Infrastructure News & Discussion

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Vipul
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Post by Vipul »

World Bank to 'help' Mumbai Metro cross the sea.

The World Bank wants to help in the proposed metro rail link, which will run parallel to the upcoming Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL) between Nhava and Sewri.

The Supreme Court recently directed the Anil Ambani-led consortium to bid for the MTHL project before December 15.

The link is primarily proposed between Prabhadevi, Sewri, Nhava and Panvel. The world Bank also wants to fund the third phase of the metro rail project between Colaba and Bandra. (What a Change from WB's earlier stance of dictating conditions to fund a project. WB has come to its senses as it has realized the Pvt sector Corporates are now in a position to fund the entire project on their own and hence wants to "finance" the project. It would be better to ask the WB to shove its funds up you know where if Mumbai planners want to avoid the mess that was MUTP-I and MUTP-II thanks to World Banks impractical conditions for financing it).

The World Bank wants to help in the proposed metro rail link, which will run parallel to the upcoming Mumbai Trans-Harbour Link (MTHL) between Nhava and Sewri.

The Supreme Court recently directed the Anil Ambani-led consortium to bid for the MTHL project before December 15.

The link is primarily proposed between Prabhadevi, Sewri, Nhava and Panvel. The World Bank also wants to fund the third phase of the metro rail project between Colaba and Bandra.

Sanjay Ubale, the secretary to the government for special projects, said a presentation on both the links was made before WB officials. Isabelle Guerrero, WB’s country head for India, had led the team during a recent meeting at the Mantralaya. Vijay Laxmi, the transport planner for MMRDA, had made the presentation on behalf of the metropolitan administration. “RiTES, a government agency reputed in engineering research and planning, doing feasibility survey of the project,â€
Singha
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Post by Singha »

finance.livemint.com

L&T

Kakinanda in Andhra Pradesh and two shipyards near Chennai in Tamil Nadu and Mundra in Gujarat have been finalized

PTI
New Delhi: Engineering and construction company, Larsen & Tuobro has shortlisted three locations for its next shipyards on which the company will invest up to Rs2,000 crore.

“We are in the stage of finalizing the locations for our shipyards. We have shortlisted Kakinanda in Andhra Pradesh and two others are near Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Mundra (Gujarat),â€
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Post by MN Kumar »

Not entirely true Singha. It will be a new Naval Base near Vizag thats going to be the hub of all the activity. Navy is planning to build another major base on the East coast near Vizag.
A second naval base on the east coast, which will contribute to increasing India's naval presence in the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean, is intended to balance China's influence there and to facilitate ongoing Indian naval exercises in the South China Sea with the navies of China-wary countries.

The location of the new base is said to be ideal. It is tucked away from the heart of the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean; yet these are easily accessible from the base, as is the Malacca Strait. It is not too near to Bangladesh or Myanmar - where the Chinese naval presence poses a threat to India - as Kolkata is; yet it is close enough to "watch and listen" to Chinese naval activity here.

While the location of the new base is being described as excellent, it appears that the Indian Navy's first choice for the site was Gangavaram, where the new commercial port is being constructed. The navy apparently had identified Gangavaram as best suited for building berthing facilities for its Advanced Technology Vessel (or nuclear submarine) project. It had apparently put in a request some years ago for Gangavaram to be developed as a naval facility but the government turned it down.

Not only did the Indian government sideline the navy for development of the Gangavaram port but worse, it awarded the development of the port project to a private consortium consisting of DV Raju and Dubai Ports World. The latter, the world's third largest port operator, was caught in a political storm in the United States early this year, with questions being raised over the security implications of a United Arab Emirates-owned (UAE)company taking over the running of six American ports.

In April this year, when Dubai Ports World's role as developer of the Gangavaram port drew media attention, an official in India's Defense Ministry told Asia Times Online that the Indian Navy had written to the government four to five years ago expressing its concerns with Dubai Ports World developing Gangavaram.
:x

Unlike the American objection to a UAE-based company running its ports, the Indian Navy's objection was that a foreign operator was being allowed to manage a port so close to the eastern naval command's headquarters, he said. Dubai Ports World subsequently pulled out of the consortium that is developing Gangavaram port.

The new base is being described as the Kadamba of the east. There is little doubt that like Kadamba it will boost India's naval ambitions. But will it - like Kadamba - take decades to become a reality?

"Project Seabird" of which Kadamba is a part was conceived decades ago. It received government sanction in August 1985, and construction was to begin in January 1986 and finish in seven years. In October 1986, then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi even laid the foundation stone for the project. But it was shelved thanks to a resource crunch. Work on the project began only in late 1999 and after enormous time and cost overruns, Kadamba was finally commissioned last year.

Government officials are quick to dismiss fears that the new base will take time to become a reality. Of the 5,000 acres sought by the Defense Ministry, the government of Andhra Pradesh - the state where the base will be located - has already allotted 500 acres. According to reports, the remaining land is to be assigned shortly. The project seems to have started off well. But political and bureaucratic meddling will have to stop for the new naval base project to go full steam ahead.
Also more reads:
Indian Navy sidelined for port development contract to Dubai Ports World
SSridhar
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Post by SSridhar »

Chennai Metro will be operational in three years

Very optimistic, considering the pace at which the IT Corridor Project, Kathipara Cloverleaf project, the dozens of flyovers/ROBs/Underpasses, Airport Expansion project are moving. Also, there won't be any private equity participation and TN's financial position isn't good.
Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy on Tuesday said the Centre would soon sanction Metro Rail for Chennai City, making it the first metropolis in the country to have three urban rail networks, besides a public bus transport system.

"The Delhi metro has been extremely successful and has also helped reduce pollution. The Metro for Chennai will be sanctioned soon, he said at a CII seminar here on Tuesday on 'INFRA 2007 - MAP tomorrow's Chennai'.

He said the Centre was in 'active contact' with the Tamil Nadu government. "The foundation stone for the project will be laid in the next one year. In three years, we will be able to provide metro rail for Chennai."

The minister said a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) was also on the anvil for Chennai, for which the centre would contribute half its cost.

The total cost of the 40 km project, of which 14 km will be underground, would be between Rs 7,000 and Rs 8,000 crores. "One kilometer on an elevated stretch would cost around Rs 120 crores," he said.

He added that the Tamil Nadu government did not want a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model for the Metro Rail.

"The government of Tamil Nadu and the Government of India will invest in the project to an equal degree and the rest will be raised as loan from a Japanese Bank," he said.
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Post by Singha »

business standard

Develop Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor: Karunanidhi

R.K. Radhakrishnan

Chief Minister makes the plea in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Says most of the investments are on the stretch between Chennai and Sriperumbudur

CHENNAI: Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to “announce the development of the Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor as an Industrial Corridor of Excellence on the lines of the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor.â€
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Post by Vipul »

L&T bags 287 Cr order from MMRDA.

Engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro said on Wednesday it has secured an order worth Rs 287 crore from Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for construction of an elevated road.

Under the order, the company will construct elevated access road from Western Express Highway, Mumbai, to the Chatrapathi Shivaji International Airport (CSIA), L&T said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

The project is scheduled to be completed in 30 months.

The scope of work involves design and construction of 1.85 km long 6 lane corridor, resurfacing of roads at Western Express Highway including the construction of a 1.15 km long, 6 lane elevated access road as well as one 165 m long tunnel.

Pursuant to the completion of this order, there would be easy and quick access to and from Chatrapathi Shivaji International Airport being developed by Mumbai International Airports Ltd, the company statement added.

Shares of the company were trading at Rs 4020.05, up 1.32 per cent on the BSE in morning trade.
Vipul
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Post by Vipul »

Colaba-Mahim Metro Rail corridor okayed.

Mumbai, December 24 The third corridor of the Mumbai Metro rail project, which will run from Colaba to Mahim, has been cleared by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).
Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said the route had been approved in the meeting of the MMRDA on Monday. Much of the stretch would run underground due to the problems of acquiring land in the crowded areas in the city, added Deshmukh, who is also the MMRDA chairman.

Officials present at the meeting held at the Sahyadri Guest House on Malabar Hill said the state government is considering two options:

* The first option comprised a Rs 8,857 crore proposal wherein the Colaba to Mahalaxmi stretch of the Metro would run underground.

* A costlier Rs 12,152 crore option was also on the cards, where the entire Colaba-Mahim stretch would be underground and an elevated stretch from Mahim to Bandra would be provided.

The state cabinet will approve the final proposal and work on the 20-kilometre long route is expected to start by 2012. The state had also discussed the funding options with a visiting World Bank (WB) delegation.

Deshmukh said the MMRDA had sanctioned infrastructure projects not only for Mumbai but also for other areas in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) like Thane.

An elevated road linking the Chattrapati Shivaji International Airport to the Western Express Highway and work on a railway overbridge (ROB) on the Milan Subway had been cleared along with a survey for the Khar subway. The work on five flyovers on the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar road and the Eastern Freeway will also be started soon.

Rs 3,000 crore to be spent on projects in MMR

*The meeting also decided to spend Rs 3,000 crore on the infrastructure projects to be undertaken by the MMRDA in the municipal corporations and councils in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

On requests by the public representatives for implementing the Mumbai Urban Infrastructure Project (MUIP) in the Municipal Corporations and Councils in the MMR, Deshmukh sanctioned Rs 1,500 crore for the extension of the MUIP in the region.

This includes Rs 380 crore for four main roads in the Vasai-Virar area, Rs 449 crore for the four main roads in Mira-Bhayender and Rs 604 crore for the construction of the Dombivali- Bhiwandi and Dombivali- Mumbra link road.

Four flyovers on the Ghodbunder road and three flyovers and five main roads in the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) area have also been sanctioned. Flyovers in the Panvel Municipal Council will incur an expenditure of Rs 60 crore and Rs 12 crore will be spent on roads in the Thane Zilla Parishad areas.

The state will also fund Rs 1,500 crore for projects sanctioned to the local bodies in the MMR under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

The Indira Research and Development Centre has also been appointed to train officials from the Municipal Corporation and Councils for the development of working skills. The training centre will be started after the report in this regard is submitted to the MMRDA.

Around 119 posts, including those of additional chief engineers, senior planner, deputy collectors and senior traffic planners have been approved for the MMRDA.
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Post by bala »

Back from a India visit. In Chennai, the Kathipara junction is still being built (how many years does it take, I have seen this construction for the past 6-7yrs), must be feeding the corrupt TR Baaluu slush funds. A billion swift kicks on the posteriors of the politicians and babus involved in infrastructure. The whole city infrastructure of roads is inadequate for the ballooning vehicle population, most roads are deemed 1 way, very little traffic lights, fat well fed cops with paunches arbitrate unruly traffic. Most roads have at least 1 lane eaten up by parked vehicles, stragglers and mom&pop shops extended out onto the streets. The filth on sidewalks makes you want to avoid ever walking on them. Some streets are eternally dug up and never closed up. Old unused transformers abound on sidewalks. Time for a complete infra overhaul.

The golden quad is the only well built stretch of highways nationwide. Others are trying to emulate the standards set by the BJP govt. infra project. The NSEW corridor is being built in pieces at a very slow rate. The congress govt does not seem to be in any sense of emergency to accelerate road building. The stretch of drive from Krishnagiri to Salem is a nightmare, road is being built with no no alternate good surface roads for traffic. Slow moving trucks/buses are a bitch to deal with. They hog both lanes and do not yield to fast moving car traffic. The left lane should be the default and the right is the fast lane for overtake. The police have deemed it their right to place silly slalom obstacles on the road to slow traffic at their thanas. Why. Sometimes you are confronted with traffic moving in opposite direction on the right lane! The local population seems to saunter across the road nonchalantly, divider barricades are broken down.

At state border crossings, due to Octroi/tax checks we see huge pile up of trucks and buses, that eat up an entire lane. Wherever there is a junction, traffic seems to pile up.

I had to travel on many Karnataka interior state roads and what a fine mess the system of roads in Karnataka are. Around 50-70% of them are moon surface type with barely a width of 1 vehicle. At times the inspired zilla parishad has managed to create a 4 lane divided highway a la golden quad standards. The lazy cops have placed slalom barriers and yes speed breakers for little known Dev gowda type village roads. You hit them unannounced because there is next to little indication of them. At a junction there are the inevitable bus stops, mom&pop shops causing a huge clusterf**k for traffic.

I was told that during Bangarappa, a former CM of Kn, was so corrupt that projects that normally had a 10-20% kickback were completely changed to no project with 80-90% kickback, the contractors were happy to get 10%-20% without doing anything!

Private enterprise in Blore for instance can resurface a 3km road stretch in a day and often last for years on end. The moon surface craters in Ktaka needs to be ripped up and 2-3 foot of gravel bed created and tarred over. In my travels I hardly saw road work crews at work, when what is needed is a crash course on bulldozers levelling the place up and tar laying machines working night and day. Meanwhile a billion swift kicks up the posterior for the Ktaka politicians and babus for the failed road infrastructure.

Blore traffic is a nightmare. Most roads in the city are clogged, there is the eternal sidewalk project dug up forever. Speed breakers at everyplace.No traffic lights. lanes clogged by parked vehicles, shops and hangers on. Finally the Marathahalli road cross bridge is taking shape;but the nearby Purvankara highrise mega plex opening should put traffic back to a clusterf**f.

New housing layouts in Blore are facing inordinate delays in getting good access roads, most are dirt roads and BDA/Zilla Parishad etc are too lazy to bother. All of them are paying good amounts in taxes but are yet to see any road infra. Good luck paying your taxes. The one I visited was a dingy outfit, the guy missing at the desk and when he turned up I requested a form for filling out. The form is in short supply written entirely in Kannada with no English. No computers either. You have to get everything correct, including some katha number and then pay the amount at another bank. All of this in the heart of India's silicon valley computer revolution.

Blore private buiding activity is going at a hectic pace but the infrastructure building is at a complete halt. There are too many so called authorities that you have to deal with. Getting a plan approved does not mean it is BDA approved. The chaos makes you wonder whether you are following the rules. Talking about rules, the flagrant misuse is everywhere. When residential areas are overnight converted into commercial ones. A friend of mine in the heart of Indiranagar recounted a story. There were rumours that opposite his house a new hotel complex was coming up. The neighborhood was up in arms about this. The guy who demolished an existing house, assured them he was only building his palace and cleverly got a no-objection certificate. Turns out this guy was politically connected to the Sonia congress in AP and his next door neighbor prostated in front of him upon hearing this news. In short order a 21 room service facility came up. The neighbor behind the 21 room was a Bombay builder who cared little about no-objection certificate and promptly erected a massive condominium complex.

The current governors rule may help speed things up but I have little faith in the old Congressi Geriatric Governor to think/act fast.

BTW the only road to the new Devenhalli Airport is via Hyderbad highway from Blore and getting onto the highway is a pain. There are very poor exits to Yelahanka when an overpass is needed.

Just a tidbit: Sighted Vina Kola of Rightworks(the red eye mom)/Certus/NEA India fund jogging in Blore's Prestige Ozone Complex.
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Post by Singha »

well did you expect Osaka or Buenos Aires here ? :twisted:
bala
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Post by bala »

Another example of breakdown in Good Govt wherein encroachers suddenly sprout rights and demand their way impeding demolition,
Encroachments stall road expansion.
A project to widen CSIR Road, which serves as a crucial link from Velachery and Taramani to the Rajiv Gandhi Salai (IT Corridor), has hit a roadblock with the Chennai Corporation finding it difficult to remove the encroachments in the way.

A Corporation official said the widening work has been stopped as those who have encroached upon the road have raised objection to the proposed demolition of their shops and houses. They have sought time to vacate the place. But the encroachments would be removed soon to facilitate completion of the work, he said.
This should be promptly dealt with as a law and order issue and no courts need to come in the way. It is about time the court enforce the law of the land promptly and not pander to illegal stuff becoming overnight legal.
SSridhar
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Post by SSridhar »

Chennai Metro to link existing MRTS & Suburban lines

Image
Image
The Tamil Nadu Government, which has formed a company to execute and manage the project, is keen that a unified metropolitan transport authority is in place by the time services are operated on the metro rail system, some time in 2013-14.

With the unified metropolitan transport authority in place, a commuter can hop from any one of the railway networks on to another or on to a public transport bus operated by the Government owned corporation, using the same ticket.

According to the officials, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation studied seven high density transportation corridors and decided on two routes in the first phase. The third phase is likely to link the shopping district of T. Nagar with any one of the two metro lines.
Theo_Fidel

Post by Theo_Fidel »

Thanx. Sridhar.

Excellent plan. As far as funding the state component is 2000 crore and over the next 4 years that is just 500 crore per annum. With a projected revenue deficit of just over 100 crores and interest payments down to 12% of revenue, capital expenditure of over 8000 crore this should be a piece of cake.

Sure hope that corridor 1 is reworked. Esp the Saidapet, Guindy onwards portion. It seems to largely shadow the existing suburban line. Also whyfor the extension to the airport when a low cost loop from trisulam would serve the purpose.

There needs to be a line cutting across these 5 or so parallel lines. Some thing from Perambur to IT corridor.

The Standard Gauge recommendation is likely to cause complications.

Wish there was a way to make a composite of the two maps.
SSridhar
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Post by SSridhar »

Theo, it may not be just the average amount every year as different phases may need more or less money. With the State Treasury in deep red (they are not paying extra money due to State Government retirees, I understand, because of this), and the free colour TV and gas stove scheme in full flow especially as the political coalition is unravelling, I doubt if this scheme will really take off. It may end up like the much-acclaimed IT Corridor project.

I do agree with you that the Saidapet-Airport corridor needs to be really understood in terms of alignment. There is no point if it follows the existing suburban lines.

I was expecting the two corridors to meet at St. Thomas Mount but obviously that does not seem to be the case. I would also like the MRTS which is to be extended from Velachery to St. Thomas Mount, to end up at Alandur instead as there will be connectivity to all the lines at one place.

I also hope that the multi-modal transportation becomes a reality. The complete exploitation will not happen otherwise.

The Third Phase should ideally cut across diagonally through T'Nagar CBD and connect both Corridor 1 & 2.

Even the Metro is not connecting Central and Egmore, which is disappointing. There should at least be a tunnel linking the two for passengers to transfer from long distance trains to these lines. This would be a great help.

I understand that the MRTS passenger load has picked up considerably though access woes to the stations continue. The MRTS has become a boon for people in far off Velachery to go to town (literally and metaphorically)
Theo_Fidel

Post by Theo_Fidel »

OK. Here's the merged map and you can see the weirdities.

Why is North Chennai ignored completely.

Image
Aditya_V
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Post by Aditya_V »

Cause North Chennai is a purely industrial belt and move 50Km that way you go into Andra Pradesh
bala
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Post by bala »

Any reason why the MRTS and Suburban lines cannot be converted to Metro lines. They are BG lines with dilapidated IR trains. Converting them to the modern sleek Metro trains would be a good first start.

I am still confused about egmore vs central stations, haven't been on train lately. but, are the trains to south still starting from egmore and one cannot go from say vizag to madurai without physically disembarking from central and catching a bus/auto to egmore for the journey south?
Theo_Fidel

Post by Theo_Fidel »

SSridhar wrote:Theo, it may not be just the average amount every year as different phases may need more or less money. With the State Treasury in deep red (they are not paying extra money due to State Government retirees, I understand, because of this), and the free colour TV and gas stove scheme in full flow especially as the political coalition is unravelling, I doubt if this scheme will really take off. It may end up like the much-acclaimed IT Corridor project.
The government is making some poor financial choices, but I actually support the color TV idea. Numerous studies, esp. in South America show that TV changes the aspirational outlook for people.

For instance the population growth rate in Brazilian Favelas dropped by 20-30% with universal TV presence, functional literacy rates rose dramatically and gender equality became more prevalent. I suspect this program may work out like the Midday Meal Scheme with unexpected benefits along the way. Any way enough OT.

I am more concerned that Syed Munir Hoda was appointed as the chairman. My friends father who is an ex-chief secretary says he is a hard working competent officer.

But some years ago he got seriously involved in the Coimbatore blast case mess. AMMA hates him, and if she should ever come to power, as seems likely with the DMK disaster, she will probably eviscerate this project. Why couldn't they appoint some one with technical expertise, less controversial.
bart
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Post by bart »

Has anyone noticed that there is a huge patch of prime property along Mount Road esp along Teynampet, Nandanam areas which are occupied by slums or slum-clearance board housing?

That could be hugely valuable real estate, or could be used to widen the road or provide other infrastructure.

Has any govt attempted to clear that land?
Last edited by bart on 08 Jan 2008 20:46, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by bart »

The metro is a good start, provided it gets started at all but there is still a lot more that needs to be done if it is seriously going to relieve congestion:

-Much better coverage of T-Nagar is needed - at least 4 stations other than West Mambalam which is severly congested.

-The coverage is missing areas such as Porur, Valsaravakkam, and other areas, if you go there you can see zillions of people on Arcot road waiting for buses and traffic jam 24x7. Ideally there should be an offshoot near OTA going through Porur.Manapakkam etc and then joining up to Vadaplani. Then a Vadaplani to Gemini section covering T-Nagar.

-Also, a Tambaram/Porur to Ambattur line going via Sriperambudur and Maduravoyal is also needed as many people work and live there.

-Tambaram, Chrompet and other areas are now practically a city by themselves and more coverage is needed of those areas as well. The congestion is pretty bad already and can only get worse as its hard to widen GST road and there are huge number of housing plots being sold all the way till Vandalur and big industrial zones such as Oragadam are coming up. CTS alone has a 14,000 seat building coming up within the MEPZ complex in Tambaram and I shudder to think what will happen when all those dudes/dudettes start driving in to work from the city. And there is talk that most of the MEPZ will slowly be migrated from factories to IT as is being done to some extent in Ambattur.

-Thiruvanmayur should ideally be extended up till Pondicherry as that is the direction the city is growing, plus it can help the IT guys commute. It should at least go up till the area near Maayajaal.

Heavy duty railway needs to be set up between the main industrial areas like Sriperambadur and newer ones like Oragadam to Ennore port ASAP. Companies like Hyundai who have committed huge resources to Chennai have been crying themselves hoarse about this for many years and yet nothing has been done by either govt.
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Post by karthik »

Now that the 1lakh car is out, it raises a critical question of how our infrastructure can be expanded to accommodate the burgeoning roads of our cities.

How can we make our roads less congested? I mean fly-overs and sub-ways are just to little to have any significant effect on the congestion.

So in what way can we ever reduce the traffic in our cities? Any suggestions here?
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Post by bala »

The only way to reduce congestion is to spread out. When I was growing up we lived in Chennai/Blore. Outlaying areas were considered too far away like say Ashoknagar/KKNagar in Chennai, Whitefield was a place you visit for a picnic in the woods or visit some vineyard owned by friends in Blore. Today these places are deemed center of city. In other words people moving away and creating better conditions forces the city center to move. When enough people move away from congested neighborhoods, now that they have a cheap affordable car, then traffic reduces. Eventually urban planning should take these dilapidated areas, rezone them, widen out the roads, plan better entry/egress and rejuvenate the old city area. This is the same model that the west has had for many years. Living in the center of the city is no more a desired destination. Instead people appreciate wide expanses with green belts, wide roads and modern convenience, i.e. suburban living. Places on the Chennai Pondicherry belt, Blore Hosur Chennai belt should be the norm very soon for urban population spreading its wings further out.

The newer generation of Indians growing up with cell phones, cars and other modern conveniences are going to dictate the new urban indian landscape, it takes a generation change for a massive overhaul. Hopefully the current geriatic crowd wielding power disappears.
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Post by Vipul »

IRB beats Reliance, L&T to bag NHDP-V.

IRB Infrastructure Developers has bagged the contract to develop the fifth phase of the National Highway Development Project (NHDP-V) at an estimated cost of Rs 12,500 crore. L&T and Reliance Energy (REL) were the other companies that had bid for the project.

Under terms of the contract, IRB Infrastructure Developers will upgrade around 655 km of four-lane highways into six lanes.

The funds for the project would be mobilised from private equity majors and the revenues would be shared between the government, investors and the builder (IRB Infrastructure Developers), a source close to the development said.

The project is being conceptualised on a design, build, finance and operate basis. Revenues would come through toll that would collected. IRB Infrastructure had proposed a revenue share of 38 per cent, while L&T offered 35.21 per cent and Reliance Energy 33.61 per cent.

The highways to be upgraded are Panipat and Jalandhar (291 km), Surat and Dahisar (239 km), Chilkakuripet and Rajamundry (82.5 km) and Chennai and Tada (43 km).

When contacted, a company spokesperson declined to comment on the development. IRB Infrastructure is in the silent period as it has received approvals for its initial public offering (IPO), the date and price band of which would be announced in a fortnight.

However, sources said that an official communication has already been sent to the company. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had approved the NHDP-V project on October 5, 2006. It had also approved the upgrading of 6,500 km of four-lane highways, including the 5,700-km-long Golden Quadrilateral and other stretches in the country.

IRB Infrastructure had earlier bagged NHD projects of around 414 km. It had also received concessions for the 110-km-long Mumbai-Pune Expressway and the 65-km-long Surat-Bharuch section. Concessions mean that the company will maintain the stretch by collecting tolls, which require time-to-time approvals from the government.

IRB Infrastructure Developers is the holding company of the IRB Group and its infrastructure development portfolio consists of 12 build-operate-transfer (BOT) projects in the road sector.
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Post by Abhijeet »

bala wrote:Living in the center of the city is no more a desired destination. Instead people appreciate wide expanses with green belts, wide roads and modern convenience, i.e. suburban living.
This is true in the US but not generally in Europe or Japan, places with high population density more similar to India's. The 1 lakh car is awesome but India's population density will require most day to day transportation (mainly commutes) to be by public transport. California sized spaces are unreasonable to expect.

Japan is a great model. So not suburban living, but "mega-agglomeration" living, with multiple cities fusing into one large, densely populated urban area. Mumbai-Pune probably has potential to develop that way, also perhaps Chennai-Bangalore.
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Post by Sanjay M »

karthik wrote:Now that the 1lakh car is out, it raises a critical question of how our infrastructure can be expanded to accommodate the burgeoning roads of our cities.

How can we make our roads less congested? I mean fly-overs and sub-ways are just to little to have any significant effect on the congestion.

So in what way can we ever reduce the traffic in our cities? Any suggestions here?
I work for one of the world's largest infrastructure companies, which has built some of the most ultra-modern express toll roads in the world, and done it in record time. Even further major lane expansions were accomplished within a mere few months. And I'm talking about the most ultra-modern type of infrastructure, supporting huge traffic volumes, and tracking them with radio transponders.

The answer to building more infrastructure is to charge those who use that infrastructure, and not merely bill the taxpayer at large. With only 7 vehicles per thousand people in India, the common man is still far from being a car driver, and that will be the case for quite a long time. So don't burden the common man by charging the govt treasury. Instead bill the drivers.

With toll roads, the very people who need and use those roads the most can then pay for their construction, upkeep and expansion. And I know from experience, that large toll roads can be built very quickly, when the private sector is brought in and allowed to reap the revenues. In an IT-embracing India, radio transponder technology shouldn't be too hard for customers to accept, or laser scanning technology, etc. There are a wide variety of approaches possible. There are already various companies which sell license plates having radio transponders built in.

The govt might also find such technology to serve an additional useful purpose for security tracking of vehicles. Yes, it might seem a little like Big Brother, but in a country like India which exists in a dangerous region, and having laws like TADA, POTA, etc, then a little license plate scanning isn't going to inconvenience people too much.

What is required is the creation of iron-clad agreements between private-sector infrastructure companies and the state/local govts. Participating govts should be held to penalty compensation amounts if they try to renege on agreements. In India, we know there is of course that tendency to invite in private sector and then renege through nationalization, confiscation, etc.

So put in the protective clauses, and get the private sector to build the infrastructure, while also allowing them to reap the toll revenues and to set the price -- at least for the first couple of decades.
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Post by Rishirishi »

I feel that it would be a mistake to copy the US model of transport, where everyone has a car.

In stead India has to come up with integrated public transport models. Most of the population is centred arround clusters.
Theo_Fidel

Post by Theo_Fidel »

Rishirishi wrote:I feel that it would be a mistake to copy the US model of transport, where everyone has a car.

In stead India has to come up with integrated public transport models. Most of the population is centred arround clusters.
Lots of people in India already have a motored vehicle. There are over 70 million mopeds, scooters and motorcycles in India, increasing at 10 million of so per year.

This car aims to be a replacement for these.

While there are problems with the US model, it is the one that gives most freedom and standard of life to people. It should not be our job to deny people what they want.

We have extensive public transport in Chennai but it is simply horrible to use. My bus fare from Chintamani to Parrys is roughly 18 rupees for the round trip. Allowing for a 80 kmpl on my bike I can get there and back spending more or less the same money with less super dense crush loads.
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Post by bart »

Theo,

Very recently, AC Volvo buses have begun to ply. Some of the non-AC buses are brand new with low entrances as well.

I do hope they run the AC buses as for-profit, there will be plenty of takers. They should also run some Thiruvanmayur to IT corridor AC buses which will get them plenty of business.
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Post by Sanjay M »

Rishirishi wrote:I feel that it would be a mistake to copy the US model of transport, where everyone has a car.

In stead India has to come up with integrated public transport models. Most of the population is centred arround clusters.
I really want to address this point.

India is a 3rd world country because its people are very poor at collaboration. You can blame the Brits or the caste system all you like, but the bottom line is that the country is very poor on generating consensus and cooperation.

Obviously, development of major infrastructure, including mass-transit systems, requires strong collaborative effort. India, even with its national railway (British-originated) and its few metros, is just no good at collaborative effort.

Cars are comparatively individualized transportation, individually controlled, individually owned and managed. That's why Indians have to go with cars, even with their potential stress on the environment, because the collaborative efforts are going to meet with problems and fall short.

India is not Japan. The Japanese are very good at collaboration, conformism and don't have NGO's on every streetcorner hollering against any newly-introduced improvement. That's why they recovered very rapidly after WW2, rebuilding their bombed-out infrastructure. We could never have risen that fast.

Look at how much headache was even caused just from trying to build a damn factory in W.Bengal to make this Nano car. The protests and effigies are still burning, and Mamta is demanding that the first million cars go to her and her supporters. Stupid b*tch, she should be left to wallow in the dust, with the W.Bengal site being abandoned for more cooperative locales and political setups. (Yes, I'm quite sure that shifting production to Gujarat will make Leftists all sit up and compare the new People's Car to Hitler's People's Car, since they love to brandish the Hitler card, especially in the Gujarat context)

But the slow-minded should not be allowed to impede those who want to go farther, faster. There is going to have to be a strongly individualized component to any Indian transportation solution.
Theo_Fidel

Post by Theo_Fidel »

bart wrote:Theo,

Very recently, AC Volvo buses have begun to ply. Some of the non-AC buses are brand new with low entrances as well.

I do hope they run the AC buses as for-profit, there will be plenty of takers. They should also run some Thiruvanmayur to IT corridor AC buses which will get them plenty of business.
Yes I've ridden them too. Their fare on the mount road run was Rs 14 one way. There is no way a family of 4 can afford this. Much cheaper to get a litre of petrol and drive down to the beach.

There is a reason private transport is so popular. It really is cheaper. No you can argue environmentally or road req. wise but straight fare comparison does not hold up.
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Post by bala »

Finally a nice slap in the face for the Dev Gowda clan and Bangalore Water Board.

Image

HC clears hurdle in NICE way
The High Court on Thursday directed the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewarage Board to facilitate the works of Peripheral Road and a link road part of Bangalore-Mysore Infrastructure Corridor (BMIC) project by executing and permitting the shifting, replacing and laying of water and sewage pipelines at four locations in the City, within four weeks.

Justice Anand Byra Reddy issued the direction while allowing a writ petition by Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) that had sought a mandamus to the Board to honour its earlier commitment and allow works required to clear the way for BMIC. The court directed the BWSSB to execute shifting and replacing work of pipelines at two locations by itself, and to permit NICE to execute similar works at two other locations.
The court also told the Board to ensure commencement of the said works by completing formalities within three weeks, while directing both the Board and NICE to ensure completion of works taken up, within a week thereafter. The court further directed the BWSSB to issue public notices regarding impending disruption in water suppy during the said works and to ensure emergent water supply wherever required, while telling NICE to cooperate.

Works details
The court directed the BWSSB to execute the deviations of 1625-mm dia MS Transmission Line of Uttarahall- Kengeri Road near Channasandra, for which NICE had already deposited Rs 77.1 lakh; further, the BWSSB was directed to execute similar shifting of water pipeline at the starting point of Peripheral Road (Hosur Road) connecting the loop road towards Electronic City for which it had received Rs 30-lakh deposit.

The court asked the BWSSB to issue work orders to NICE to execute by itself the shifting of a 600-mm dia water pipeline parallel to the Ring Road near PES College, and for providing an underground drainage on Avalahalli Road near Pantharapalya village, which come in way of Link Road alignment. For these works, BWSSB was said to have agreed and received ETP charges of Rs 2.17 lakhs.

Pulled up
While opposing the petition, BWSSB had contended that it was impossible to execute or permit the said works citing reasons of inconvenience to public alone and suggested that the very alignment of roads could be altered. The court rejected its contention while pulling up the Board for its inconsistent stand. It observed that the same BWSSB Chief Engineer who had inspected and agreed to take up the said works earlier, was now stating before the court that they were impossible.

The court also rapped the Board for dragging on the issue. It observed that BWSSB officers had taken part in joint inspections of work spots in 2001 itself and the Board need not have waited all these years just to inform the company that it is not possible to shift pipelines.
Now another slap in the face is required for the Devanahalli airport road and other infrastructure roads in Blore.
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Post by Katare »

They Gowdas are slapproof, they have had too many of them slaps delivered on their faces by courts and media but they simply don't care.
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Post by bala »

Minjur desalination plant to be operational by August

Image
Kattupalli near Minjur, which is known for its biodiversity, will soon get another identity as work on the 100-million-litres-a-day (mld) desalination plant, proposed in the area, is progressing well. Nearly 65 per cent of the works have been completed so far, say Chennai Metrowater officials.

A visit to the plant site spread across 60 acres revealed that the civil works of several units in the plant were under way. A Metrowater official said the first phase of the project to supply about 15 mld of water would be completed by mid-May.

Only about 30 acres of space is being used up for construction to suit future requirement. About 600 labourers were involved in constructing the plant that would desalinate sea water and augment the water supply, especially to residents in northern parts of the city.

Chennai Water Desalination Limited, a special-purpose vehicle formed by IVRCL Infrastructures and Projects Limited and its technical partner Befesa Construccion y Tecnologia Ambiental, Spain, has taken up the project on the DBOOT (design, build, own, operate and transfer) basis.

On the works under progress, the official said about 90 per cent of the work on intake tower to draw sea water from 10 metre below sea level had been completed. Separate pipelines to draw raw water and discharge waste water would be laid in about two weeks, he said.

Units such as sand filters and cartridge filters, used to remove minute particles as part of the preliminary treatment process, were also under way.

Nearly 237 mld of raw water would be used to generate 100 mld of drinking water at the cost of Rs. 48.66 per kilo litre.

The remaining waste water would be discharged into the sea.

Pipes of different sizes from 1,600 mm diameter to 25 mm were being used for the project, he said. About 75 per cent of the civil work for setting up the reverse osmosis unit, an important component in desalinating sea water, has been finished.

A pumping station is also being constructed to transport the treated water from the plant through a 30-km pipeline to Red Hills, the official said. About 40 per cent of the pipeline-laying work worth Rs.93 crore has been completed.

The plant would be fully operational by August, the official added.
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Post by rachel »

Sanjay M wrote:
Rishirishi wrote:I feel that it would be a mistake to copy the US model of transport, where everyone has a car.

In stead India has to come up with integrated public transport models. Most of the population is centred arround clusters.
I really want to address this point.

India is a 3rd world country because its people are very poor at collaboration. You can blame the Brits or the caste system all you like, but the bottom line is that the country is very poor on generating consensus and cooperation.

Obviously, development of major infrastructure, including mass-transit systems, requires strong collaborative effort. India, even with its national railway (British-originated) and its few metros, is just no good at collaborative effort.

Cars are comparatively individualized transportation, individually controlled, individually owned and managed. That's why Indians have to go with cars, even with their potential stress on the environment, because the collaborative efforts are going to meet with problems and fall short.

India is not Japan. The Japanese are very good at collaboration, conformism and don't have NGO's on every streetcorner hollering against any newly-introduced improvement. That's why they recovered very rapidly after WW2, rebuilding their bombed-out infrastructure. We could never have risen that fast.

Look at how much headache was even caused just from trying to build a damn factory in W.Bengal to make this Nano car. The protests and effigies are still burning, and Mamta is demanding that the first million cars go to her and her supporters. Stupid b*tch, she should be left to wallow in the dust, with the W.Bengal site being abandoned for more cooperative locales and political setups. (Yes, I'm quite sure that shifting production to Gujarat will make Leftists all sit up and compare the new People's Car to Hitler's People's Car, since they love to brandish the Hitler card, especially in the Gujarat context)

But the slow-minded should not be allowed to impede those who want to go farther, faster. There is going to have to be a strongly individualized component to any Indian transportation solution.
CORRECT. And I dont know why TAta (Gujurati) is risking his whole bizness on that pice of sh&&t Commie hellhole, when wonderful and heroic Modi Gujurat is available. Is Tata getting millions in subsidy for locating in W Bengal?
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Post by Gaurav_S »

SanjayM wrote
India is a 3rd world country because its people are very poor at collaboration. You can blame the Brits or the caste system all you like, but the bottom line is that the country is very poor on generating consensus and cooperation.
SanjayM you are spot on.

What we lack is tight integration. Media, political parties and caste based system are somewhat responsible for derailing our growth. All western countries as opposed to asian (except Japan perhaps) are weak at collaboration for which we pay hefty prices. On the other hand China has developed infrastructure rapidly because they are not a democracy like India is. Their government can execute projects by hook or by crook ultimately.
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Post by Rishirishi »

What we lack is tight integration. Media, political parties and caste based system are somewhat responsible for derailing our growth. All western countries as opposed to asian (except Japan perhaps) are weak at collaboration for which we pay hefty prices. On the other hand China has developed infrastructure rapidly because they are not a democracy like India is. Their government can execute projects by hook or by crook ultimately
All of the top 15 richest countries of the world are democracies. India's lack of growth is not due to democracy, caste, culture or such factores.

India is simply poor, becasue of 40 years with semi communist economy. After the libralisation, Indian economy has been one of the fastest growing economies in the World. And day by day, things are getting better.

The government will become more and more effective as the economy grows.
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Post by vina »

Rishirishi wrote:India is simply poor, becasue of 40 years with semi communist economy. After the libralisation, Indian economy has been one of the fastest growing economies in the World. And day by day, things are getting better.

The government will become more and more effective as the economy grows.
Dunno about that. In Bangalore, as it has gotten richer and richer the govt has simply gone from being bad to worse to terrible and in the last 40 months or so nonexistent /withered away.

The only reason it seems why the last 2 govts existed (Yeddyurappa doesn' count), was to make money by being unbelievably corrupt in land deals and infrastructure projects and generally being an obstructionist nuisance (NICE and the airport).
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Post by bala »

The KNataka Govt is pathetic, to say the least. Just visit a local state govt office. It looks worse than a village tehsil office. The people who are supposed to work are off drinking chai at the local tea hole, old cubboards are stashed with Kannada printed forms, no one knows any procedure, computers are non-existent. The few people who work there refuse to speak any language other Kannada. It is simply horrible. The attitude sucks. On top of it they will ask you to come 1 week later for a stupid form, or tell you have the wrong stamped version or you have to pay some bank and get a receipt. This is the state of affairs. The rest of Blore is light years away in service and modernity. I am sure this is the case with most state run GOI organization. Time for a complete revamp.
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Post by Singha »

I have found some younger employees girls employed to run the computers quite competent and helpful as the only spot of light in local offices. they also dont ask for money.
the rest are corrupt to the core. for registering a flat they make between 7-20K depending on regd cost of flat. so daily "income" at any sub registrar office is in few lakhs and is divided up from the minister downward.

deve gowda's other son Revanna was the PWD and BDA minister in last regime I recall :twisted: and gowdaji had demanded to retain that portfolio
in the failed talks with Yediyurappa.

meantime, Krishna has got clearance from Delhi to rejoin state politics and
though coy about CM ambitions, he will lead the Cong(I) campaign.

I am ok with Cong(I) or NDA, I never want to see the gowda family in power again.
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Post by svinayak »

Rishirishi wrote:
What we lack is tight integration. Media, political parties and caste based system are somewhat responsible for derailing our growth. All western countries as opposed to asian (except Japan perhaps) are weak at collaboration for which we pay hefty prices. On the other hand China has developed infrastructure rapidly because they are not a democracy like India is. Their government can execute projects by hook or by crook ultimately
All of the top 15 richest countries of the world are democracies. India's lack of growth is not due to democracy, caste, culture or such factores.

India is simply poor, becasue of 40 years with semi communist economy. After the libralisation, Indian economy has been one of the fastest growing economies in the World. And day by day, things are getting better.

The government will become more and more effective as the economy grows.
I think this needs to be retold again and again.
India was a semi communist country with socialist policies for 40 years. During the period 1975 to 2000 the world trade increased by 7 times. India was the least trading nation in that period. This should give an idea why India is lagging behind other big nations.
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Post by svinayak »

vina wrote:

Dunno about that. In Bangalore, as it has gotten richer and richer the govt has simply gone from being bad to worse to terrible and in the last 40 months or so nonexistent /withered away.

The only reason it seems why the last 2 govts existed (Yeddyurappa doesn' count), was to make money by being unbelievably corrupt in land deals and infrastructure projects and generally being an obstructionist nuisance (NICE and the airport).
The scale of money which has poured into Blaore has to be judged. In 2006 the salaries in Blore alone was about $5B and increasing about 10-20% every year.

So the Blore politics has become a victim of Money and large financial groups. In blore only 30% of the people are local people and rest are migrants. So we have unique political situation that the political power comes from the hinterland of Ktaka but the leadership and govt is decided by money power of outsiders in Blore.
Gowda is sucked into the money power of large trading companies(connected to Kangress). That is the reason he did not form the govt. He was paid for the money which he would have made for the last 20 months in power.

This is interesting now that more people from Ktaka hinterland are moving into Blore. I see that in my own family. So there will be some turmoil before a new generation leadership comes out for the state.
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