the latest round of discussions has said routing of the loan through IIFCL was not acceptable to it. The chief representative of JBIC, through which Tokyo has supported the project, Kurihara said, “We are still negotiating the loan agreement with the government of India and the guarantee part of it. (India) has provided the guarantee letter but the guarantee is very limited. So we are insistent to change the coverage (of guarantee)”. According to him, besides principal and nominal interest, the guarantee should also cover default cover, penal interest and tax imposed on transactions in India. “It is a very important project for Japan and it should not get stuck,” he said.
But New Delhi feels that the conditions that Tokyo has set are so tough that it is considering involving more partner countries like Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia and Korea. Noting that progress has come to a standstill due to the face-off, India is also considering taking e responsibility of shelling out the full cost of the fund, government officials said.Though the final call on roping in more partner countries will be a ‘political decision at the highest level’, such a scenario cannot be ruled out either,an official said.
The 1,483 km-long corridor will pass through six states with a series of industrial zones that will be serviced by a string of dedicated freight expressways, rail links and other facilities.
While the finance ministry has only allocated a token Rs 330 crore, a sum of $150 million (about Rs 750 crore ) is to be spent for the project development fund. JBIC was to pitch in with $75 million for the revolving fund.This means once the projects are launched and bidders are chosen, they will pay DMIC Development which in turn will use these funds for further planning and implementation.
India and Japan had inked an MoU in December 2006 to jointly develop DMIC, when Manmohan Singh visited Tokyo. Originally, the cost of developing the project was thought to be only $20 billion.But later on due to several additions, it has risen to $90 billion.
India had sent a delegation of representatives from six state forming part of the corridor—Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra—to Japan in February 2009 to show case the investment possibilities in their individual states.
While India has finalised 15 ‘early bird’ infrastructure development projects in Haryana,Gujarat and MP, Japan has listed five. The government also has appointed renowned international consultants—Scott Wilson, Halcrow, Lea Associates and Jurong—for this corridor.
DMIC Development Corporation, the company undertaking this project, has a minority ownership of the government. Hence India had initially refused to provide any guarantee for the Japanese loan terming it as a ‘commercial loan’. The government has a 49% stake in the corporation, while infrastructure companies private firms IL&FS and IDFC own 41%and 10%, respectively.In its negotiations with Japan, India had instead suggested that it would give a loan to the state-owned India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL), which will then on-lend this amount to the DMIC project. Since there is an automatic sovereign support for any loans raised by government-owned companies, this would have, from India’s point of view, offered a similar comfort level. The other advantage is that it would have cut the cost of providing the guarantee that a loan of such size entailed.
However, Japan in the latest round of discussions has said routing of the loan through IIFCL was not acceptable to it. The chief representative of JBIC, through which Tokyo has supported the project, Kurihara said, “We are still negotiating the loan agreement with the government of India and the guarantee part of it. (India) has provided the guarantee letter but the guarantee is very limited. So we are insistent to change the coverage (of guarantee)”. According to him, besides principal and nominal interest, the guarantee should also cover default cover, penal interest and tax imposed on transactions in India. “It is a very important project for Japan and it should not get stuck,” he said.
But New Delhi feels that the conditions that Tokyo has set are so tough that it is considering involving more partner countries like Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia and Korea. Noting that progress has come to a standstill due to the face-off, India is also considering taking e responsibility of shelling out the full cost of the fund, government officials said.Though the final call on roping in more partner countries will be a ‘political decision at the highest level’, such a scenario cannot be ruled out either,an official said.
The 1,483 km-long corridor will pass through six states with a series of industrial zones that will be serviced by a string of dedicated freight expressways, rail links and other facilities.
While the finance ministry has only allocated a token Rs 330 crore, a sum of $150 million (about Rs 750 crore ) is to be spent for the project development fund. JBIC was to pitch in with $75 million for the revolving fund.This means once the projects are launched and bidders are chosen, they will pay DMIC Development which in turn will use these funds for further planning and implementation.
India and Japan had inked an MoU in December 2006 to jointly develop DMIC, when Manmohan Singh visited Tokyo. Originally, the cost of developing the project was thought to be only $20 billion.But later on due to several additions, it has risen to $90 billion.
India had sent a delegation of representatives from six state forming part of the corridor—Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra—to Japan in February 2009 to show case the investment possibilities in their individual states.
While India has finalised 15 ‘early bird’ infrastructure development projects in Haryana,Gujarat and MP, Japan has listed five. The government also has appointed renowned international consultants—Scott Wilson, Halcrow, Lea Associates and Jurong—for this corridor.
Somewhere in Pune....
Utensils, over two thousand years old, were found at a construction site in Budhwar Peth on Sunday where an old wada existed. Historians and researchers say that it indicates Pune city was a recognised trade centre two thousand years ago. “They are the oldest ever found in the city which indicate that the city was a trade center at that time,” said historian Pandurang Balkawade.
The utensils were found at the construction site in a 22-ft deep pit, he said adding that the utensils included a few broken pieces of terracotta, black and red pottery, polished pottery, cooking and food storage vessels. The site where the utensils were found is the old part of the city that is on the bank of Mutha river.Balkawade, along with researchers Pravin Patil, Abhay Kale and Amol Bankar, has observed that these utensils were the oldest and appealed interested researchers to study further.
The utensils were found at the construction site in a 22-ft deep pit, he said adding that the utensils included a few broken pieces of terracotta, black and red pottery, polished pottery, cooking and food storage vessels. The site where the utensils were found is the old part of the city that is on the bank of Mutha river.Balkawade, along with researchers Pravin Patil, Abhay Kale and Amol Bankar, has observed that these utensils were the oldest and appealed interested researchers to study further.
Delhi plans an Urban Transport Development Fund
With a number of projects in the pipeline that will upgrade the city’s transport services , the Delhi government plans to create a special fund to appropriately finance such schemes.
The Urban Transport Development Fund will pool resources exclusively for all transport projects planned for the future. Delhi is likely to see an extended bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor, more low-floor buses and upgraded interstate bus terminals (ISBTs) and Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus depots in the near future, besides a network of monorail and light rail transit systems by 2020, in addition to the Delhi Metro. Senior officials in the government said it was imperative to have an independent system of generating funds to avoid any delay in the projects. “We are currently dependent on the Centre and schemes like the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission to fund our projects. We can’t get on with our work until the Central government releases funds, which means delays and escalation of costs,” said an official. He said there might be new deadlines for various projects, with the government facing a cash crunch after a slump in realty rates and stamp duty collections since last year. Though the Union government has already earmarked Rs 1,000 crore for the Commonwealth Games—after Delhi Finance Minister A K Walia raised an alarm regarding the cash deficit faced by the agencies involved in building infrastructure for the event—the officials said the fund was meant for long-term projects. With the new fund in place, the officials said, the government could look at pooling in revenue generated through different ventures and then use the money to fund future projects. While the Delhi government has recently turned down a proposal to build a dedicated transport fund to partly finance the third phase of the Delhi Metro, by levying a cess on the sale of petrol and diesel, purchase of new cars and twowheelers and on existing cars, the officials said the Urban Transport Development Fund would be partly raised by pooling in revenue earned through resources like commercial development of ISBTs and bus depots. “We want to pool in at least Rs 100 crore every year and gradually build a fund that will make the government self-reliant,” said an official, adding that agencies like the DTC, Delhi Police and others involved in developing transport schemes would be made party to it.
Transport Commissioner and Principal Secretary R K Verma said the department was in the process of drafting the scheme. “The proposal will be sent to the Lieutenant-Governor soon and, if approved, will be sent to the Centre,” he said. The Delhi government has till now set aside Rs 614 crore for the procurement of 2,500 buses to modernise the DTC bus fleet by March 2010.
■ Six BRT corridors by 2010 at a cost of Rs 1,810 crore, approximately
■ Three light rail transit corridors covering a length of 45 km in Phase 1, feasibility study under way
■ Three monorail corridors covering a length of 47.8 km in Phase 1
■ Upgrade and renovation of the inter-state bus terminals at Kashmere Gate, Anand Vihar and Sarai Kale Khan
■ Two new inter-state bus terminals to come up at Narela and Dwarka on public-private-partnership basis
■ Upgrading the 27 existing
■ Procurement of 2,500 modern buses for the DTC. There will be 1,402 low-floor buses, 750 semi low-floor buses, 600 AC low-floor buses, 250 AC semi-low floor buses and 1,000 standard buses DTC bus depots and increasing their number to at least 35, with parking facilities for low-floor buses. It has been planned to commercially exploit the depots by renting out space for malls and hotels .
The Urban Transport Development Fund will pool resources exclusively for all transport projects planned for the future. Delhi is likely to see an extended bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor, more low-floor buses and upgraded interstate bus terminals (ISBTs) and Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) bus depots in the near future, besides a network of monorail and light rail transit systems by 2020, in addition to the Delhi Metro. Senior officials in the government said it was imperative to have an independent system of generating funds to avoid any delay in the projects. “We are currently dependent on the Centre and schemes like the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission to fund our projects. We can’t get on with our work until the Central government releases funds, which means delays and escalation of costs,” said an official. He said there might be new deadlines for various projects, with the government facing a cash crunch after a slump in realty rates and stamp duty collections since last year. Though the Union government has already earmarked Rs 1,000 crore for the Commonwealth Games—after Delhi Finance Minister A K Walia raised an alarm regarding the cash deficit faced by the agencies involved in building infrastructure for the event—the officials said the fund was meant for long-term projects. With the new fund in place, the officials said, the government could look at pooling in revenue generated through different ventures and then use the money to fund future projects. While the Delhi government has recently turned down a proposal to build a dedicated transport fund to partly finance the third phase of the Delhi Metro, by levying a cess on the sale of petrol and diesel, purchase of new cars and twowheelers and on existing cars, the officials said the Urban Transport Development Fund would be partly raised by pooling in revenue earned through resources like commercial development of ISBTs and bus depots. “We want to pool in at least Rs 100 crore every year and gradually build a fund that will make the government self-reliant,” said an official, adding that agencies like the DTC, Delhi Police and others involved in developing transport schemes would be made party to it.
Transport Commissioner and Principal Secretary R K Verma said the department was in the process of drafting the scheme. “The proposal will be sent to the Lieutenant-Governor soon and, if approved, will be sent to the Centre,” he said. The Delhi government has till now set aside Rs 614 crore for the procurement of 2,500 buses to modernise the DTC bus fleet by March 2010.
■ Six BRT corridors by 2010 at a cost of Rs 1,810 crore, approximately
■ Three light rail transit corridors covering a length of 45 km in Phase 1, feasibility study under way
■ Three monorail corridors covering a length of 47.8 km in Phase 1
■ Upgrade and renovation of the inter-state bus terminals at Kashmere Gate, Anand Vihar and Sarai Kale Khan
■ Two new inter-state bus terminals to come up at Narela and Dwarka on public-private-partnership basis
■ Upgrading the 27 existing
■ Procurement of 2,500 modern buses for the DTC. There will be 1,402 low-floor buses, 750 semi low-floor buses, 600 AC low-floor buses, 250 AC semi-low floor buses and 1,000 standard buses DTC bus depots and increasing their number to at least 35, with parking facilities for low-floor buses. It has been planned to commercially exploit the depots by renting out space for malls and hotels .
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