Page 25 - Infrastructure

Cargo terminals, trucking hubs in the works to boost exports in UP

A committee under the transport commissioner has been constituted to evaluate private investment proposals for the setting up of the logistics network

Rajasthan govt to boost tourism, improve infrastructure facilities

Special efforts will be made to improve road connectivity and provide last-mile connectivity

Key infra sector growth rises to 14-month high of 12.1% in August

The expansion in August is the highest since June 2022, when it was 13.2 per cent

Production at German VW plants resumes after disruption caused by IT issue

Production at Volkswagen is resuming after a problem with the German automaker's information technology network caused a severe disruption, the company said Thursday. Volkswagen said on Wednesday evening that the IT disruption caused production to halt at its four vehicle manufacturing plants in Germany its Wolfsburg headquarters, Emden, Zwickau and Osnabrueck. It also affected some other facilities, including at subsidiary Audi, it said. The company said Thursday morning that the IT infrastructure problems were resolved during the night and production was resuming, German news agency dpa reported. It said there were no indications of any external cause for the disruption.

Carry out repair, beautification work in east Delhi areas: LG to officials

Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena has directed civic officials to revamp roads, pavements, parks, and sewerage and drainage systems in east Delhi areas, officials said on Sunday. The Lt Governor's office will monitor the progress of the work and no status report will be accepted without photo or video evidence, they said. The direction came after Saxena visited several areas of east Delhi, including Shashtri Park, Mansarovar Park, Seelampur, Shyam Lal College, Karkardooma, Surajmal Park, and Dilshad Garden. He flagged the poor condition of roads, sanitation, encroachment, and clogged drains and directed civic agencies to begin the work immediately, officials said. "Daily progress of work will be monitored by the LG Secretariat," an official said. The Lt Governor has specifically directed that no progress report from any agency would be accepted unless supported by before and after photographs, they said. He asked all concerned agencies -- MCD, PWD, DDA, DJB -- to sort out the ...

Speed of infra development matching aspirations of 1.4 bn Indians: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the speed and scale of infrastructure development matched the aspirations of 140 crore Indians as he flagged off nine Vande Bharat Express trains connecting religious and tourist destinations across 11 states. Flagging off the Vande Bharat Express trains via video conferencing, Modi also slammed the previous governments for not paying adequate attention for modernisation of railways and assured that the "day is not far when Vande Bharat will connect every part of the country". Governors, chief ministers, Union ministers and elected representatives were present at the nine railway stations from where the indigenously built semi-high speed trains were flagged off. The trains stopped at various stations where they were welcomed by enthusiastic school children and hoards of people with elected representatives addressing functions en route. Union minister Kailash Choudhary and Rajasthan BJP president C P Joshi boarded the Vande Bharat Express

Delhi L-G reviews civic infrastructure, flags poor condition of some roads

Lt Governor VK Saxena on Saturday reviewed the cleanliness and the infrastructure at various places in Delhi and flagged the poor condition of some roads and drains. In an interview to PTI earlier this month, Saxena had said the beautification of other parts of Delhi would also be carried out. He has already started carrying out inspections of areas that need beautification. Saxena spoke to PTI ahead of the G20 Summit. Vast stretches of the national were redeveloped for the mega event. "Starting from Yudhisthir Setu at ISBT, reviewed cleanliness and civic infra across GT Road-Shastri Park, Dilshad Garden and Kakardooma," Saxena said in a post on X. "Roads in disrepair, chocked drains, heaps of garbage, unpruned trees and encroachments mar the area. Will personally monitor a revamp from tomorrow," he said.

Robust digital infrastructure helped govt save over $27 billion: DEA Secy

Economic Affairs Secretary Ajay Seth on Friday said digital public infrastructure (DPI) has led to savings of over USD 27 billion in government schemes, and achieve greater financial inclusion in a short period. The use of direct benefit transfer (DBT) in the last one decade has ensured money reached to targeted beneficiaries and bogus accounts are weeded out. This has helped in huge savings of taxpayers' money. Sharing India's success story on the financial inclusion front, Seth said India has achieved 80 per cent account opening penetration from 20 per cent within a span of 7-8 years with DPI, which would have taken 47 years in the normal course as per a study by the Bank of International Settlements. "We developed a solution approach for delivering best-in-class services to the last mile and even in the most remote parts of the country. Our achievements are well known in numbers. Since the launch of the digital identity number, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana PMJDY in 2014, over 5

Infra push to drive cement demand up 10-12% this fiscal: Crisil Ratings

The massive infra spending by the government towards building roads, railway lines and power, among others, will boost cement demand by 10-12 per cent this fiscal, according to a report. The Centre has increased its budget allocation for infrastructure -- such as roads, railway lines/stations, power, including renewables, urban infra, telecom, ports, airports, and water works, among others -- by Rs 1.6 lakh crore to Rs 5.9 lakh crore for fiscal 2024 from a revised estimate of Rs 4.3 lakh crore for fiscal 2023. Continuing the robust ride of the past two fiscals, cement demand is likely to grow 10-12 per cent year-on-year to 440 million tonne in fiscal 2024, driven by strong offtake from the infrastructure segment, Crisil Ratings said in a note Friday. Cement demand grew by 12 per cent in fiscal 2023 and by 8 per cent in fiscal 2022. Combined with stable cement prices and softening power and fuel costs, the operating profit of cement manufacturers is likely to recover by Rs 200/tonne

Take advantage of surety bonds: Irdai Chairman to infra stakeholders

Irdai Chairman Debasish Panda on Tuesday urged stakeholders in the infrastructure sector to take advantage offered by surety bonds, which complement bank guarantees needed for large scale funding. Surety bond is a type of insurance policy protecting parties involved in a transaction or contract from potential financial losses due to a breach of contract or other types of non-performance. He was speaking at a roundtable organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and The Infravision Foundation (TIF) on the financing of infrastructure projects in the country as part of the massive push to the sector by the government by allocating Rs 10 lakh crore towards it in the Union Budget 2022-23. The chairman of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) pointed out that India is expected to spend approx Rs 100 lakh crore on infrastructure through the National Infrastructure Pipeline in the next five years. This requires bank guarantees of approximately Rs 90 lakh

PM GatiShakti: 106 infra projects worth Rs 11 trn recommended for approval

As many as 106 big-ticket infrastructure projects of different ministries worth Rs 11 lakh crore have been recommended for approval under the PM GatiShakti initiative so far this fiscal, an official statement said on Thursday. These projects have been recommended by the Network Planning Group (NPG) constituted under the PM GatiShakti initiative launched in October 2021. During the 55th Network Planning Group (NPG) meeting, six projects -- including three each from Railways and Road Transport and Highways ministries -- with a total cost of Rs 14,081 crore were assessed. "This takes the total number of projects assessed by NPG to 106 with a total value of about Rs 11 lakh crore, since the launch of PM GatiShakti approach," the commerce and industry ministry said. The inter-ministerial NPG meets every fortnight and appraises infra projects to ensure multi-modality, synchronisation of efforts, and comprehensive development in and around the project location. The initiative was launche

QCI, dept of family welfare signs MoU to improve food safety in Assam

An Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Quality Council of India (QCI) and Commissionerate of Food Safety, Assam, Department of Health and Family Welfare to improve the food safety ecosystem in the state. The MoU aims to create quality infrastructure mechanisms by intervention such as conformity assessment framework and infrastructure, training and capacity building of stakeholders, among others, according to an official release. The MoU was signed at the Assam Gunvatta Sankalp event held here by the QCI with the support of the state government. The MoU marks a significant milestone in the journey towards excellence in quality and this collaboration will further strengthen the quality and safety of food products in the state, the release stated. Besides the signing of the MoU, the Sankalp also featured sessions with various aspects of the state's development in multivariate sectors including education and skilling, industry and MSME, sustainable agriculture, touris

KEC Intl hits new high, gains 11% on winning orders worth Rs 1,012 cr

With these orders, the company's year-to-date order intake stands at a record level of over Rs 6,500 crore, a strong growth of 11 per cent over the last year

Capex by large CPSEs touches 42.5% of budget target in April-August

NHAI and Railways drive robust growth in capex

Infra firm EMS Ltd IPO subscribed by 14.99 times on second day of bidding

The Initial Public Offering (IPO) of water and sewerage infra player EMS Ltd got subscribed 14.99 times on the second day of bidding on Monday. The share sale received bids for 16,17,01,400 shares against 1,07,87,431 shares on offer, as per NSE data. The category for non-institutional investors was subscribed 29.68 times while the quota for Retail Individual Investors (RIIs) received 16.52 times subscription and that of Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) was subscribed 67 per cent. The IPO has a fresh issue of up to Rs 146.24 crore and an offer for sale of up to 82,94,118 equity shares. The price range for the offer is Rs 200-211 a share. The company offers water and sewerage infra solutions, including laying the sewerage network to build sewerage and water treatment plants in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan. EMS Ltd on Thursday said it has raised Rs 96.37 crore from anchor investors. Proceeds from the fresh issue will be used to fund working capital requireme

Multi-billion dollar India-Nigeria infra deal to boost agriculture, ports

The agreement, signed on Sept. 6 with Invest India, is expected to help the West African country industrialize its agriculture and manufacturing sectors and cut reliance on imports

US, Saudi Arabia, India discuss possible rail, port connectivity deal

The plans for a sweeping, multi-national ports and rail deal would come at a critical time. To counter China's Belt and Road global infrastructure push, Biden is pitching Washington

Uttarakhand assembly presents supplementary budget of Rs 11,321 crore

A supplementary budget of approximately Rs 11,321 crore for 2023-24 was tabled in the Uttarakhand Assembly on Wednesday, proposing the largest allocations for drinking water and infrastructure development projects in the state. This is the state's first supplementary budget for the current fiscal. The amount of Rs 11,321 crore includes approximately Rs 3,530 crore of revenue expenditure and Rs 7,791 crore of capital expenditure. Tabling the budget in the House, state finance minister Premchand Agarwal said as in the past this budget too makes provisions for projects dedicated to people's welfare. The highest allocation of Rs 765 crore has been made in the budget for the Jal Jeevan Mission followed by Rs 600 crore for infrastructure-related works, Rs 321 crore for strengthening of infrastructure under the housing and urban development department and Rs 156 crore for the acquisition of land for the construction of a ring road around Tehri lake. A budgetary provision of Rs 100 crore

G20 ministers reach consensus on definition of digital public infra: MoS IT

G20 Digital Economy Ministers have reached a consensus on the definition of digital public infrastructure, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Tuesday. The minister said that under India's Presidency, G20 Digital Economy Ministers reached a groundbreaking consensus on the manner in which digital public infrastructure (DPI) will shape the future. "This has been for the first time ever a global consensus and what ought to be the definition, the framework and the principles of Digital Public Infrastructure," Chandrasekhar said. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an intense digitalisation process in 2015 with the Digital India programme. "India has seen several DPIs that have been created. I can safely say that DPI conversations that are being held across the world and have been amplified in a sense by G20 conversations have gained momentum in the context of this Indian Presidency in the G20. "India is now a case study- a nation that has ..

Delhi should have robust infra for hosting grand events like G20: LG Saxena

Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena on Saturday said the national capital's infrastructure should be such that grand events like the G20 Summit can be hosted in a week's notice, and stressed that a lot of work was carried out in this regard in the last two months. In an interview to PTI, he appreciated the efforts and hard work of all the agencies and officials involved in the preparations, and shared that finishing touches will be given by Saturday evening. Saxena stressed that many permanent assets have been created for the city as part of the G20 Summit, and urged people to ensure that they are maintained and not vandalised. "We will focus on beautifying the entire city now," he said. Asked about the controversies which emerged in the run-up to the Summit with regard to the budget spent and the 'Shivling' shaped fountains, he said, "I do not want to go into the controversies." He also said many of the artefacts have been given under CSR initiatives and not much expenditure ha