Infrastructure News & Discussion

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 20 Nov 2007 07:21

youngsters feel they get more wider range of opportunity in big cities like
more choice of jobs, higher salary growth due to competition, easy
to attend interviews, better "lifestyle" , ability to freak out away from parents
and relatives (in a small town, being seen with a gf/bf can filter back to
parents in space of few hrs)

also lot of BPO jobs are done by locals - people who have homes and parents
right there.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 20 Nov 2007 07:30

The Billion dollar question is that what will happen to the unskilled unemployed labour?

There is an inbuilt assumption among all the economics pundits that all of this baggage will get pulled up over a generation or two up the slippery slope of getting more wealthy. I very much doubt it as progress which implies increasing productivity which in turn implies that fewer and fewer people are needed.

States which have understood this very well are indeed enjoying a better quality of life already without any major industrial investments. So one does not have to imagine what increased industrial activity and a decreasing population will do increase a country's net as well as per capita wealth.

Laks · Post by **Laks** » 21 Nov 2007 08:03

http://www.hindu.com/2007/11/21/stories ... 460100.htm
[quote]CHENNAI: The six-lane road works on the 20.1-km Information Technology (IT) Corridor from Madhya Kailash Temple to Siruseri will be completed by March-end, State Highways Minister Vellakoil M.P. Saminathan said here on Tuesday.

Briefing reporters after inspecting the progress of the IT corridor, Mr. Saminathan said the Government would simultaneously put into operation the 2.1-km four-lane road linking Old Mamallapuram Road (OMR) and East Coast Road (ECR) from Sholinganallur to the Akkarai beach road junction.

â€œBy March next year, the Government is keen to fully operationalise the main IT corridor six-lane carriageway for vehicular traffic movement,â€

bala · Post by **bala** » 21 Nov 2007 11:04

Good to show the picture.. of the so-called 6-lane highway at Taramani/IT corridor

Laks · Post by **Laks** » 21 Nov 2007 11:19

AFAIK, it is six-laned atleast until Tidel Park - did not go beyond that in recent times. Linking OMR with ECR and extending all the way to Mahaps too are excellent ideas.

Meanwhile, in Bengaluru

http://www.livemint.com/2007/11/2101280 ... delay.html
Legal hurdles likely to delay Bangaloreâ€™s Metro project[quote]Around 621 private properties have been earmarked for acquisition by BMRCL. The Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board has been entrusted with the acquisition process. In areas such as Indiranagar, where the Metro will cut through residential and business properties, many people are opposed to the project.
â€œWe have filed two petitions in the Karnataka high court due to which the Metro project cannot begin in the Indiranagar area. One petition challenges the project itself and the other is against (land) acquisition. We are seeking a change in the alignment of Metro...,â€

ArmenT · Post by **ArmenT** » 21 Nov 2007 12:32

bala wrote:Good to show the picture.. of the so-called 6-lane highway at Taramani/IT corridor

Good gravy! What happened to Tarams Nair's shop? How about Shawn's cigarette stall (Shanmugam)? Don't tell me he's now in one of those buildings.

krishnan · Post by **krishnan** » 21 Nov 2007 13:11

You wont find any petty shops in there. Even the famous SRP Tools were asked to make way for the highway

vina · Post by **vina** » 21 Nov 2007 14:11

ArmenT wrote:Good gravy! What happened to Tarams Nair's shop? How about Shawn's cigarette stall (Shanmugam)? Don't tell me he's now in one of those buildings.

I couldnt believe my eyes when I was there. We were in Chennai over the Diwali weekend and SHQ and I drove down to Tarams /IIT back gate.. I cannot believe that the stretch between Madhya Kailash and Tarams has become what it has.

It is no longer the deserted road where I learned to drive a car back in the old old days at college , before going to the mandatory pilgrimage to the US consulate for the student visa. That old Ambassador called for a pretty strong set of biceps and a real empty stretch like in the days of old were just the thing to learn how to drive.

Today it is a green 4 lane path, with the MRTS on one side .. Reminded me more of Singapore than Madras.. The the road curves towards Tarams and there is a big IT/Vity park called Ascendas..

Even the Tarams bus stand ( the venerable 5T terminus) has changed. It is now lot bigger (no longer the pockmarked rutted empty piece of land), but actually has shelters.

Nair tea stall has changed. It is now a white building , called "Guruswamy" Cafe' ( If I remember correctly) . Only the IIT gate remained as is , with now a board proclaiming that it is "IIT property" or some such thing. Sad that we couldnt see the hostels from the Tarams roads like we could earlier. There were overgrown thorn trees that blocked the view.

Tarams actually had motorable roads, where I could drive my car pretty comfortably.. Tarams looks like a much more prosperous place with better infrastructure .

A far cry from the Tarams I remember.. A small, rough scrabble place, with dirt tracks passing for roads. The Nair ,tea stall was a tatch roof affair and so was the cigarette shop..

Guess.. everyone moves up in life.. Nair moved from tatch /palm roof stall to a pucca white building..rebranded to Guruswamy Cafe..

Well.. if yours truly could move from the de-rigeur black bicycle, tattered jeans and T-shirt and rubber chappal (IIT uniform) to the suit-boot-karporate rubbish and fancy schmanzy car with wife and kid all belted up massa style in "car seat" ..surely Nair re-branding to "Cafe" and movin up should be great too.

Actually the food court at Ascendas IT/Vity park is great.. There is a great shop which serves awesome salads, an authentic chinese restaurant and the usually pizza hut /desi and south indian meals kind of stuff.

Rishirishi · Post by **Rishirishi** » 22 Nov 2007 01:16

Posted: 19 Nov 2007 Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rishirishi wrote:

1
The agri part of the economy is rightly a very small part of the economy, but unfourtunatly it is the largest employer and over 50% of the population depends on farming. Even small increases in disposable income in this section of the society, has a huge positive impact on the demand. This demand gives boost to the small town economy.

Again Rishi, this is a political argument, even social one, but NOT a make the economy productive argument.

I would argue the improving the income only seeks to delay and hence destroy their earning potential. This not real productivity.

A small/tiny improvement here requires a massive investment schedule. A $100 Billion here or there is not going to cut it.

Quote:
2
Take the figure of 30 billion dollar loss to the economy every year (I believe it is higher. In a 20 years perspective the total acumalated losses are 600 billion dollars. Hece spending 250 billion within the same timeframe gives an handsome return on capital.

Doubtful. Even if you cut the loses in half (not a given) with new roads it is not going to give you a return of even 10%. How is this handsome. Esp. when you consider that within that same time the rural population is continually declining. So you are throwing money at a place people are leaving in droves. How asinine is that.

Quote:
The rural areas are backward, mainly becasue of lack of infrastructure.

Not true.

This is what everyone would like to think, but here is what I see from my small holdng.

- Earning power is extremely limited. You only get paid so much for agricultural products and you can only produce so much. Yet the number of mouths increase every year. You can make more cars if you feel like but the agricultural productivity increase is very limited. There is little or no diversification in jobs.

- Good education is very hard to acquire. By its nature labor intensive agirculture is time intensive. You work from Dawn to 9:00 pm plus on most days. There is no time to educate your children or yourself. Despite this laborers these days sacrifice to put their children thru school. The local school near my field is 4 miles away. Little kids 3-4 yrs old walk this every day on the nice new metalled road. Instead a cheap autorickshaw to ferry them would be nice.

Despite what people might think I happen to believe that 90% of education actually comes from your parents. If your parents don't have the time to learn and educate you all you studying is still going to leave you seriously handicapped.

- Here is the truth. Atleast in my area 90 percent of rural folk own no land, no property, no vehicles, are in serious debt, and die by the time they hit 40, leaving no resources for the next generation. In fact all they pass on are debt.

- No fancy schmancy infrastructure is gonna help them. Villages are not idyllic wonderzones. They are hell holes of death. Even Dharavi is a hundred times better. Villages are OK for the small numbers who own houses/land/jobs and ruthlessly exploit the other communities.

- No factories are gonna open there because it costs too much to ship all materials from the suppliers to their out of the way places even on on smooth nice roads. Power is non existent. Skilled labor will not stay. No manager will move out there. There are no competitive advantages.

- Finally, you can build all the fancy infrastructure you want but the earning power does not exist in these places to even maintain what you build. There is no alternative to moving people to cities where they can specialize and become highly skilled.

You are basically prooving my point. rural areas are backward becasue of the lack of infrastructre.
Bad roads, shcools, water,power, hospitals, law and order situation etc makes it unattractive to invest in the area. People do not want to live there and the tallent pool leave.

The moment you bring in roads, electricity, waterlines, telecome and good administration, the place will start to develop.

Places like Delhi and Mumbai, has benefitted from huge government subsidies. Universities, airports, docks, power, telecom etc has made thease places attractive.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 22 Nov 2007 01:54

Rishirishi wrote:The moment you bring in roads, electricity, waterlines, telecome and good administration, the place will start to develop.

It will also no longer be a rural area.

Your argument is the let them eat cake one.

What is the point in electricity when the people can't afford it. What is the point in all that administration when the people are too illiterate to monitor it.
What is the point of piped water when they can afford to pay for it.

Any way we can go on circling this topic, but all you have to do is look at history. No country has successfully employed its people without a 2/3rds majority in the cities situation.

Laks · Post by **Laks** » 22 Nov 2007 08:06

Hindustan Times:
Golden Quadrilateral beset with overshooting costs

The 5,846-kms Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) highway project, the dream project of successive governments, has been beset with cost overruns of about Rs 12,000 crore and a delay of over two years. About 225 kms, at different sections, are yet to be completed.

The project to connect Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai began in 1999 and was set for completion by 2005 under the first phase of the National Highway Development Programme (NHDP). As a result of the cost overruns, the GQ that was targeted for completing at an estimated cost of Rs 60,000 crore at 1999 prices would now cost Rs 72,000 crore and would be complete only by the end of next calendar year.

According to an official, the delays in completion of the project have been primarily due to delays in land acquisition, especially because of political interference. Rebidding, the monsoons and the law and order problem in Naxal affected stretches of Bihar and the Orissa-Andhra Pradesh border have also contributed to the delay.

For instance, the official said a 15-kms section of the GQ in Tamil Nadu was rerouted and started afresh as local leaders did not allow a statue on that particular stretch to be removed simply because according to them it was the last of the statues to be garlanded by the late Rajiv Gandhi. (ed. Nehru statue near Chennai airport )

"The contract we sign with wining bidders very clearly state that the land acquired by the National Highway Development Authority for development of the highway would be free of any encumbrances. A majority of delays in the GQ have been primarily due to delay in land acquisitions," the official said.

In certain sections, the poor quality of work execution by contractors that have been black listed, which in turn has required fresh bids have contributed to the time and cost overruns, the official added.

According to data available, 100 per cent of the 1,419 km of the Delhi-Mumbai stretch of the GQ has been completed, while a 115-km stretch on the 1,684 km Kolkata Chennai and a 75-km stretch on the 1,435 km Delhi-Kolkata section and around 40 km in different sections on the GQ were yet be completed.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 22 Nov 2007 08:39

http://www.nhai.org/gqmain_english.htm

NHAI claims GQ as all complete (shown in red) as of Sept 30, '07 except for a few sections in Cal-Mad segment.

Added: OK the detailed segment maps show the gaping holes that make the missing 75km in the Dilli-Cal segment.

http://www.nhai.org/NH2_Delhi_Kolkata_english.htm

bala · Post by **bala** » 22 Nov 2007 10:09

Seriously, the congresswala clowns are maha bozos for re-routing a section of the GQ. Hope some jihadi type blasts the Nehru statue from its wretched existence ( that is how i feel). Freaking shame that the Congresswalas took this long to complete the project.

Coming back to the GQ, to make the trunk roads complete for Interstate movement and city to city movement, a new project to link Mumbai to Kolkatta cutting across Maharastra, MP and Chattisgargh is needed. Individual states should opt to create more connectors to these trunk routes where-ever it makes sense.

Curious, what happened to the status of the umpteen NHAI project phases for other road creation schemes (last i heard were upto number 8 or so duly vetted by the politicos and babus).

Laks · Post by **Laks** » 23 Nov 2007 07:55

http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2556574.cms
Canon says no to India manufacturing

apanese electronics major Canon Inc is not keen on setting up a manufacturing unit in India due to the country's poor infrastructure, it said.

"Infrastructure is a huge problem in India, which is why we are not much interested in setting up a manufacturing unit here," Kensaku Konishi, president and CEO, Canon India, told reporters here on the sidelines of an event.

"We have factories in China, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand and these are essentially our export hubs as well. So for us to set up a manufacturing unit in the country means it needs to have an excellent supply chain management with sophisticated infrastructure," Konishi added.

However, the company, which already has a research and development (R&D) centre in Noida near Delhi, is planning to open up another in Bangalore by mid-2008 with an investment of Rs 100 million.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 23 Nov 2007 09:46

NHDP Phase-V of 11th plan which envisaged 6 laning the GQ is now
cancelled.

instead 4 laned true expressways which were proposed earlier running
mostly near the existing NH will be funded. I believe figure is 11000km.

it was felt there would be little vendor interest in Phase-V since the expways
follow same route and will provide better RoI. and the incremental benefit
of 1 lane each way improvement wouldnt justify the costs involved.

UP has already proposed a Ganga Expway Noida to Ballia around 900km.

SaiK · Post by **SaiK** » 23 Nov 2007 10:03

canceling 6 laning on wholesale basis is understandable.. but it definitely required 6 laning or perhaps 8-14 laning on sections and sectors like big cities and larger towns., appropriate to traffic requirements.

who speaks logic at nhdp?

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 23 Nov 2007 19:55

All the politicos want is time to buy massive parcels of land close to potential new corridors to cash in on them when the need arises.

If land acquisition now is a cheaper option for lane expansion in the future they would be the least interested in such a proposal.

Vriksh · Post by **Vriksh** » 23 Nov 2007 23:29

Maybe it is my Dhimmitude that stupefies me but there is a supreme confidence in the Chinese to achieve what they set out to do.

One of the most impressive achievement appears to be the vast pool of trained construction personnel that china is able to deploy for its infrastructure projects. Can anyone explain how the Chinese train people of good quality for these purposes. An explanation of what courses and colleges exist for such technicians in China would be educative, I would like to know how they train personnel ranging from skilled welders, masonry workers, engineers for design and testing etc. My understanding is that they not only have enough for themselves but also provide these skills for other nations. This is an opportunity that we have not exploited. Bejing 2008 is going to be a showcase for Chinese organization, and by far a hard act to follow when India has not even begun to collate its organizational acumen.

Perhaps trade/technical universities on the lines of the IITs x 100 (100 times the number of IITs as institutions of excellence) needs to be invested with gusto to graduate trained skill workers for our growing infrastructural needs.

bala · Post by **bala** » 24 Nov 2007 10:41

Centre okays 3 underpasses

In a big boost to the Blore City infrastructure, the Centre on Friday, approved three new underpasses â€” Kadirenahalli-Ring Road junction, Puttenahalli-Ring Road junction and at C N R Rao Circle â€” under the ongoing Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).{groan yet another Nehru named scheme}Underpass at Kadirenahalli-Ring Road junction at Rs 27.60 crore, Underpass at Puttenahalli and Ring Road junction at Rs 24.78 crore, Underpass at Prof C N R Rao Circle at Rs 27.68 crore

Meanwhile, how to loot the exchequer brought to you by Deve Gowda and Sons Inc.

State's bill shocks Centre

As against the approved Centre-approved cost of Rs 375 crore, the State power department had awarded contracts for 17 projects in many districts to electrify 49 villages at a cost of Rs 641 crore â€“ over 70 per cent of the approved cost. Former Karnataka power minister H D Revanna may have a lot of explaining to do over his record in his favourite portfolio, as the Centre has found evidence of serious irregularities in the implementation of its rural electrification scheme in the State. The rural electrification programme under Rajiv Gandhi Grameena Vidhyutikarana Yojana (RGGVY) {groan again yet another RG named scheme} was launched by the Centre in May, 2006 and the 90 per cent of the cost of projects under this scheme is funded by the Central government.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 25 Nov 2007 05:56

I am really scared of this underpass business. my exp with two - jayadeva hospital on bannerghatta road and ramamurthy nagar on ORR have been terrible to say the least. Each takes years and costs untold hardship because the bypass ramps while construction is on are poorly designed and too small.

a decent outfit like PRC or Massa will finish these within one year max. here it takes upto 5

vsudhir · Post by **vsudhir** » 26 Nov 2007 05:23

NHAI work stalls in WB on land acquisition issues (IE)

NHAI teams are finding it difficult to even get land for highway widening. In contrast, in most other states like even neighbouring Bihar the NHAI has been able to start work even before the compensation reached those whose land was acquired. The NHAI has often raised the issue with the state government, and PWD Minister Kshiti Goswami held all-party meetings on land acquisition. However, even after the government agreed to the conditions cited by local political parties to allow land acquisition, there has been no change.

Roads to nowhere

â€¢ A 100-km expressway to connect Nandigram with NH-34. NHAI canâ€™t do even land survey along NH-34, the area between Kolkata and Farakka, or the Barasat-Petrapole stretch along the international border

â€¢ No land to build a 30-km bypass at Islampur as part of the East-West Corridor

â€¢ Siliguri-Islampur stretch on NH-31 just 10.19% complete against the target of 67.3%, while the 32-km stretch between the Assam-West Bengal border and Gairkatta on NH-31C manages just one-fifth of target

Nayak · Post by **Nayak** » 26 Nov 2007 09:31

Riding high on a Volvo

[quote]
BANGALORE: The bright red colour is welcoming and infuses you with a warm feeling. One of the revolutionary initiatives in silicon city - Vajra - is Bangalore Metropolitan Road Transport Corporationâ€™s (BMTC) very own intra-city Volvo buses, and they are not merely an eye candy.

The plush interiors have caught the fancy of many a commuter, who otherwise shied away from using public transport. Vajras have changed that and more in the attitude and approach of the cash rich Bangalorean. Apart from offering a smooth hassle-free ride, the low-floor buses are disabled and senior citizen-friendly.

What started as just the introduction of two buses in January 2006, have now hit the bar of 48, with BMTC planning to add 20 more to its fleet. Over 1,000 Vajras are expected to ply in a few years.

So what makes these buses tick? The Times of India decided to interact with commuters who take the Vajras, foresaking their vehicles to travel around in the city.

A random survey conducted recently foud that 882 citizens have shifted to Volvos. Of these, 277 have shifted from two-wheelers, 178 from four wheelers, 165 from autos and 262 from BMTC or office buses.

â€œThe Volvos are good compared to BMTC buses. They are cool, thanks to the AC, and I get to save at least 20 minutes everyday as there not too many stops,â€™â€™ says Vilma, a beautician who works at a mall on Hosur Road.

Time and the fact that it is not crowded seem to be the USP of the Vajras, despite the fares being a bit on the higher end.

Kalyan Sundaram, an employee of Siemens, who was travelling from the Kempegowda bus stand towards Koramanagala, says he had never used public transportation, until the Vajras. â€œThey are not crowded and one reaches their destination faster when compared with other vehicles. I easily save half an hour everyday.â€™â€™ Sundaram says the buses are tourist-friendly with the driver and conductor ready to guide tourists.

â€œBMTC should remove the ordinary buses and introduce more Volvo buses. In fact, it would be ideal to start a mini-Volvo bus,â€

Laks · Post by **Laks** » 26 Nov 2007 15:21

Delhi, Mumbai hotels put up house-full sign

d Mumbai? Think twice as hotel rooms in both the metros are fully booked. In fact, corporate travellers and tourists coming to these cities this season must make alternative arrangements for their stay to avoid incoveneience.

Reads like a cautious travel advisory but its true. Such is the rush that most five-star hotels have been booked till March 2008 and many hospitality majors have reported occupancy of over than 90% this year, against 70 to 80% last year.

The situation in Delhi, which is already facing a shortage of rooms, is more acute because of the sudden rush of travellers owing to the International Trade Fair, ongoing India-Pakistan Test match and many business conferences.
With the demand supply gap increasing for hotel rooms many hotel have already revised the room tariff. Keeping the shortage in mind, an average room in Delhi, which was available for Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000, has now gone up to Rs 16,000 to Rs 18,000, while the suites and president suite have gone up to Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000.

Says Greesh Bindra, vice-president, Crowne Plaza: â€œMany in the industry have increased room tariff this year, effective from last month, by 30 to 35%. We are nearly 100% sold for the next two months. This month also saw the start of the wedding season and there is a mad rush now.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 26 Nov 2007 19:30

Nayak wrote:Noooo, our netas would like us common citizens to travel in run-down, beaten up buses, smelling the sweaty armpits, navratan tel, and feeling each other up in a brotherly way rather than traven in a civilized manner on a VOLVO.

The technical term is 'Bio-Effluence'. And I agree only, our Neta's are only happy with scarcity situations, so they can quota raj us.

bala · Post by **bala** » 27 Nov 2007 09:38

A slew of investments in TN

JSW to invest Rs. 7,525 cr. in 4 projects in Tamil Nadu

Will create employment opportunity for 10,000 people.

The first project will be to use the iron ore available at Kanjamalai in Salem and Thiruvannamalai districts by putting up mining and beneficiation plants at an outlay of Rs. 400 crore.

The second project involves doubling of its steel making capacity at the existing SISCOL steel plant to two million tonnes at an investment of Rs. 3,000 crore as soon as iron ore production from the two mines commences.

The third project will be to set up a one-million tonne slag grinding plant at the existing SISCOL plant costing Rs. 125 crore.

The fourth investment will be in the power sector. It is also contemplating a 1,000 MW power plant with an outlay of Rs. 4,000 crore.

The JSW Group has planned to invest nearly Rs. 40,000 crore in all its projects across the country.

JSW Aluminium is having plans to set up an alumina plant in the first phase with a capacity of 1.6 million tonnes at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. It would have an investment of Rs. 4,000 crore. In the second phase, it would set up a 2.5 lakh tonne aluminium plant at a cost of Rs. 8,000 crore.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 27 Nov 2007 20:03

MMRDA hits jackpot.

Metropolitan Commissioner Ratnakar Gaikwad was perhaps the happiest man in the city on Monday. The kitty of the civic agency headed by him - Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) - more than doubled at the stroke of 5.30 pm, when his subordinates opened bids for three prime plots in the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC).

A single plot earned the civic agency nearly Rs1100 crore. Following the opening of bid for three plots on Monday, MMRDA is expected to add Rs2790 crore to its present kitty of Rs2490 crore, thus hiking the worth of MMR to Rs5280 crore.

Gaikwad chose not to gloat, and instead wait for final approval of the authority members led by the chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

Gaikwad stressed on MMRDAâ€™s responsibilities of funding civic bodies in MMR to achieve balanced infrastructure and business growth. â€œOur strength and planning to go ahead with so many ambitious projects should be attributed to the BKC land. We actually bank on it,â€

Katare · Post by **Katare** » 27 Nov 2007 22:14

Well how time has changed in India or for india is amazing, as late as 2000 there were only two projects/sectors in entire India that were talking about investing in " x Lakh corer" scales- power sector and river interlinking.

Come 2007 and a local civic body like MMRDA is talking about investing Rs2.6 lakh corer by 2020

We are seeing at least an order of magnitude improvement in scale and scopes of projects since 2000-01. People now think big, I mean really big, some times too big, and no one laughs at them anymore for being ambitious......

These are world class, china class 'projects and plans', how much/many of them will be executed professionaly and on time is a question which still doesn't inspire too much confidence but hey you never know it's India....

It seems like $10bill is minimum you need to commit to even get a decent front page headline these days.....

JSW to invest Rs 40,000 cr in 3 years

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 28 Nov 2007 23:23

Katare wrote: It seems like $10bill is minimum you need to commit to even get a decent front page headline these days.....
JSW to invest Rs 40,000 cr in 3 years

Very true, forget the Big Names even Unknown entities are throwing big figures and are taken seriously.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 29 Nov 2007 20:20

Maharashtra repeals ULCRA, urban land freed.

The Maharashtra Assembly today repealed the Urban Land Ceiling and Regulation Act (ULCRA), thereby freeing up land for development in Mumbai.

Sources said close to 15,000 acres would be released in Mumbai

. Following the announcement, the shares of Bombay Dyeing, Orbit Corporation, Housing Development & Infrastructure and Shree Ram Mills shot up by more than 7%.

The bill for the repeal of ULCRA had been on the agenda of the state legislature for the last two sessions.

In April this year, the Maharashtra government moved a resolution to repeal ULCRA on the last day of the Assembly session.

Katare · Post by **Katare** » 29 Nov 2007 21:08

Good for Mumbai, now they should also repeal the rent control act to enable meaning full property taxes collections. Those two things put togather can change the face of Mumbai.

Katare · Post by **Katare** » 03 Dec 2007 08:07

I am posting this here because all of the infused capital would be used for infrastructure projects while power projects would be finaced with the capital that would be raised by listing RPL shortly.

Good that we now have a few major private players with deep pockets and managerial bandwidth in infra sector too.

This is serious money and serious players bidding for serious projects

Reliance Energy to get Rs 8,000 cr from promoters

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 06 Dec 2007 19:52

REL, DLF bid for Rs 30,000 cr Ganga Expressway.

gashish · Post by **gashish** » 06 Dec 2007 20:24

ULCA scrapping is good news for MH..though it was scrapped under pressure from Center.

scraping of ULCA will free up lot of land in MH and so expect land prices to dip in near future especially in suburbs.

But it will be useless until it is followed by other laws, esp vacant land tax to discourage land hoarding.

the hoarders of land need to be penalised if they don't build something on their land.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 07 Dec 2007 02:25

gashish wrote:ULCA scrapping is good news for MH..though it was scrapped under pressure from Center.

scraping of ULCA will free up lot of land in MH and so expect land prices to dip in near future especially in suburbs.

But it will be useless until it is followed by other laws, esp vacant land tax to discourage land hoarding.

the hoarders of land need to be penalised if they don't build something on their land.

There are conflicting opinions about prices coming down.
As per experts the prices would soften only in the extended suburbs(of Bombay) after 3 years only if a lot of housing units are constructed on the freed-up land.

gashish · Post by **gashish** » 07 Dec 2007 03:52

very likely,Vipul, hence the word "dip", for many reasons:

*ULCA will have little effect if not followed by vacant land tax.

*land caught up in litigation not likely to be released to market immediately.

*if the freed land is primarily used for commercial development instead of housing.

*reportedly,substantial part of the land freed in mumbai will be off development as it will be reclaimed in coastal regulation zone. so only eastern mumbai suburbs will see some effect.

nevertheless, it is right step forward.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 07 Dec 2007 10:02

I am tipping Jaypee who already has Taj expway in the bag with 5
townships to get a good chunk of this one....close to Henpanda.

finance.livemint.com

Mumbai: Twenty firms have submitted initial bids for building Indiaâ€™s longest and biggest expressway project yetâ€”a Rs40,000 crore, eight-laned, access controlled expressway linking Ballia in eastern Uttar Pradesh (UP) with Greater Noidaâ€”located on the border of the Capital, New Delhi.

The 1047 km-long road project dubbed Ganga Expressway will, when operational, cut travel time between the backward eastern part of Uttar Pradesh and the more prosperous western part of the state, by 16 hours from the current 24 hours.

For a traveller, it would take just about eight hours to zip from the holy city of Varanasi to New Delhi when the project is completed.

The planned expressway will dwarf the 95km-long, six-laned, access controlled expressway connecting Indiaâ€™s financial capital Mumbai with Pune and the under construction and controversy-ridden 111km-long expressway linking Bangalore with the garden city of Mysore.

The firms that have applied for pre-qualification include Larsen & Toubro Ltd, Reliance Energy Ltd, DLF Ltd, IL&FS Ltd, Gammon Infrastructure Projects Ltd with Australiaâ€™s biggest investment bank Macquarie, GMR Group, the Omaxe Ltd-GVK Group-Nagarjuna Construction Co. Ltd consortium, the Bajaj Hindusthan Ltd-Apollo Group-D S Constructions Ltd consortium, Jaiprakash Associates Ltd, Canadian firm SNC Lavalin with Progressive Constructions Ltd, Unitech Ltd, Punj Lloyd Ltd, Omanâ€™s Gulfar Engineering & Contracting Llc., Zoom Developers Pvt. Ltd, Australiaâ€™s Leighton Group with Oriental Construction Co. Ltd, and PLUS Expressways Berhad, a subsidiary of Malaysiaâ€™s UEM Group, according to an official with the UP government overseeing the bidding process who did not wish to be named.

UP has taken inspiration for building the Ganga Expressway from legendary Afghan leader Sher Shah Suri, who built the Grand Trunk Road connecting Delhi with Kabul in the 16th century after temporarily displacing Humayun from the Mughal throne.

Suriâ€™s road ran alongside the right bank of the Ganga; the new expressway will be built on the left bank of the river.

The eight-laned expressway will be constructed on an embankment to be built by the stateâ€™s irrigation department for controlling floods on the left bank of the Ganga.

The proposed expressway will start at Ballia-Gazipur and pass through Varanasi, Mirzapur, Sant Ravidas Nagar, Allahabad, Pratapgarh, Rae Bareli, Unnao, Hardoi, Farrukhabad, Fatehgarh, Shahjahanpur, Badaun, Bulandshahr, Gautam Buddhanagar and terminate at Greater Noida.

The expressway project will make available around 5,000 acres of land for real estate development including residential and industrial units. This will make the project economically viable for the developers.

The work on the expressway project will begin next year.

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 07 Dec 2007 10:28

Since BIAL and HIAL are both in the final stretch, pics of each from SSC:

BIAL (pics posted earlier on SSC by poster saurabh85):

HIAL (posting links as pics are large):
View from upper level
Checkin area
Gallery:
HIAL gallery by Kiruba Shankar

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 07 Dec 2007 10:44

that B&W photo of the lady pilot was a nice touch. there ought to be such
galleries of indian achievers in all nooks and corners of the airport. has
an effect on the younger generation I can guarantee it.

overall, both look good and we need more in other cities too.

HAL museum in BLR has a priceless and fading collection of large b&w
photos of early aviation activity in India back when Walchand Seth started
it all. if the -ve's are locked away in some shoebox they ought to be
scanned with pro-Epson kit and putup in places like BIAL which will get
millions of eyeballs. else atleast restore and copy the existing prints.

plus good place to do +ve psyops for iisc/ada/drdo/csir/cair etc.

if we dont instill jingoistic pride in our kids, nobody else will.

Vipul · Post by **Vipul** » 12 Dec 2007 02:14

REL to submit bid for Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link on Dec 15.

The Ambani brothers are set for a battle royal again. The Maharashtra governmentâ€™s decision on the successful bidder to build its showcase project of around Rs 4,500 crore, Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL) or sea link between Sewri in island city of Mumbai and Nhava Sheva, is going to be watched keenly by the corporate world as Anil Ambaniâ€™s Reliance Energy (REL)-led consortium is all set to submit its bid by December 15 after a long drawn legal battle.

And more interestingly, it is going to pitch once again the two Ambani brothers against each other for their share of $40 billion Mumbai Makeover Plans of the state government.

After the REL-led consortium was disqualified at pre-bidding stage, it challenged the state governmentâ€™s infrastructure arm â€“ Maharashtra State Road Development Corporationâ€™s (MSRDC) â€“ decision to disqualify REL in courts and got favourable verdict from the Supreme Court in September. The Supreme Court had granted 90 days (ending December 15) to REL for submitting its bid.

Earlier, Mukesh Ambani-controlled Sea King Infrastructure Co-led consortium was all set to get the contract as the two other pre-qualified bidders â€“ LT-Gammon and Iffco â€“ opted out of the race and didnâ€™t submitted the financial bids. However, the court battle between REL and MSRDC prevented Sea King from getting the contract formally.

Besides MTHL, both Ambani brothers have put bids for the second line of metro railway for the Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd route, which is the longest metro corridor in Mumbai (32 km) and investment in the project has been pegged at Rs 6,192 crore.

Again, Mukesh Ambani-controlled RIL secured the rights to develop a convention centre and parking lot at the Bandra-Kurla Complex in 2006 and Anil Ambani-controlled REL bagged contract to construct the first metro corridor for the Ghatkopar-Bandra-Charkop route.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 12 Dec 2007 21:06

Singha wrote:that B&W photo of the lady pilot was a nice touch. there ought to be such galleries of indian achievers in all nooks and corners of the airport. has an effect on the younger generation I can guarantee it.

if we dont instill jingoistic pride in our kids, nobody else will.

I agree except for the 'presently living in London...' part.

Definitely part of the upper crust me thinks. The Kitty Party Pilot.

Much more useful to put up a picture of a present woman pilot, such as Shweta Mahajan. Can't believe the B@$#% could be violent with the this babe.

http://www.dnaindia.com/imageshow.asp?objid=1040851

Bharat Rakshak

Infrastructure News & Discussion

Riding high on a Volvo

Re: Riding high on a Volvo