Andhra Pradesh - Projects and Development II [Archive] - Page 2

Babji

June 7th, 2008, 01:35 AM

IT exports grow 41 per cent
BS Reporter / Chennai/ Hyderabad June 06, 2008, 5:20 IST
Andhra Pradesh recorded a 41 per cent growth in IT exports during the financial year ended March 31, 2008, at Rs 26,122 crore, as compared with Rs 18,582 crore a year ago, contributing 15 per cent to the national exports of Rs 1,77,700 crore. The growth registered by the state is against the projected national average growth rate of 32 per cent , according to E Manoj Kumar, outgoing director of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Hyderabad.

Addressing mediapersons here recently, he said growth in tier-II cities was also steadily catching up with Visakhapatnam emerging as the next destination in the state. "Total exports from Vizag stood at Rs 372 crore from 80 units including HSBC, Satyam and Wipro during the year, while Vijayawada, Tirupati and Kakinada contributed Rs 56 crore, Rs 2 crore and Rs 6 crore respectively," he said.

Employment generation too grew significantly with the addition of 51,550 jobs. The state witnessed a robust growth in terms of new entrants as well, with around 4 new companies registering themselves every week for setting up shop. In all, 176 new companies were registered, of which around 40 are foreign equity companies. IT investments from foreign companies stood at Rs 654 crore, while domestic players accounted for the rest.

Kumar said STPI was focusing on initiating specific measures for supporting SME companies. "Towards this, it is planning to extend data centre and co-location support to SMEs besides expanding incubators in tier-II cities. A state-of-the-art incubation is also being set up in Hyderabad, which would be ready by this year end," he added.

Meanwhile, STPI Noida director P Venugopal assumed charge as the new director of STPI Hyderabad.
cool :cheers:

harsh1802

June 7th, 2008, 05:21 PM

Excellent!

Babji

June 11th, 2008, 01:15 AM

The Economic Times
Costlier steel halts railway projects
11 Jun, 2008, 0039 hrs IST,Gunjan Pradhan Sinha & Vikas Bhardwaj, ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: Soaring steel prices are now threatening to derail India Railway’s projects. Port connectivity links in Paradeep, Orissa, and Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh are likely to be delayed as cost of projects has gone up by over 70% on account of high steel prices. It is likely that the projects would be modified to bring down the cost... The original cost for the 82-km broad gauge Haridaspur-Paradeep line was Rs 444 crore. This has now gone up to Rs 748 crore.,,

At the same time, RVNL is working at a new cost-reduction measure by providing level crossings in place of road underbridges on the project line. On account of all these issues, the project saw only 12% physical progress by the first quarter of 2008-09. The original target date, which was set as September 2009, has now been revised to March 2010...

For the Krishnapatnam line, the project cost has risen 60% from Rs 469 crore to Rs 743 crore. The new line is to connect Obulavaripalle and Krishnapatnam port, providing a rail link to the iron ore belt of Hospet and Bellary in Karnataka. Phase I of the project was to be completed by June 2008 but there has been only 54% physical progress so far. The partners in the SPV for the project include RVNL, Krishnapatnam Port Co, Andhra government, NMDC and Brahmani Industries.
what ever has happened to Lalu's business sense ...

Babji

June 12th, 2008, 03:37 AM

DC:
AP in Swiss mode
New Delhi, Hyderabad, June 11: The state government is coolly using the high-sounding ‘Swiss challenge’ method to award mega projects worth thousands of crores of rupees to favourite companies. Under this method, companies can propose innovative projects on their own and volunteer to undertake them. The government can give the projects to them straightaway or give preference to them in bids.

Though the Mumbai High Court came out sharply against this method of awarding projects recently, the state government is happily giving away industrial growth corridors, airports and township projects to big shots under Swiss Challenge. There are allegations that in the name of promoting innovation, the state government is denying a level playing field to other companies. Sources said the Krishna-Deccan growth corridor between Hyderabad and Machili-patnam and the Tadepalligudem airport were going to Maytas Infra, and the 45-acre Township in Kokapet to Delhi-based Era constructions under the Swiss Challenge method.

Similarly, the airport at Cheerala was bagged by Matrix Enpro which already as the Nizampatnam-Vodarevu ports and industrial corridor in its kitty. Maytas Infra submitted a proposal to lay an eight-lane access control expressway by the side of which industrial, IT and tourism hubs will be developed. “The company will have absolute control over the area because it will have thousands of acres of land,” said a senior official.

Swiss Challenge: The system involves private firms making unsolicited proposals. Ideally, a government which takes up the proposal has to allow other players to make better offers. But the firm making the original proposal can then make a superior offer and is given an advantage in bidding.

bobbie501

June 12th, 2008, 05:57 AM

^^That's cool projects gonna be fast & more efficiently executed if it is awarded to reputed company coz it takes it as a challenge & delivers with mere quality.

phaedrus

June 12th, 2008, 01:33 PM

cross posting from the energy thread

Reliance to commission new refinery in 3-6 months

Leading petrochemical producer and refiner, Reliance Industries Ltd, will commission its new refinery and Krishna-Godavari Basin gas fields in 3-6 months, Chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Thursday.

The 580,000 barrels a day refinery is being built by unit Reliance Petroleum Ltd, 5 percent owned by Chevron, in Jamnagar in the western state of Gujarat.

The Krishna-Godavari basin is off India's east coast.

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/Reliance_to_commission_new_refinery/articleshow/3123219.cms)

ajay_ijn

June 14th, 2008, 07:32 PM

cross posting from the energy thread

Reliance to commission new refinery in 3-6 months

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/Reliance_to_commission_new_refinery/articleshow/3123219.cms)
is Reliance investing anything in AP except for building the gas pipeline?

Babji

June 17th, 2008, 04:29 AM

Andhra ultra mega project: ADB may lend Rs 2,000 cr

Pb Jayakumar & Nevin John / Mumbai June 17, 2008, 0:29 IST

Anil l Dhirubhai Ambani-promoted Reliance Power will get a $500-million (approximately Rs 2,000 crore) loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the 4,000-Mw ultra mega power project (UMPP) coming up at Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. With this, the company is expected to achieve financial closure shortly, say sources, adding that it is also talking to a few financial institutions for debt. The project may cost over Rs 18,000 crore, of which about 80 per cent will be debt.

Reliance Power is in discussions with Manila-based ADB and a project appraisal team will come to India within two weeks for the final round of discussions there, say sources. The coal-fired Krishnapatnam project is the third of the nine UMPPs planned by the central government to bridge the 20,000-Mw power deficit in the country. The shortage is expected to shoot up 15-20 per cent every year.

Reliance Infrastructure, the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the project, is in talks with leading global power equipment manufacturers for sourcing boilers, turbines and generators for the project.
In April this year, the ADB had extended $450-million loan to Coastal Gujarat Power (CGPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Power Company, for executing the UMPP at Mundra in western Gujarat. Mundra is the first of the three awarded projects. The ADB had also approved a $79.3-million loan to the Tatas for setting up wind energy projects in Maharashtra last year.
According to the power purchase agreement, Coastal Andhra Power (CAPL), a subsidiary of Reliance Power, is committed to commission the first unit by September 2013. Company sources said the project could be fast-tracked by at least a year. The government has allocated 70 per cent land for the project, which requires 2,600 acres...
Source: Rediff / Business Standard

APIIC on Coastal Corridor ...
URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/17/stories/2008061752240300.htm

We will replicate China’s SEZ model, says APIIC CMD
VISAKHAPATNAM: The AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) on Monday announced it would replicate China model for setting up various industrial units in the Special Economic Zones envisaged in the coastal corridor project.Speaking at a meeting with entrepreneurs conducted by AP State Finance Corporation here, APIIC Chairman and Managing Director B.P. Acharya said they were giving land to the investors on lease with certain conditions so that it would help develop the region on the lines of China. “How China has developed due to SEZ policy, all of you know. If all the projects materialise, we are confident that even Visakhapatnam would become another Shanghai,” he declared.He termed as unfounded the apprehensions by certain quarters on pollution as they were enforcing stringent environmental norms and adhering to regulations as per Coastal Management Plan (previously, Coastal Regulation Zone). The investors were showing keen interest in the corridor, which was being developed between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada in the first phase, he said.

Stating that India’s first Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) would come up in the corridor, Mr.Acharya said 1.49 lakh acres was available in the proposed area. The PCPIR would have five Special Economic Zones in a notified area of 9,900 acres, which include Brandix Apparel Park, Ramky Pharma SEZ, AP Multi-Product SEZ, Kakinada SEZ and Hetero Drugs SEZ.

Major investments: The Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and ONGC together were proposing an investment of Rs.73,000 crores in PCPIR, he disclosed. The HPCL, as part of consortium with Mittal Energy, GAIL, OIL and Total of France, would set up a Greenfield 15 million tonne per annum refinery cum petrochemical project at a cost of Rs.32,000 crores.

The expansion of Visakh Refinery would involve an expenditure of Rs.10,000 crores and ONGC consortium would establish another Greenfield refinery and a 4.5 lakh million tonne per annum refinery and a 4.5 lakh tonne polypropylene unit at Kakinada SEZ with an investment of Rs.31,000 crores.Mr. Acharya said major investors in the project include Bharat Petroleum, Reliance, Continental Carbon, Baker Hughes, Biocon, Air Liquide and Velankani...

ranga

June 18th, 2008, 10:34 AM

Japanese co plans 2 projects in AP

Our Bureau

Hyderabad, June 17 Japan-based ITOCHU Corporation, having subsidiaries and associates in the fields of textiles, machinery, aerospace, metals and minerals etc., has evinced interest to set up two projects in Andhra Pradesh.

According to officials in the Industries Department, the company approached the State to set up a component manufacturing and engineering unit for power plants and a chemical plant in the State.

“The company has sought land in Nellore for the engineering unit and plans to establish the chemical plant in the proposed Petroleum Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Regions which is coming up at Kakinada,” a Government official told Business Line.

A four-member delegation from the corporation met the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, on Monday to look at business opportunities in the State. The delegation was led by the Managing Executive Officer of ITOCHU, Mr Yoshio Akamatsu.

ranga

June 18th, 2008, 10:50 AM

Dollar sneezes, granite town Cheemakurthy catches cold
Tuesday June 17 2008 11:06 IST

Ch Ramagopala Sastry

ONGOLE: With the US dollar rate dipping, Cheemakurthy, the famed source of much-sought-after black galaxy granite, are clearly worried.

As the chances of dollar’s revival appearing increasingly remote, the granite industry here has already halved its production expecting further slump in exports.

A workforce lay-off appears imminent in the troubled granite industry as the dollar depreciated against the rupee. Doomsday soothsayers predict a further dip in the exports in June.

Cheemakurthy in Prakasam district accounts for 80 per cent of the raw granite stone produced in the state, the remainder being accounted for by Nalgonda, Srikakulam and Karimnagar. Further, Cheemakurthy’s black galaxy granite is most sought after in the international market for its exquisite design and finish.

Another worrying factor for the granite industry is the escalating production costs as most of the quarries have to dig as deep as 150 feet. The diesel prices and worker wages have shot up by 30 per cent. As a result, per cubic metre production cost has spiralled up from Rs 30,000 to Rs 36,000 and the industrialists are left with no option but to cut production.The depreciation of dollar rate has definitely taken its toll on the granite industry, admitted assistant director of mines and geology C Ramachandra Reddy. The turnover, which was of the order of Rs 500 crore during 2007-08, could be as low as Rs 300 crore this year,‘‘ Cheemakurthy Galaxy Granite Owners’ Association president K Balakrishna Reddy told this website's newspaper.

Babji

June 20th, 2008, 02:45 AM

Krishnapatnam port - 3 out 4 berths are operational.
Gangavaram port - 4 out 5 berths likely to be operational by Aug ...

URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/20/stories/2008062060690500.htm
Krishnapatnam port becomes operational
Sonia Gandhi to formally dedicate it to nation on July 17
Gangavaram port is likely to come on stream in August
Four of the five berth in the Greenfield port ready
HYDERABAD: The new port at Krishnapatnam on the eastern coast, about 40 km from Nellore, became operational on Thursday with three out of its four berths being opened for regular traffic of cargo/container ships...

Manmohan Singh, Secretary, Infrastructure & Investment, said here on Thursday that the 4th berth too would be opened soon. Over Rs. 2,000 crores was invested by the private developer in the project thus far, he said.
The new port, that will transform the economy around Nellore, will be formally dedicated to the nation by UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on July 17.

Thermal stations: A series of thermal power stations taken up for construction at Krishnapatnam with an installed capacity of nearly 5,000 MW will depend on the port for coal from Indonesia and other countries.

This port now handles iron ore exports from mines in Anantapur district and adjoining Bellary in Karnataka. A railway line has been taken up to shorten the distance between Krishnapatnam and these mines. ..

Dr. Singh said four out of the five berths planned for another greenfield port developed at Gangavaram near Visakhapatnam were ready and it was expected to be operational in August to handle coal and iron ore...

ranga

June 21st, 2008, 08:28 AM

Telangana: to be or not to be……

In the aftermath of bypolls, Vijayawada realtors find themselves in a quandary post bypolls, says K.N. Murali Sankar

TAKING A DIP: Land prices in Visakhapatnam have come down, thanks to a variety of reasons including the Telangana factor.

The outcome of the byelections in Telangana region appears to have left the builders and real estate agents in and around Vijayawada a tad disappointed. Real estate agents here feel that the land prices on the city outskirts will drop and the present slump in construction industry, in all likelihood, could continue for another six months.

Whenever the issue of separate Telangana took centre-stage, real estate business in this region has been witnessing a sudden boom. Particularly, since the inception of the TRS seven years ago, political statements given by the party in a way stimulated the real estate business here.

The builders, who are facing several challenges like spiralling prices of material, non-availability of labour and a drop in sales due to inflation, pinned their hopes on the outcome of the byelections and assessed that in case the TRS emerged victorious, it would provide a breather to their businesses.

“The result is a major setback to the construction industry,” avers G. Raja, a senior builder in the city. “Had the verdict been in favour of a separate Telangana, those settled in Hyderabad would have come here to invest their savings in real estate. Now, we don’t think there is any reason for them to invest here,” he reasons out.

“Once there is a drop in land prices, the buyers will expect reduction in the cost of flats. Practically, it is not possible for us to do so, as we have already made huge investments by procuring material at higher costs and engaging labour by paying higher wages,” says Y.V. Ramana Rao, general secretary of the Builders Association, Vijayawada.

“At present, we haven’t found any factor that stimulates the real estate market. A change in political equations in the State perhaps will provide a boost to our business in coming days,” he says in an optimistic tone.

* * *

Vizag real estate facing temporary lull, writes B. MADHU GOPAL

After the boom in past few years, there is a temporary lull in real estate for past few months in Visakhapatnam. The costs, however, continue to be high despite the lull in sales.

The initial boom was attributed to the talk of north Andhra becoming a separate State with either Vijayawada or Visakhapatnam as the capital. The talk triggered a spurt in land prices not only in Visakhapatnam but also in Vijayawada and Guntur. With prices of land rising dramatically in a matter of just two years, prospective buyers started fanning out into the suburbs.

“The prices of land increased four to five times in the city and doubled in the suburbs. The minimum cost is Rs.3,500 per sft in the city and there are hardly any sales for past few months. The hike in interest rate on home loans also contributed to the drop in sales,” says M.V.V. Satyanarayana, chairman of Apartment Builders Association and managing partner of MVV Builders. He expressed the view that the prices would have increased further had the Telangana issue not suffered a setback during the recent byelections.

K.S. Chandran, a senior builder and past president of the Builders Association, attributes the stagnation in sales to the high prices and says, “I have never heard of land prices coming down in the city in my 20 years of experience as a builder”.

He, however, admits that whenever the Telangana issue comes to the fore, land prices spiral. But they did not go down even after it almost became a ‘dead issue’.

A licensed document writer at Akkayyapalem G. Ramesh concedes on not many registrations happening in last few weeks but feels it to be due inauspicious ‘moodam’ .

Poor cash flow, declining share market and abnormal prices were the reasons for the slowdown in sales, feels B.R. Raju, proprietor of B.R. Raju & Company. “The quantum jump in prices can be attributed to real estate developers’ anxiety to woo more customers ,” he says.

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ranga

June 21st, 2008, 08:44 AM

Renovated Ramagundam railway station opened
Saturday June 21 2008 11:06 IST

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: The renovated railway station building at Ramagundam was inaugurated by MP G Venkataswamy on Friday.

Costing Rs 1.07 crores, the renovated station is in tune with the increasing traffic. The station that has been upgraded to ‘A’ category caters to the needs of the industrial belt and can handle about 3,000 passengers daily.

In a view to make rail travel more comfortable, the building will serve the needs of the railusers of the area as well as the adjoining areas.

Babji

June 21st, 2008, 11:20 PM

Taiwan firm to invest Rs.6 bn in Andhra Pradesh
Hyderabad, June 21: Mei Ta Group, a Taiwan-based company, will set up an auto component manufacturing base in Andhra Pradesh at a cost of Rs.6 billion ($143 million).

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed Saturday between the company and the state government. The manufacturing base will come up on 230 acres at the Naidupeta special economic zone (SEZ) in Nellore district.

The MoU was signed by Mei Ta Group chairman Chen Yu San and the state's Principal Secretary, Industries Sam Bob in the presence of Chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

The company proposed to invest Rs.6 billion in a phased-manner to provide 5,000 direct and 15,000 indirect jobs, said a statement from the chief minister's office.

Mei Ta Group was established in 1977 and has operations in Taiwan, China and France. --- IANS
newkerala.com

Babji

June 24th, 2008, 01:43 AM

GMR group to acquire ONGC stakes in Andhra refinery
From correspondents in Delhi, India, 11:01 PM IST
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has decided to withdraw its stake from Kakinada Refinery and Petrochemicals (KRPL) in Andhra Pradesh, paving the way for construction major GMR to acquire the plant. The company said Monday evening after the final KRPL board meeting that the decision was taken after it found the project non-profitable. The KRPL project constitutes a 15 million tonne per annum refinery and a 450,000 tonne per annum petrochemical plant.

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL), a subsidiary of ONGC, holds 46 percent stake in KRPL and infrastructure-financing firm IL and amp;FS holds 51 percent while the remaining stake is held by Kakinada Seaports.

Sources close to the development said GMR will buy out ONGC's total 46 percent stake and five percent from other holders. As a result, the construction company will have 51 percent stake while IL and amp;FS and the Kakinada Seaports will hold 46 percent and the rest will go to Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corp (APIIC). However, GMR officials when contacted said the company has not yet received any official communication from ONGC.

Earlier, ONGC had asked the Andhra Pradesh government for fiscal benefits worth Rs.160 billion ($4 billion) for eight years. However the state government refused. Eventually ONGC decided to sell its stake.
source: eNewsIndia.
Go GMR! repeat the victory @ Kakinada Refinery :cheers:

ranga

June 24th, 2008, 08:23 AM

Ethanol plant opened in AP

Our Bureau

Hyderabad, June 23 The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, inaugurated a grain-based ethanol unit at Gandepalli village in Krishna district on Monday.

Promoted by the Rs 450-crore Sentini Group based out of Hyderabad, the plant could produce 45,000 kl of ethanol and industrial alcohol from corn. The group invested Rs 130 crore on the plant.

The company tied up with Cemcorp Ltd of Canada and their Indian partner K.B.K. Chem-Engineering Private Ltd of Pune. It also took assistance of the US-based Corn Plus that had experience in operating corn-based ethanol and alcohol plants.

“The plant has been located at a place surrounded by corn-growing areas in Krishna and the neighbouring districts. This assures ample supplies of corn, jowar and other coarse millets. The plant can also consume brokens of other cereals as well,” Mr T Seshagiri Rao, Managing Director of the company, said here in a press release.

ranga

June 24th, 2008, 08:27 AM

AP Govt urged to have fresh look at revival of sick units

Phalguna Jandhyala

Hyderabad, June 23 The Andhra Pradesh Incipient Sick SSI Federation (APISSIF) and the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Small Industries Associations (FAPSIA) have urged the State Government to make it mandatory to follow the Government and State-Level Inter Institutional Committee’s (SLIIC) recommendations for revival of sick units.

In a letter submitted to Ms J Geeta Reddy, Minister for Major Industries, the federations said that the Andhra Pradesh State Finance Corporation (APSFC) and commercial banks such as State Bank of India, State Bank of Hyderabad, Andhra Bank and others were not adhering to suggestions of the SLIIC, convened by the Reserve Bank of India, for the revival of the sick units.

They alleged that the Corporation was resorting to seizure of running, non-wilful default of SSI units on minor lapses. The letter also states that units were being sold off at a much cheaper cost.
SIDBI norms

“Earlier, as per the SIDBI guidelines, APSFC operated the rehabilitation and sick revival (RSR) cell. Before deciding any unit as sick or a non-performing asset, a committee had to go into the facts for the causes and extended their services to the management for the revival. But of late, this is not happening and we propose the RSR cells be re-operational,” the letter said.

According to Mr APK Reddy, President of the Andhra Pradesh Incipient Sick SSI Federation, even after the State Government had deposited Rs 6.7 crore with the Corporation for the past four years for revival and rehabilitation of sick SSI units, not a single unit has been revived.

“Another interesting point is that though the State Government is a major stakeholder in APSFC, there is no representation from the Government on the board to safeguard the policies, as per Section 10 (b) of the State Financial Corporation Act (SFC Act),” Mr Reddy said.

Both the federations, have requested two directors from the Government be appointed, of whom one should be a person who has knowledge or experience in SSI matters.
Appointment of directors

“Ideally, it should be people like the Principal Secretary, Industries and Commissioner of Industries as they are well-versed with the policies that the Government wants to implement,” he said.

The letter also said sick SSI units under revival are not getting support from the Corporation for working capital term loans. It added that APSFC should send reports to the Government and Commissioner of Industries on the progress of revival of sick units.

ranga

June 24th, 2008, 08:29 AM

AP asks IT cos to make space for minorities

Our Bureau

Hyderabad, June 23

The Andhra Pradesh Government has asked IT companies to provide enough space for candidates from scheduled castes, tribes and minorities.

The State launched Special Training Programme under the Jawahar Knowledge Centre of the Institute for Electronic Governance to equip candidates from these communities.

The programme is aimed at making the SC, ST and minority students learn the skills required to get jobs in IT, IT-enabled services companies. Experts from 14 top IT companies take part in the programme.

Addressing a gathering of students participating in the programme here on Saturday, Mr Mohammed Ali Shabbir, Minister for Coal, Energy and Minorities Welfare, he said the initiative had so far trained 100 graduates from minority engineering colleges.

“We are spending Rs 40,000 on each student in this initiative. We will set up another programme centre at Urdu Bhavan in the Old City,” he said.

phaedrus

June 26th, 2008, 03:46 PM

Sleepy southern areas wake up to a new growth phase

Nellore and Chittoor districts in southern Andhra Pradesh are set to become the state's manufacturing hub in the next five to 10 years.

Factors like a push from the state government, proximity to Chennai and Bangalore, readily-available infrastructure and vast land (about 25,000 acres), are changing the face of these areas, which have large multi-product special economic zones (SEZs) like Sri City, Naidupet Industrial Park and a Kisan SEZ.

To realise the area's potential, the state government is planning to set up a manufacturing investment region (MIR), which will qualify for infrastructure grants from the Centre, between the port town of Krishnapatnam and Satyavedu on National Highway-5.

The Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) has asked L&T Ramboll to prepare the master plan and the feasibility report. This is being seen as the state's answer to the Tamil Nadu government's proposed MIR on the Chennai-Bangalore highway.

State officials say an MIR with good infrastructure will attract the labour-intensive manufacturing industry, which has so far been the forte of Tamil Nadu in the south.

APIIC Chairman and Managing Director BP Acharya said over Rs 27,000 crore worth of investments had been lined up in the area in manufacturing alone. If the six power projects proposed to be built near Krishnapatnam are included, the amount will be over Rs 60,000 crore. "The MIR proposal is also being discussed at the government of India level," he said.

The area's major advantage is connectivity, say officials. Besides the four-lane NH-5, which connects Chennai and Kolkata, the 75-km stretch between Krishnapatnam and Satyavedu is well connected by rail. This is in addition to Krishnapatnam port, to be inaugurated next month.

Though Tirupati and Chennai airports can meet the demand for air travel in the short term, a new airport has been proposed in Nellore. In addition to the existing SEZs, a 10,000-acre port-based SEZ is being planned, for which the APIIC is in the process of acquiring land, Acharya said.

The proposed manufacturing projects in the region include Rs 2,400-crore Kisan SEZ being set up by Iffco, Rs 880-crore textile and apparel SEZ by MAS Holdings, Rs 1,100-crore steel project of SBQ Steels Ltd, and Rs 3,500-crore industrial park and SEZ by the Caparo group.

Other projects include the Rs 500-crore Apache footwear SEZ, Rs 650-crore leather and leather products SEZ by Bharatiya International Ltd, Rs 100-crore leather SEZ by the Tatas and a consortium of shoe manufacturers, and Rs 18,000-crore Sri City multi-product SEZ.

The SEZ of Taiwan-based Apache Footwear — the authorised manufacturer of Adidas sports shoes — which began operations one-and-a-half years ago was the first to highlight the potential of the area. Then came Sri City, followed by the Naidupet Industrial park project.

Apache Footwear India Pvt Ltd, which has been operating in a 314-acre footwear SEZ, plans to double its manpower to 10,000 by the end of this year and raise the production capacity to 400,000 pairs per month from the current 240,000 pairs.

The state government has carved out a part of Naidupet Industrial Park (NIP) for Taiwanese companies, which are globally recognised as quality original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), to build up the state's manufacturing base.

Last week, Taiwan-based Mei Ta Industrial Company signed an agreement with the state industries department for setting up an auto component unit in NIP, where it will invest about Rs 600 crore in phases.

The project will come up in a 210-acre multi-product SEZ and on 20 acres of domestic tariff area. The Taiwanese and Chinese companies that propose to set up shop on the allotted land are Mei Ta, Streit, WAY SAI, NWS, DSP and DALF.

The APIIC has also allotted 2,000 acres to the UK-based Caparo Group of Lord Swraj Paul for setting up an aerospace and auto component complex at a cost of Rs 3,500 crore. The project would be implemented in over 15 years.

Similarly, the APIIC has allotted 714 acres to Sri Lanka-based MAS Holdings for a textile and apparel SEZ with an investment of Rs 880 crore.

SBQ Steels Ltd, part of Chennai's RKKR group, has started constructing its Rs 1,100-crore project. Delhi-based Bharatiya International Ltd is setting up a leather and leather products SEZ at a cost of Rs 650 crore.

Apart from this, the APIIC has allotted 40 acres to Rogen Powertech Pvt Ltd for setting up a wind electric generators and components unit, 10 acres to Tata Ryersons Ltd for a steel fabrication unit, and 30 acres to B&G Infratech Pvt Ltd for power transmission and railway electrification products.

source business standard (http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=BO&autono=327137)

R2IChennai

June 28th, 2008, 04:34 AM

bobbie501

June 28th, 2008, 04:48 AM

Tada/Satyavedu is developing and may become part of greater chennai soon.

How could it be under Chennai TN?

R2IChennai

June 29th, 2008, 08:18 PM

How could it be under Chennai TN?

will not be chennai's jurisdiction but for all practical purposes u can call it greater chennai because of transportation facilies between those places and Chennai.

Just like Newyork/New jersey or better like NCR which is between 3 states Delhi-Haryana-UP, another example would be vancouver wa and portland OR.

Babji

June 30th, 2008, 12:16 AM

URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/30/stories/2008063059300600.htm
YSR for expediting land acquisition for ports
Textile and apparel park, automobile, auto component park at Vodarevu
Nizampatnam cluster will include pharma park and agro marine industries
HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has directed the officials concerned to expedite land acquisition for the development of Vodarevu and Nizampatnam Ports and Industrial Corridor.

Dr. Reddy who reviewed the progress of the project with senior officials and Ministers on Sunday expressed concern that the two districts -- Prakasam and Guntur -- were lagging behind in development while other coastal districts like Visakhapatnam and Nellore made significant strides with setting up of industrial corridors. There was a need to develop these two districts and the project should come up at the earliest so that economic activity would accelerate and employment opportunities were created.

The project, being developed by the Government of Ras Al Khaimah and their Indian partner Matrix Enport Holdings Pvt Limited, covers Vetapalem and Chinnaganjam mandals of Prakasam district and Bapatla, P.V. Palem and Karlapalem mandals of Guntur district. While Vodarevu cluster would house textile and apparel park and automobile & auto component park, Nizampatnam cluster would include pharma park and agro marine industries.

The ports for the clusters, comprising power plants and other facilities would be developed on 2,000 acres each excluding the hinterland for which actual requirement was being finalised. Dr. Reddy wanted the developers to provide required training for local youth at the industrial training centre being set up and provide latest high speed fishing equipment to local fishermen.

Compensation issue : He wanted the promoters to be liberal in payment of compensation to those selling their land. Matrix Enport Holdings assured that the company would earmark a portion of its profits for providing health and education facilities to the local people while social welfare activities would also be taken up.

Babji

June 30th, 2008, 12:29 AM

Sleepy southern areas wake up to a new growth phase
source business standard (http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=BO&autono=327137)
Nellore and Chittoor districts in southern Andhra Pradesh are set to become the state's manufacturing hub in the next five to 10 years... the state government is planning to set up a manufacturing investment region (MIR), ... between the port town of Krishnapatnam and Satyavedu on NH-5...
... a new airport has been proposed in Nellore.
... a 10,000-acre port-based SEZ is being planned
... Rs 2,400-crore Kisan SEZ being set up by Iffco,
... Rs 880-crore textile and apparel SEZ by MAS Holdings,
... Rs 1,100-crore steel project of SBQ Steels Ltd, and
... Rs 3,500-crore industrial park and SEZ by the Caparo group.
... Rs 500-crore Apache footwear SEZ,
... Rs 650-crore leather and leather products SEZ by Bharatiya Intl Ltd,
... Rs 100-crore leather SEZ by the Tatas and a consortium of shoe manufacturers
... Rs 18,000-crore Sri City multi-product SEZ.

... Apache Footwear India Pvt Ltd, ... plans to double its manpower to 10,000 by the end of this year and raise the production capacity to 400,000 pairs per month from the current 240,000 pairs.

... Taiwan-based Mei Ta Industrial Company ... setting up an auto component unit in NIP, where it will invest about Rs 600 crore in phases.
... 2,000 acres to the UK-based Caparo Group of Lord Swraj Paul for setting up an aerospace and auto component complex at a cost of Rs 3,500 crore. The project would be implemented in over 15 years.
... 714 acres to MAS Holdings for a textile and apparel SEZ with an investment of Rs 880 crore.
... SBQ Steels Ltd, ... has started constructing its Rs 1,100-crore project.
... Bharatiya Intl Ltd is setting up a leather and leather products SEZ at a cost of Rs 650 crore.
... 40 acres to Rogen Powertech Pvt Ltd for setting up a wind electric generators
... 10 acres to Tata Ryersons Ltd for a steel fabrication unit, and
... 30 acres to B&G Infratech Pvt Ltd for power transmission and railway electrification products.

cool.

bobbie501

June 30th, 2008, 05:48 AM

will not be chennai's jurisdiction but for all practical purposes u can call it greater chennai because of transportation facilies between those places and Chennai.

Just like Newyork/New jersey or better like NCR which is between 3 states Delhi-Haryana-UP, another example would be vancouver wa and portland OR.

Well all those goods which come out from these industries will be exported from Krishnapatnam Mega Port in Nellore dist....so there would be less dependency on chennai.Coming to other modes of transportation there is a railway connectivity nearby & these all lie on NH-5 Which is being upgraded to 6 lane.coming to jurisdiction according to my knowledge chennai hasn't crossed the border with A.P it still has 20-30 kms to share the border with A.P.

Sunny78

July 1st, 2008, 04:16 PM

Well all those goods which come out from these industries will be exported from Krishnapatnam Mega Port in Nellore dist....so there would be less dependency on chennai.Coming to other modes of transportation there is a railway connectivity nearby & these all lie on NH-5 Which is being upgraded to 6 lane.coming to jurisdiction according to my knowledge chennai hasn't crossed the border with A.P it still has 20-30 kms to share the border with A.P.

The reality is, Nellore is already part of Greater Chennai. The northern suburban line that starts from Chennai central passes through Naidupet and ends in Gudur. Both these places are in AP FYI.
There are already thousands of people travelling to and fro each day on these local trains.

The apparel industry trying to shift to Nellore is targetting Chennai workforce,
since Chennai is the major apparel center in south India after Coimbatore and Bangalore.

The automobile component industries like Caparo are again targetting customers and workforce in Chennai.

Krishnapatnam port is being built mainly for supplying coal to the upcoming power plant. The container terminal they are planning is still a farfetched idea and I don't think they will throw away that much money since Chennai and Ennore ports will target lion share of their market potential.

bobbie501

July 1st, 2008, 04:38 PM

The reality is, Nellore is already part of Greater Chennai. The northern suburban line that starts from Chennai central passes through Naidupet and ends in Gudur. Both these places are in AP FYI.
There are already thousands of people travelling to and fro each day on these local trains.

The apparel industry trying to shift to Nellore is targetting Chennai workforce,
since Chennai is the major apparel center in south India after Coimbatore and Bangalore.

The automobile component industries like Caparo are again targetting customers and workforce in Chennai.

Krishnapatnam port is being built mainly for supplying coal to the upcoming power plant. The container terminal they are planning is still a farfetched idea and I don't think they will throw away that much money since Chennai and Ennore ports will target lion share of their market potential.

Ah is it man you need to brush up your mind.Don't ever be in a phobia that Chennai is India,India is chennai.Krishnapatnam is Rated as Mother of All Ports In Whole India Just Have a Glance Up!!Better Come up with Facts man i hate these Tamils Violating other Threads.If Nellore is chennai metro is your Chennai Paying Taxes To The Government Of A.P?:lol::lol:

Arasu

July 1st, 2008, 04:51 PM

Ah is it man you need to brush up your mind.Don't ever be in a phobia that Chennai is India,India is chennai.Krishnapatnam is Rated as Mother of All Ports In Whole India Just Have a Glance Up!!Better Come up with Facts man i hate these Tamils Violating other Threads.If Nellore is chennai metro is your Chennai Paying Taxes To The Government Of A.P?

Bobbie, You have the habbit of attacking anybody making any comments about AP. This is internet and open for everybody. In a public forum such as this, one should have some amount of give and take while discussing issues and sharing view points. Otherwise, we cannot discuss anything. If some one is wrong, you can correct it instead of vilifying the individual or a whole group of people for one individual's remark.

If you have any issues with any comments take it up with the moderators. Don't spread hate messages against any group for a simple reason that one individual made some inocuous remark.

bobbie501

July 1st, 2008, 05:05 PM

Bobbie, You have the habbit of attacking anybody making any comments about AP. This is internet and open for everybody. In a public forum such as this, one should have some amount of give and take while discussing issues and sharing view points. Otherwise, we cannot discuss anything. If some one is wrong, you can correct it instead of vilifying the individual or a whole group of people for one individual's remark.

If you have any issues with any comments take it up with the moderators. Don't spread hate messages against any group for a simple reason that one individual made some inocuous remark.

I Regret well it's very obvious for many reasons not only me it does happen in many threads especially in the Forum of Tamil Nadu i never pointed out there coz i don't wanna get them into personal attacks i never wanna be in controversies.anyways thanks for the valid point there.just check out my wordings out there does that make any personal intentional attack??

..devil..

July 2nd, 2008, 05:47 AM

its ridiculous to assume that nellore is part of greater chennai. look how far away from chennai it is. where do you guys come off spreading such kind of BS.
what do you think the area of greater chennai is?? 10,000,000,000 sqKm or something?
http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/andhrapradesh/andhrapradesh.gif

Babji

July 3rd, 2008, 01:16 AM

R2IChennai

July 3rd, 2008, 04:27 AM

perhaps those comments on TADA/Nellore/Chennai region were made with a true spirit of development.
esp with widened National Highway networks, the state borders will slowly fade away
and we all like to share dev news across the metros and states
going forward, lets keep an open mind
and respect each other's views
and enjoy the dev news ...

:grouphug: :cheers:

From my experience in Hyd, I quit Hyd thread I think i should quit AP thread as well, some are not taking anything in good spirit in these forumsThis doesnt seem like a forum to discuss or put anythoughts.
I am not sure whats wrong in saying Tada/satyavedu (Border towns ) being part of greater chennai just like NCR. There is nothing negative to me. (Again I will post negative news iin any forums I find in and will take in good spirit if its true) Just think yourself why investment is flowing to these towns rather than some interior towns in northern nellore or northern chittoor (both being border dists) . Infact many Ambattur (Chennai) based industries are moving to these border towns because of expensive real estate in the city. If chennai can grow south (chengelput)and west (Sriperumbudur) by 50 km, it can grow along north as well and that is where AP border towns I had mentioned is.

Again TN has similar city Hosur which grew along with Blr, This might be part of Bangalore some day.

May bobie and ddevil should start write some program to prevent non ap'ites posting in AP forums, BTW i have travelled across these towns many times in train and have seen kids going to School across the border from both states and I found it was very interesting 10 years back.

Babji

July 5th, 2008, 01:50 AM

^^I visited Tirupati and surrounding areas in 1990. I noticed many Telugu and Tamil ppl living and working together with very friendly and peaceful relations. The whole of Telugu moovie industry was nurtured and developed in Chennai before moving over to Hyd. MGR's friendship and guidance has helped NTR planning his historical political victory when TDP was first formed. Visit any manufacturing industry anywhere in AP and you will find many Tamill ppl working and living happily and peacefully. I personally know many Telugu ppl living and working in TN and they are happy about it. The Tamil Telugu relationship dates back to several centuries.
I worked with many Tamil ppl in my first job (in HYd) and we all remained close family friends todate.
BLR, Chennai and Hyd - 3 of the 6 metros of India in one close cluster - its a win-win for all the 3.
AP, KA and TN are among the most developed states in the country
lets forget our differences and enjoy what we enjoy most. :cheers:

ITIR in 40 Sq km area - news by our favorite Mr. Malle ( always brings some cool news!)
URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/04/stories/2008070458750500.htm

... Things are looking up the for 45 IT SEZs too located in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Kakinada, Tirupati besides Hyderabad...

Arasu

July 6th, 2008, 03:36 AM

Vara123

July 11th, 2008, 02:05 AM

http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/11/stories/2008071160460600.htm

Heavy demand for bookings at Krishnapatnam port
N. Rahul

HYDERABAD: Cargo booking offices at the Krishnapatnam port in Nellore district are flooded with requests for loading and unloading operations ahead of the port’s inauguration by United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi on July 17.

There is a heavy demand for ‘calling’ at the port where two state-of-the-art ship unloaders and one ship loader imported from Germany have been installed, said K.V. Brahmananda Reddy, Special Secretary, Infrastructure and Investments (Ports).

Third port

The machinery can unload 3,000 tonnes an hour and load 1,500 tonnes an hour. There are also two mobile cranes, stackers and reclaimers, according to Mr. Brahmananda Reddy. Krishnapatnam will become the third non-major port to be operational in the State after Kakinada and Ravva.

Cargo movement from ports is expected to go up substantially after its commissioning as it can unload up to 60,000 tonnes a day.

Anchorage operations

Till 2007-08, the port’s activities were confined to anchorage operations of two million tonnes per annum. Another 20 million tonnes was handled at the deep water and anchorage port at Kakinada and the port at Ravva.

In contrast, Visakhapatnam, the only major port in the State, handled 65 million tonnes of cargo last year.

Ms. Gandhi will dedicate to the nation Phase I of the project which has been built at a cost of Rs. 1,200 crore. It has two berths to handle coal and one each for iron ore and general cargo. All the berths are ready for operations. They have a combined capacity to handle up to 25 million tonnes an year.

Krishnapatnam is a deep water and all weather port developed on build-operate-share-transfer basis in public-private partnership mode between the government and the C.V.R. Group promoted by Navayuga Engineering Company.

The construction of the port has triggered development of power projects with a total installed capacity of 7,500 MW.

phaedrus

July 11th, 2008, 03:02 PM

^^more news on the same

Andhra to get new port in Krishnapatnam

he industrial sector in Andhra Pradesh will get a major boost when the country's largest private port in the making will be thrown open at Krishnapatnam next week.
With five big power plants and several major industrial projects coming up in its vicinity, the Krishnapatnam port, located in Nellore district at a distance of 180 kms from Chennai, is poised to serve as an important development hub for the region.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi will inaugurate the port on July 17.
Four berths, with a capacity of handling four vessels each having 50,000 tonnes of cargo, are ready for operation, officials of the Krishnapatnam Port Co Ltd told a group of visiting media persons.
"On completion of the second phase, 40 such berths will be on offer," an official said, adding Krishnapatnam will emerge as the country's largest private port by 2020 with a cargo capacity of 125 million tonnes per annum.
The port is being promoted by Navayuga Group with a 50-year BOST (build-operate-share-transfer) contract awarded by the Andhra Pradesh government. An area of 4,553 acres have been handed over for the project, Subramaniam Reddy, Special Officer (Land Acquisition) for Nellore district, said.
The harbour is connected to the National Highway-5 through state highway. The port authorities are constructing a dedicated 25-km road to NH-5 and a railway line connecting Chennai-Howrah broad gauge near Venkatachalam. Six helipads have also been built.
"Gandhi will land here on July 17 to inaugurate the port," a state government official said.

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Shipping__Transport/Andhra_to_get_new_port_in_Krishnapatnam/articleshow/3221449.cms)

ranga

July 14th, 2008, 09:37 AM

^^more news on the same

Andhra to get new port in Krishnapatnam

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Shipping__Transport/Andhra_to_get_new_port_in_Krishnapatnam/articleshow/3221449.cms)

Lets see the growth taking place instead of dreaming.Many things were said about kakinada and machilipatnam sea ports but nothing happened till date.

phaedrus

July 14th, 2008, 02:02 PM

^^great to see your input, mate. very productive

phaedrus

July 14th, 2008, 03:40 PM

Madhucon bags Rs 989 cr order for setting up power plant in AP

Infrastructure builder Madhucon Projects on Monday said it has bagged an order worth Rs 989.5 crore for setting up a thermal power plant at Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh.
The plant is of 2x135 MW and the project is expected to be completed in 26 months, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Madhucon's energy division has also entered into a memorandum of understanding with Jharkhand State Government for setting up a 1,000 MW thermal power plant at a total cost of Rs 4,800 crore.
The company has also been awarded two hydel power projects by Arunachal Pradesh for setting up of a 165 MW and 150 MW in Etabu and Elango.
Madhucon's property division has also taken up a commercial venture consisting of hotel, shopping mall, office complex and cineplex at a total cost of Rs 900 crore.

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Energy/Madhucon_bags_Rs_989_cr_order_for_setting_up_power_plant_in_AP/articleshow/3231863.cms)

phaedrus

July 15th, 2008, 07:09 PM

Four SEZ projects to come up in Nellore

The sleepy hamlets in Nellore district in coastal Andhra Pradesh are waking up to fast-paced industrial development with four special economic zones and nine other mega projects coming up in the region.

The total investment intentions for Andhra Pradesh in 2006-07 was Rs 25,173 crore, next only to Gujarat, and Nellore district was getting a good share of it.

Easy access through road and railway network, having two airports -- Chennai and Tirupati -- nearby, an 169-km coastline and the upcoming industrial port in Krishnapatnam the locational advantages are attracting a number of business houses to set bases in the southern district.

The 13 mega industrial projects with a proposed investment of Rs 40,150 crore, which are under different stages of implementation, will provide employment to nearly 1,35,000 people, officials said.

More than 3,800 acres of land have been acquired for the four SEZs -- Tawainese-owned Apache footwear in Tada, MAS Textile and Apparel Park in Chintavaram, Kisan SEZ in Kodavalur and APIIC Leather SEZ near Mambattu.

An industrial park for automotive, aerospace and engineering sectors, promoted by NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul's Caparo Group, is coming up in an area of 2000 acres in Menakur while another Taiwanese industrial park will be set up on 2,500 acres nearby. Some parts of the 5000-acre Sri City SEZ, being developed in neighbouring Chittoor district, will also fall in Nellore.

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Infrastructure/Four_SEZ_projects_to_come_up_in_Nellore/articleshow/3236624.cms)

Babji

July 16th, 2008, 01:25 AM

^^ nice updates there @SN1101. :cheers:
Date:16/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/16/stories/2008071653910400.htm
Railway line for Krishnapatnam ready
HYDERABAD: Krishnapatnam in Nellore district where a greenfield port has been developed in the private sector for the first time in the country is set to become a hub of activity in the near future.

A 21-km railway line taken up to connect the new port with Venkatachalam lying on the Vijayawada-Chennai mainline has been completed. Iron ore brought from the mines of Donimalai and Bellary in Karnataka is now being diverted to Krishnapatnam through this short-cut route as Chennai was not exporting iron ore cargo anymore, officials told Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy here on Tuesday.

The 21-km stretch is part of the 114-km long railway line project taken up at a cost of Rs. 748 crore through a special purpose vehicle to connect Obulavaripalli in Kadapa district with Krishnapatnam port avoiding a circuitous route. Krishnapatnam has been selected for setting up of a super thermal complex and setting up of a 4,000-MW capacity Ultra Mega Power Project, being implemented here through Reliance Group, is under way.

Babji

July 17th, 2008, 02:01 AM

Date:17/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/17/stories/2008071753400400.htm
Krishnapatnam port to be dedicated to nation today
NELLORE: United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi will dedicate the Krishnapatnam port to the nation at Krishnapatnam on Thursday.

The port, which has been envisioned as a modern deep water and high productivity port to sustain the demands of growing international trade scenario, is expected to be completed by 2011. And the port once complete will be the biggest container terminal in India, according to sources. According to a senior official of the Industries Department, the port is expected to move around 200,000 containers in its first year of operation and some 450,000 in the second year. “The location of the port offers logistical advantage for trade in domestic as well as Asia-Pacific and far-eastern regions.

Iron ore handling: The phase-I allows the logistics of iron ore handling of 14 million tonnes, coal handling of seven million tonnes and general cargo of two million tonnes per year by the maximum ship size of 65,000 DWT (depth -13.2m C.D).”

Transit storage: The official said that the port had ample transit storage and reefer cargoes. “The project includes a dedicated port users and customs building with all modern infrastructure. Fifty acres has been dedicated to container stack yard just behind the berth, mechanical vessel loading and unloading systems for coal and iron ore, conveyors (covered) for bulk cargo movements, wagon tipplers, dedicated storage yards for bulk cargoes, special dedicated area for hazardous and ODC cargoes.”

Access to major ports: Moreover, the port is connected to the National Highway-5 through State highway. Port authorities have constructed a dedicated 25-km road to NH-5 and a railway line connecting Chennai-Howrah broad gauge near Venkatachalam.

Besides, it has an easy access to two major airports at Chennai and Tirupati as also sea port of Chennai. “Six helipads have been built and a pipeline proposed for liquid bulk transport.”

Suncity

July 17th, 2008, 03:53 AM

Advt in TOI epaper about today's inauguration of the port

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/4042/krishnapatnamportga7.jpg

phaedrus

July 17th, 2008, 03:00 PM

cheers Babji!

cross posting from the Energy Thread

GSPC discovers gas reserve in KG basin

GUJARAT State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) has discovered another gas reserve in the hydrocarbonrich Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin on the eastern coast. The company, however, remains tight-lipped about the size of the discovery.
The gas discovery was made in the new well of deepwater block of KG 22. The company recorded gas flow at the rate of 27.3 million cubic feet per day through a choke of 28/64 inches. When contacted, GSPC managing director DJ Pandian told ET: “We have again discovered gas. The flow rate is good. The size of the discovery could only be ascertained after the testing results.”
The discovery has also been validated by upstream regulator, the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons VK Sibal. “They (GSPC) have informed us about the discovery. It is a gas discovery and the reservoir's quality seems to be good,” said Mr Sibal. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is learnt to be in Andhra Pradesh to inspect the project site and an announcement is likely to be made on Thursday, sources in Gandhinagar said.
The company is in process of submitting a development plan with the DGH for production up to 6 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas from its earlier discovery in the Deendayal Block.

source economictimes epaper

phaedrus

July 17th, 2008, 03:10 PM

cross posting from the investment thread

GSPC to invest $1 bn in KG basin

Gujarat State Petroleum Corp will invest USD one billion (about Rs 4,100 crore) in bringing to production its eastern offshore Krishna Godavari basin gas field by 2011 and may go for an initial public offering to fund part of the investment.

GSPC, which is close to receiving Government approvals for development plans for KG-8 gas field, has struck more gas in the block KG-OSN-2001/3, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi announced from the discovery well KG-22 in Bay of Bengal.

"KG-22 alone holds three Trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of gas," he said adding the entire block in his assessment holds more than 20 Tcf reserves.

From 2011, GSPC will pump 8-10 million standard cubic meters per day of gas from the block where they made the first of the five gas discoveries in June 2005 in KG-8 well.

"We have taken capacity in Reliance Industries' East-West (Kakinada to Baruch) pipeline to transport gas to Gujarat," Gujarat Energy Minister Saurabh Patel said.

KG-8, according to the development plan submitted to oil regulator DGH, holds a minimum of 2.6 Tcf and a maximum of 5.6 Tcf recoverable reserves and can produce about 6 mmscmd gas.

Patel said the state government, which owns 100 per cent in GSPC, had put on back burner plans to sell 30 per cent stake to a foreign strategic partner like Chevron Corp, and was contemplating an IPO by December.

"Merchant bankers are looking at IPO... in no condition we are going to dilute more than 20 per cent equity. However, no decision has been taken and it will depend on market conditions and our internal accruals," he said.

Modi, however, countered Patel saying there were no plans for an IPO. "We are a surplus state and do not need any financial support. We are financially sound and do not need to go to market."

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/GSPC_to_invest__1_bn_in_KG_basin/articleshow/3245790.cms)

Babji

July 18th, 2008, 02:02 AM

Date:18/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/18/stories/2008071855361500.htm
Krishnapatnam port dedicated to the nation
KRISHNAPATNAM: United Progressive Alliance Chairperson and All India Congress Committee (AICC) President Sonia Gandhi on Thursday dedicated the Krishnapatnam port here to the nation. The UPA Chairperson also unveiled the replica of the port In the presence of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and Krishnapatnam Port Company Chairman C. V. Rao to mark the occasion.

The Krishnapatnam port is being developed as a modern deep water and high productivity port to sustain the demand of growing international trade. It is scheduled to be completed by 2011 by which time the port will become the biggest container terminal in India.

The port is expected to move around two lakh containers in its first year of operation and some 4.50 lakh containers in the second year. The location of the port offers logistical advantage for trade in domestic as well as Asia-Pacific and Far-Eastern regions. The phase-I allows the logistics of iron ore handling of 14 million tonnes, coal handling of seven million tonnes and general cargo of two million tonnes annually by the maximum ship size of 65,000 dwr (depth -13.2m C.D)...
DC:
Public-pvt tie up vital, says Sonia
Nellore July 17: Healthy partnership between the government and the private sector hold the key to quick growth in infrastructure and creation of jobs, Congress president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi said. “This partnership will promote all-round growth and also cater to the interests of the public,” Ms Gandhi said in her terse 10-minute speech dedicating to the nation the world-class Krishnapatnam port near here on Thursday...

... the Greenfield port was completed in just 18 months and promises 136,000 jobs, direct and indirect. There are plans to increase the number of berths to 42 from the present four.

phaedrus

July 23rd, 2008, 03:51 PM

More tourist spots planned in Andhra

Andhra Pradesh will have more destinations for tourists in a couple of years with the state executing 14 Central-assisted tourism projects at a cost of over Rs 150 crore.

According to director of the Department of Tourism, Sabyasachi Ghosh, the state government is also a giving a boost to tourism by undertaking projects worth Rs 4.5 crore.

The state views the tourism sector as a provider of employment and as a contributor to economic growth and development of tourist regions.

Stating that the state was registering an annual growth rate 10 per cent in tourist arrivals, he said that over 600,000 international tourists came to the state last year.

Giving details about the three-day 'Travel & Tourism Fair (TTF) 2008', being held here from Friday, Gosh said the event, being held annually for the past six years, would provide an opportunity to the general public as well to discuss and finalise customised travel plans to different destinations in the world.

Sanjiv Agarwal , chairman and managing director of Fairfest Media Limited, the organisers of TTF, said besides representation from 11 states across the country, travel traders from Egypt, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Dubai and Thailand would take part in the event.

source business standard (http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage_c_online.php?leftnm=10&bKeyFlag=IN&autono=43010)

Babji

July 25th, 2008, 01:26 AM

The Economic Times
Chinese banks may power Rel Infra JV
25 Jul, 2008, 0054 hrs IST, ET Bureau
MUMBAI: Reliance Infrastructure is tying up with Chinese banks to fund its proposed $3-billion joint venture with Shanghai Electric that will manufacture boilers, turbines and generators in India. Sources say the company is talking to two Chinese banks that will help it ensure equipment supplier performance guarantees and also better finance terms with a longer repayment tenure.

The two banks include China Development Bank and China Exim Bank, while the project will be guaranteed by China Export and Credit Insurance Corporation, or Sinosure, said the sources. “The tenure is shorter than what could have been achieved under conventional local banking norms,” said sources, adding the rates are also competitive as Chinese banks are keen to be involved in a Sino-Indian power project, where the equipment supplier is a Chinese company.

On July 23, ET had reported that Reliance Infrastructure is all set to enter the growing power equipment sector by tying up with Shanghai Electric, that would integrate the company for its various power projects including the two ultra mega power projects, Sasan and Krishnapatnam, apart from the 1,000 megawatt thermal power plant at Rosa in Uttar Pradesh. The joint venture is likely to be ready by 2010.

Shanghai Electric, that had earlier been the turnkey contractor for Reliance Infrastructure’s Yamunanagar power project, is currently talking with the Anil Ambani group company to finalise the location for the proposed equipment plant which could be built near its Krishnapatnam power project in Andhra Pradesh...

zhiemi

July 29th, 2008, 04:52 PM

HCC bags Pranahitha-Chevella lift irrigation scheme order (http://in.news.yahoo.com/139/20080729/832/tbs-hcc-bags-pranahitha-chevella-lift-ir.html)

Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), a leading infrastructure construction and development company, in joint venture with SEW Infrastructures Ltd and Megha Engineeringand Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL) has bagged a prestigious contract of Pranahitha-Chevella Lift Irrigation Scheme, Package - 3 from the Irrigation and Command Area Development (ICAD) department of Government of Andhra Pradesh.

This order is worth Rs. 639.27 crore (HCC share Rs 326.03 crore) for construction of a barrage of around 3.5 km on river Pranahitha near Tummidi Hetti village in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh.

The contract covers detailed investigation, preparation of designs, drawings and construction of a barrage including fixing of gates, head regulator and 500 meter long gravity canals.

The project will be completed in 48 calendar months. This order is a part of the government's historical programme named 'Jalayagnam', the initiative to provide immediate irrigation benefits to all under developed regions of Andhra Pradesh. Pranahitha-Chevella Lift Irrigation Scheme will irrigate an ayacut of 12.20 lakh acres and provide drinking water to about 1000 villages in Adilabad, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Medak, Nalgonda and Rangareddy districts in Telangana region.

HCC is currently involved in construction of Godavari Lift irrigation Phase I and Phase II in Andhra Pradesh where Phase I has already been commissioned and Phase II is in advance stages of completion.

In addition, HCC is currently executing four major projects in Andhra Pradesh including India's first Cavern for strategic storage of crude oil at Visakhapatnam, the Veligonda lift irrigation project, the Rajiv Sagar lift irrigation project and a 30 km highway of NHAI on NH-7 under north-south corridor on BOT basis.

Historically HCC's relationship with Andhra Pradesh goes back to the 1930's when it constructed the first bridge over river Godavari at Shahgarh. Since then it has built several infrastructure projects including the Godavari Barrage at Rajahmundry, the Papavinasam Dam, the Vizag Monolith and West Wall Protection and the Railway Bridge over Godavari which is the first and only bow-string bridge in India.

HCC has built several landmark projects in India's Hydro Power and water resources sector, with at least 10 of these situated in the geologically challenging Himalayan region. Having also constructed over 45 dams, barrages and 15 powerhouses in the Indian sub continent, HCC has contributed to over 30 per cent of India's installed hydropower capacity.

Babji

July 30th, 2008, 12:40 AM

Date:30/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/30/stories/2008073060010300.htm
YSR to lay stone for JNNURM houses, outer ring road
VIJAYAWADA: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) will construct 9,440 houses under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNURM) programme at Jakkampudi near here.

Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy will lay the foundation stone for the construction of houses on August 6. Dr. Reddy will also lay the foundation stone for an Inner Ring Road (IRR), which will be executed by the Vijayawada-Guntur-Tenali-Mangalagiri Urban Development Authority (UDA) under the JNNURM programme, at Jakkampudi. The 10-km IRR will begin at Nainavaram flyover at Milk Factory and end at Ramavarappadu Junction on NH-5. It is estimated that the project will cost Rs.74.24 crores, and is scheduled to be completed in two years...
wow!

ajay_ijn

July 30th, 2008, 04:52 AM

ranga

July 30th, 2008, 06:20 PM

previously they said no rains, So hydropower plants are down, hence power Shortage. But now with good rains, they have a new problem, there is no Coal for Thermal Power Plants. Power Cuts will continue as usual. Also there is no gas, and situation will only improve when Ambani brothers case is solved.

Ever since the formation of A.P on 1-11-1956 the state has never experienced this much load shedding as it is now.The power minister in the state is a joker (Idiot is more apt)He can't differentiate between kilowatts and megawatts.million units and crore units.:nuts:

zhiemi

July 30th, 2008, 08:55 PM

Centre approves 91 SEZs for AP (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Centre_approves_91_SEZs_for_AP/articleshow/3307078.cms)

The Centre has approved in principle 91 SEZs for Andhra Pradesh, the highest in the country, Andhra Pradesh Major Industries Minister Dr Geetha Reddy said on Wednesday.

She told reporters here that of the 91, work for 64 SEZs were already progressing.

The state had taken care to ensure that only government land or one-crop land was acquired for SEZs, to avoid repetition of Nandigram there, the minister said.

The farmers, whose land had been acquired, were being provided alternative housing sites. They would be provided training for employment in the SEZs for which their land had been taken, she said, claiming that no other state in the country had taken such precautions.

Stating that the Andhra Pradesh government headed by Y S Rajasekekar Reddy was "industry friendly" one, she said during the past four years, the state had attracted an investment to tune of Rs 17,000 crore and another Rs 38,000 crore was in the pipeline.

Alleging that the previous Telugu Desam party government had given prominence only to IT industry, she said Dr Reddy's government gave importance to manufacturing sector as well.

She said the ground breaking ceremony for Rs 1,000 crore 5000-acre-spread private sector SEZ would be performed on August eight, near Tada, on Tamil Nadu-Andhra Pradesh border.

The promoter of the project, Ravindra Sannareddy, an NRI said the SEZ would have auto components, light engineering, electronics hardware, apparel and fashion outlets and also IT and BPO units.

MNCs like Venture of USA, Bura of Spain and International Apparels of Holland had already signed MoUs to set up units in the SEZ, he said.

Babji

August 5th, 2008, 02:47 AM

DC
Maytas asks for more land
Hyderabad, Aug. 4: The state government will have to pay a heavy price to Maytas Infra for developing the Machilipatnam port at a different location. The company has already sought 8,500 acres and rights to develop an industrial corridor. The developer projected an additional cost of Rs 350 crore for shifting the location from Gogileru to Gilakaladinne near Machilipatnam.

Official sources told this newspaper that as a compensatory move the developer asked 2,300 acres to make up the additional cost. Besides, the company proposed to develop the industrial corridor in at least 10,000 acres. The government is now in a fix because it had already entered into an agreement with Maytas keeping the additional cost issue pending. Sources said the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy asked the officials to first handover the land required to take up port operations and study the proposal later.

What makes interesting is that Maytas wanted the land at Gogileru also where the government initially planned to build the port. Sources said Gogileru was an ideal location to build the port where maintenance cost would be much less. "The company might be considering making use of the place," a senior official pointed out. The officials were also worried over the presence of huge tracts of mangroves at the port location. Source said mangroves were spread over 3000 acres and it would be difficult to take up any activity as it would draw the attention of Supreme Court and Union Environment and Forest department.

The company also proposed that it should be permitted to develop growth corridor under Swiss challenge method. The corridor is to be developed between Hyderabad and Machilipatnam in a parallel route to Hyderabad-Vijayawada national highway 9. Sources said a high power committee appointed to verify the genuineness in the developer’s claims on additional cost would also study the proposal for additional land.

phaedrus

August 5th, 2008, 04:49 PM

BHEL bags first order to supply 800 MW boilers

In a critical breakthrough, country's largest power equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd has won first ever contract worth Rs 2,500 crore for supplying 800 MW supercritical boilers.

The company has received the Rs 2,500 crore contract from Andhra Pradesh Power Development Co for supply of 800 MW supercritical boilers, BHEL said in a statement here.

It would set up 1,600 MW (2x800) steam generator at Krishnapatnam Power Project of Andhra Pradesh Power Development Company Ltd (APPDCL).

The contract includes manufacture, supply, erection, testing and commissioning of the steam generators and other auxiliaries like Electrostatic Precipitators (ESPs).

The supercritical boilers would be manufactured by BHEL at its Tiruchirapalli unit, coal mills and ESPs would be supplied by the company's Hyderabad and Ranipet plants respectively.

The company has recently formed a joint venture with Tamil Nadu State Electricity Board (TNEB) for setting up 2x800 MW Supercritical Thermal Power Project in the state.

The project would be the first supercritical project in the state.

The company has also won a Rs 200 crore order for a hydro-electric power project in Vietnam. The contract which marks company's maiden entry into that country was awarded by state-owned Nam Chien Hydropower.

Major equipment to be supplied for the project comprises hydro turbines, generators, transformers, controls, monitoring and protection system and switchgear.

As per the contract, the company would design, engineer, manufacture, supply and supervise installation as well as commissioning of electro-mechanical equipment

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Indl_Goods__Svs/BHEL_bags_first_order_to_supply_800_MW_boilers/articleshow/3328936.cms)

zhiemi

August 6th, 2008, 10:41 AM

HCC consortium bags 1,398 cr project (http://www.financialexpress.com/news/HCC-consortium-bags-1-398-cr-project/345383/)

Infrastructure firm Hindustan Construction Company led consortium has bagged a contract worth Rs 1,398.50 crore from Andhra Pradesh Government for irrigation project.

The company has been awarded the contract along with two other companies -- Megha Engineering & Infrastructure (MIEL) and Czech Republic-based CKD Blansko Engineering (CBE) for J Chokka Rao Devadula Lift Irrigation Scheme, HCC said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Hindustan Construction Company has a share of 45 per cent or Rs 629.33 crore in the total value of the contract, the company added.

Under the project, given by the Irrigation and Command Area Development Department, about 3.43 acres of land would be irrigated in Warangal District of Telengana region and is expected to be completed in 36 calendar months.

HCC at present is involved in the construction of Godavari Lift Irrigation project and is executing four major projects in Andhra Pradesh.

raghussc

August 6th, 2008, 07:12 PM

^^ Just 3.43 acres of land to be irrigated for which 630 crores would be spent ?!? That must be a biiigg typo of the year :D

phaedrus

August 9th, 2008, 05:28 PM

Andhra FCV tobacco growers smoke rich aroma of success

Andhra Pradesh’s 50,000 growers of Flue-Cured Virginia (FCV and smoked in cigarettes) tobacco have never had it so good.

Their cumulative realisations for the auction of the 2007-08 tobacco crop has, according to Tobacco Board estimates, aggregated Rs 1,400 crore, up by Rs 600 crore when compared with the 2006-07 crop. Which means each FCV grower in AP earned Rs 1,20,000 more this year or an additional Rs 10,000 per month compared with the realisations from the previous crop.

In absolute terms, the 2007-08 FCV crop generated an average income of Rs 2,80,000 for each AP grower, working out to Rs 23,333 a month. With the average per-kg realisations at the auctions conducted by the Tobacco Board touching Rs 84.75 and with a total per-kg cost of around Rs 40, each AP grower would have netted an average annual profit of Rs 1,47,600 on the 2007-08 FCV crop, or a monthly profit of Rs 12,300.

The higher realisations were generated from an AP FCV crop of 165 million kg (down 7 million kg from the previous season’s 172 million kg). Export prices for AP’s FCV crop are up by 60% when compared with the previous crop. The 2007-08 FCV crop in Karnataka, whose auctions began in September and concluded in March, was around 87 million kg, about 8 million kg less than the previous crop.

The higher prices at this year’s AP auction, which concluded in the first week of July, were due to the global supply-demand situation. A key factor was the increased consumption of cigarettes in China, which is also the world’s leading cultivator of FCV tobacco.

A shortfall in Brazil’s flavoured tobacco crop also helped boost prices of AP’s semi-flavoured Northern Light Soil crop. Apart from the global supply-demand situation, the additional Rs 600 crore realised by AP growers on the 2007-08 crop is attributed to the precautions taken by the Tobacco Board which conducts the auctions. Precautions were taken to ensure that the major buyers for Indian tobacco (who amount to a handful ) could not form a cartel of any kind while bidding at the auctions.

Tobacco Board chairman J Suresh Babu says he expects higher prices to continue for another two to three years due to the increased consumption of cigarettes in China. During the Indian prime minister’s visit to China in January this year, a protocol was signed for exports of Indian FCV tobacco to China. Mr Babu says growers in the two FCV-tobacco cultivating states of India will benefit.

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Agriculture/Andhra_FCV_tobacco_growers_smoke_rich_aroma_of_success/articleshow/3331069.cms)

phaedrus

August 10th, 2008, 07:30 PM

cross posting from the energy thread

Foundation stone laid for uranium mine in Andhra Pradesh

India's efforts to boost domestic production of uranium are likely to get a boost, with the authorities Sunday launching the work on uranium mine and mill in Andhra Pradesh's Kadapa district.

Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar laid foundation stone for the mine at Tummalapalle village in Kadapa.

The Uranium Corp of India Ltd (UCIL) is building the mine and mill at a cost of Rs 1,129 crore ($268.8 million). It would have a capacity to produce 150,000 tonnes of uranium a year.

The project would be completed "as early as possible", Kakodkar told reporters on the occasion.

He tried to allay apprehensions in some quarters that the mine would be harmful to environment and public health.

"We will take care of (people's) safety. There need be no apprehensions. It will have no impact on environment or people," said Kakodkar, who is also the secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy.

Several environmental groups have raised apprehensions that the mine would impact the environment and the health of people living in nearby villages. They alleged that several of their activists were beaten up by the police during the mandatory public hearing held in 2006, to silence their protest.

This mine along with another proposed in Nalgonda district are likely to address the shortage of uranium.

Kakodkar recently stated that India's nuclear power plants were working at about half their capacity of 4,000 MW due to shortage of the fuel.

He said the slow process in opening new uranium mines has resulted in demand-supply mismatch.

The UCIL plans to invest Rs 3,100 crore to open new mines and set up processing plants in Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya.

source economictimes.com (http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Foundation_stone_laid_for_uranium_mine_in_Andhra_Pradesh/articleshow/3349190.cms)

phaedrus

August 12th, 2008, 01:21 PM

Tata Indicom plans 100 low-cost retail outlets in AP

Tata Indicom is planning to set up at least 100 low-cost retail outlets in the rural areas and small towns of Andhra Pradesh in the next two months to increase its presence, according to Mr S. Ramakrishna, the Chief Operating Officer.

He told reporters here on Monday, after opening two exclusive Tata Indicom stores that such outlets would open up business opportunities for the small entrepreneurs in rural areas. “It won’t take more than Rs 25,000 to set up such a low-cost, no frill shop. We have already opened four such shops in Ranga Reddy, Guntur and Nalgonda districts,” he said.

Mr Ramakrishna said the company, presently having 2.8 million subscriber base in the State, wanted to cross the three-million mark as soon as possible and “by the end of the financial year we want to get as close as possible to the four-million mark”.

He said Tata Indicom was investing Rs 140 crore in the State in enhancing its network. The company was present in 482 places in the State and services would be rolled out in 68 more places within the next two months.

Exclusive outlets

Mr Ramakrishna said Tata Indicom has 4,000 True Value Shoppes across the country in the circles allotted to it and in AP the number was 340. “In Visakhapatnam, we have 13 outlets and we want to set up more,” he added.

He said the survey conducted by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had stated that the Tata Indicom’s network in Andhra Pradesh was the least congested and “therefore, we are confident of giving quality service to the customer”.

He also spoke about a new product introduced by the company – a new cordless walky talky combining the features of a land phone and mobile one. Priced at Rs 1,299, it was getting a good response from the customers, he claimed.

source businessline (http://www.blonnet.com/2008/08/12/stories/2008081251192100.htm)

phaedrus

August 12th, 2008, 01:23 PM

Andhra Pradesh drive to boost sea-borne trade

Andhra Pradesh is set to emerge as a major hub for sea-borne trade, within the next four-five years, thanks to the initiative of the State Government to develop facilities along the State’s 978-km long coast line.

The initiatives, as Mr K.V. Brahmananda Reddy, Special Secretary, Infrastructure & Investments (Ports), Government of Andhra Pradesh, explained to Business Line, would include development of non-major ports on public-private partnership (PPP) model and modernisation and upgradation of existing facilities.

A beginning had already been made with the first phase commissioning of four berths of the Rs 1,200-crore Krishnapatnam Port in July and the launching of trial operation of Gangavaram Port, a deep water port, a few days ago, he said.

The traffic throughput of the ports in Andhra Pradesh (excluding Visakhapatnam port), it is estimated, will reach the level of 145 million tonnes (mt) by 2011-12, the final year of the Eleventh Plan, as against 21 mt in 2007-08. The commissioning of the Krishnapatnam and Gangavaram ports is to double the throughput to 42 mt in the current financial year itself and further to 65 mt in 2009-10 and 95 mt in 2010-11 as more and more berths will be added to these ports. In fact, more than one-third of the projected 145 mt of traffic by 2011-12 is to be handled by Gangavaram and Krishnapatnam ports — Gangavaram port 35 mt and Krishnapatnam port 27 mt.

These ports, as Mr Brahmananda Reddy pointed out, would trigger industrial activity around them as well as in the hinterland. A case in point was the upcoming large capacity power plants around Krishnapatnam Port. A special economic zone too would come up to cash in on the facilities to be offered by the port, he said.

But, then, building capacity is one thing and utilisation is another. The pertinent question that arises is: will there be enough business for these ports? Or will they indulge in unfair practices to cut into one another’s business?

‘Business for all’

According to Mr C. Sasidhar, Director (Administration) of Krishnapatnam Port, there will be business for all. The existing ports suffer from capacity constraints, leading to very high turnaround times for vessels, causing losses to the exporters and importers, he said, emphasising the need for additional port facilities.

A senior executive of Gangavaram Port said the growth prospects in the region being bright, there must be enough port facilities to meet the growing demand of importers and exporters. He cited the example of Visakhapatnam port, where pre-berthing delays varied from seven to 14 days.

On the other hand, Gangavaram port, the country’s deepest port, has installed a 800-mt conveyor to carry imported raw material directly from the port to the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. “It will become much cheaper for exporters and importers operating out of our ports,” he said.

Andhra Pradesh, with one major port and 14 non-major ports, ranked number two in cargo handling in the last three years, with cargo handling capacity having increased substantially between 1998 and 2008. The State Government has initiated steps to help several non-major ports come up in the State under private initiative and these include Gangavaram, Krishnapatnam, Machilipatnam, Vodarevu, Nizampatnam, Meghavaram (Srikakulam district) and Kakinada (deep water port), the last two being captive ports.

While the Meghavaram port would be captive port of East Coast Energy and Power Systems, Kaninada port would be captive port for the Kakinada SEZ.

Machilipatnam port is to be developed by a consortium comprising Maytas Infra and Nagarjuna Construction Company. The concession agreement for the Rs 1,580-crore project was signed in April 2008. Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the Chief Minister, laid the foundation stone for the project in the same month.

In March 2008, the State Government signed an agreement with Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) for developing two ports at Vodarevu (Prakasam district) and Nizapatnam and an industrial corridor connecting the two. A special purpose vehicle with Matrix Enport as a joint venture partner was signed.

The shipyard proposal

Meanwhile, the Union Government wants to have a shipyard of international standard come up at Vodarevu, on the east coast.

Responding to the proposal mooted by the Union Minister for Shipping, Road and Highways, Mr T.R. Baalu, in April this year, the Chief Minister offered to make available 2,000 acres of land within six months for the proposed shipyard which, when ready, is to give a major boost to the proposed port corridor.

“The total private investments in various port projects will be about Rs 21,710 crore, including Rs 16,800 crore for the Nizampatnam and Vodarevu ports and the corridor,” Mr Brahmananda Reddy said, adding that “the port development programme of Andhra Pradesh fits well into the revised National Maritime Development Programme, which aims to develop total port capacity of 1,500 mt in the country by 2011-12.”

source businessline (http://www.blonnet.com/2008/08/11/stories/2008081150470600.htm)

phaedrus

August 12th, 2008, 01:26 PM

Andhra Pradesh eyeing SEZs to generate jobs: CM

“Andhra Pradesh will use every opportunity to grow well through SEZs,” said the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, while addressing social issues relating to relief and rehabilitation.

Talking at the ground-breaking ceremony of the 5,000-acre multi-product special economic zone, Sri City, at Tada in the south eastern part of the State, he said Andhra sees SEZs as a major opportunity to generate jobs through industrial growth. “Any government worth its salt should promote jobs for youth” and SEZs are a key factor in attracting industrial investments and employment generation, the Chief Minister said.

However, relief and rehabilitation of people who are displaced or those whose land has been acquired for the SEZs is a critical factor in promoting SEZs in the public-private partnership mode.

Andhra Pradesh, one of the largest promoters of SEZs, has done it smoothly because it has effectively addressed the issue. The Government and the SEZ promoters have consistently paid more than the market value while acquiring land and provided training to enable the local people get jobs in the industries coming up within the SEZ.

One major success of the State Government’s industry-friendly policy has been the allocation of the Hyderabad Metro project to a private promoter at no cost to the Government. The bidder is to take over the Rs 12,500-crore project cost without any financial support from the Government. The bidder had assured a revenue of Rs 13,000 crore to the State exchequer during the concession period.

Andhra Pradesh would continue to grow at “plus 10 per cent” thanks to its support to manufacturing sector, the Chief Minister said.

He assured industrialists of the support of the Government in facilitating investments in the State.

Dr J. Geetha Reddy, the Minister for Major Industries, Andhra Pradesh, said out of the 220 SEZs in the pipeline in the country, Andhra had attracted 91 with 54 notified SEZs in 16 districts. The State has emerged the second largest destination for industrial investments after Gujarat in the last two years.

Sri City is promoted by Mr Ravindra Sannareddy, an NRI entrepreneur, though public-private partnership and has a 3,800-acre SEZ and a 1,200-acre domestic tariff area. It is on the NH 5 about 55 km north of Chennai. The master planning is done by Jurong Consultants, Singapore.

At the launch, over 10 companies bringing in investments of nearly Rs 1,000 crore finalised a lease agreement to take up space within the SEZ. Over the next 5 years, the SEZ is expected to house over 300 units that would have invested Rs 17,500 crore and generated 1.75 lakh jobs.

source businessline (http://www.blonnet.com/2008/08/09/stories/2008080952311000.htm)

phaedrus

August 12th, 2008, 01:28 PM

East Coast Energy to establish 4,000 MW plant in AP

East Coast Energy has sewn up plans to establish a 4,000-MW capacity mega power plant along with a dedicated jetty to evacuate coal near Bhavanapadu in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh.

East Coast Energy is a special purpose vehicle of Asian Infra, Singapore and Athena Energy Ventures comprising IDFC, PTC and other strategic investors.

The phase I of the project contemplates the setting up of 2,640 MW capacity with an investment of Rs 10,000 crore within 39-42 months. It envisages four units of 640 MW based on supercritical technology.

The company’s Chairman Mr T. Shankaralingam, who recently joined the company after completing his tenure at NTPC as Chairman and Managing Director, told Business Line “The project is awaiting environmental clearance. Thereafter, we expect to take the project up for financial closure. Unlike in the past, if all clearances are in place, it can be achieved in couple of months.”

PACT WITH GLOBAL FUELS

The project, to be located on the site belonging to Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation, is looking at firing it with imported coal and has tied up with Global Fuels Pte, Singapore. It is also in talks for supply of coal from Mahanadi Coal Fields.

The idea, to have linkage from imported coal mines and suppliers and domestic coal, is to potentially use blended coal and thereby optimise the power generation cost.

“To ferry out the coal from overseas mines, the company will also set up a dedicated jetty and plans to develop the hinterland,” according to Mr T.V. Krishna, Managing Director of East Coast Energy.

“The company will take up development of about 2,500 acres for the project of the 3,500 acres of land, and have a debt equity ratio of about 80:20. We will engage in talks with a consortium of banks lead by IDBI,” Mr Shankaralingam said.

The SPV has filed for long term open access application with the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd., and has entered into an MoU with Power Trading Corporation.

ANOTHER PROJECT

Through another special purpose vehicle, the promoters are in the process of finalising plans a 1,200 MW coal plant in Raigarh district of Chattisgarh, for which they have secured a dedicated coal block.

The availability of coal from nearby fields will help expedite the process, they maintained.

source businessline (http://www.blonnet.com/2008/08/08/stories/2008080851170300.htm)

harsh1802

August 18th, 2008, 12:55 AM

YSR to launch tunnel works

Special Correspondent

ONGOLE: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy will launch the tunnel boring machine that would drill 18-km long tunnel in Nallamala hills as part of Veligonda project at Kothur near Dornala in Prakasam district on Tuesday.

He would come by helicopter from Hyderabad and land at the project site at 11.30 am on August 19. The tunnel with a diameter of seven meters would help bring 40 tmc ft of Krishna waters from the foreshore of Srisailam reservoir and empty the waters in the Veligonda reservoir being constructed closing the gaps between hills at Kakarla, Gottipadia and Sunkesula. The water would provide irrigation facility to 1.25 lakh acres in the drought affected areas of Prakasam district. The government has also agreed to drill a tunnel to irrigate area under Veligonda project.

Source (http://www.hindu.com/2008/08/18/stories/2008081854840600.htm)

Babji

August 20th, 2008, 02:20 AM

DC
CM halts land acquisition
Hyderabad, Aug 19: The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, on Tuesday directed officials not to acquire land for infrastructure projects unless there was dire need to do so. The Chief Minister instructed the East Godavari and Visakhapatnam district collectors to immediately withdraw prohibitory orders imposed on land transactions in several mandals falling in the proposed Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR).

He said there was no need to issue such orders when the government was not acquiring land for the PCPIR. Dr Reddy is also believed to have asked officials to put on hold land acquisition for the Visakhapatnam international airport till defence authorities cleared the project. With regard to minor airports in the districts, he said a firm no to land acquisition at this stage.

The Chief Minister appeared to have decided not to risk poll prospects by aggressively acquiring land, which has become a contentious issue. He also wanted all infrastructure projects to be grounded immediately so as to gain electoral mileage out of creating employment opportunities on a large scale. In an unusual manner, the Chief Minister held a marathon district-wise review meeting on infrastructure projects being implemented or proposed. Senior officials, collectors of about 12 districts and the private developers of projects besides Mr K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao, former adviser (political) and the Chief Minister’s confidant, took part in the review.

Sources said the Chief Minister wanted the officials to follow up with Central authorities on a day-to-day basis and obtain necessary permissions instead of drafting letters seeking permission. He said the Gangavaram port should be put into operation by September at any cost while the Vadarevu Nizampatnam Port Industrial Corridor and Machilipatnam port should be grounded immediately.

With regard to Anantapur district, however, the Chief Minister asked the AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation to continue with land acquisition in view of demand from locals and people’s representatives. The government had a bitter experience there with Jurong backing out from the 60,000-acre Odyssey Science City and farmers are pressuring the government to complete the acquisition process.

rajnath27

August 20th, 2008, 03:08 AM

Source (http://www.hindu.com/2008/08/18/stories/2008081854840600.htm)

Yeah! I saw it in TV. The tunnel boring machine is very large imported from Germany. It seems it costed the contracter more than 180 crores in importing that machine.

ajay_ijn

August 25th, 2008, 07:22 AM

Andhra Pradesh remains No1 destination for domestic tourists
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Andhra_Delhi_stay_on_top_as_tourist_destinations/articleshow/3401584.cms
NEW DELHI: Andhra Pradesh again managed to attract the maximum number of domestic tourists in 2007 while the Indian capital drew the most foreigners for the second consecutive year, tourism ministry figures show.

According to latest tourist figures provided by the ministry, Andhra Pradesh, famed for its temples and especially the Tirumala Tirupati shrine, attracted 127 million domestic tourists - an increase of 14 per cent from 2006.

Delhi also saw a jump in its tourist figures with 2.01 million foreigners visiting it in 2007. In 2006, 1.9 million foreign travellers had come to the capital.

These figures were collected from hotels and other accommodations by the ministry of tourism.

Apart from Andhra Pradesh, the other most favoured destinations for Indians were Uttar Pradesh (116 million), Tamil Nadu (71 million), Karnataka (37.8 million) and Rajasthan (25.9 million). In 2006 also, these states were the top five destinations for domestic tourists.

The five states accounted for about 72 per cent of the total domestic tourist visits in 2007.

For foreigners, the other top four favoured places besides Delhi were Maharashtra (1.9 million), Tamil Nadu (1.7 million), Uttar Pradesh (1.49 million) and Rajasthan (1.40 million).

These five states accounted for about 65 percent of the total foreign tourist arrivals in India in 2007, said the official. Last year, the total share of these five states was 64.31 per cent.

Babji

August 30th, 2008, 12:42 AM

Economic Times
Gammon to construct Rs 800 cr Godavari bridge project
29 Aug, 2008, 1437 hrs IST, PTI
MUMBAI : Gammon Infrastructure has bagged a Rs 800 crore project from the Andhra Pradesh government for constructing a bridge across river Godavari, the company told the Bombay Stock Exchange on Friday.

Gammon has received the letter of allotment for constructing, financing and maintaining, on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis, a major bridge across the river Godavari connecting Rajahmundry and Kovvur.

"The total cost to complete the project has been estimated by the company at Rs 800 crore. Gammon would receive a total grant of Rs 207.55 crore from the central and state governments during the construction and operation period of the project," the company said in a filing to the BSE.

The concession period of the project is 25 years, including a construction period of three years. Shares of the company reacted positively on the report and surged 17.47 per cent over its previous close...

Babji

September 7th, 2008, 01:01 AM

http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/07/stories/2008090752840400.htm
NH-9 widening
Hyderabad: The Vijayawada-Hyderabad NH-9 will be developed into a four-lane road and tenders were already invited. The work would start in October, R&B Minister T. Jeevan Reddy said in reply to a separate question in the Council.

Babji

September 9th, 2008, 03:56 AM

http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/09/stories/2008090954370400.htm
Cabinet allots 16,000 acres for power, port projects
Over 3,000 acres for thermal power station at Kakarapalli in Srikakulam
Vadarevu port to get 6,493.19 acres in 14 villages at Rs 1.52 lakh an acre
HYDERABAD: The Cabinet has decided to allot an extent of 16,249 acres of Government land to two thermal power projects in the private sector in Srikakulam district and to the greenfield ports in Nizampatnam and Vadarevu. Land will, however, be allotted for a price.

At a meeting here on Monday, the Cabinet cleared allotment of 3,333 acres spread over four villages to East-Coast Energy Limited at Rs 85,000 an acre for setting up a 2,600-MW thermal power station at Kakarapalli in Srikakulam district.

Briefing reporters later, Information Minister A. Ramanarayan Reddy said another 972.69 acres of land at Sompeta would be allotted to Nagarjuna Constructions Limited at Rs 80,000 an acre for a 1,980 MW thermal station.

Exclusive right : The Vadarevu port, being developed in Prakasam district by VAPIC company, would get 6,493.19 acres in 14 villages at Rs 1.52 lakh an acre with the condition to extend the “exclusive right” of the already developed Krishnapatnam port up to 30 km towards Vadarevuu.

Nizampatnam port, under construction in Guntur district, would get 5,451 acres in seven villages at the same price.

The Cabinet decision to alienate such large extent of land to pipeline projects is not likely to cause any agitation by farmers as all this land either belonged to the Government or was assigned land taken back from individuals/ industries for not putting the same to use for the stated purpose, the Minister explained.

Recent policy: Answering questions, Mr Reddy said the Cabinet’s decision was in tune with the recent policy announced by the Government not to acquire private land for projects any more.
a good investment - unlimited opportunities for the future genetaions!.

Babji

September 9th, 2008, 04:07 AM

Date:09/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/09/stories/2008090954380400.htm
AP Bhavan to make way for 1,000-cr. world centre
HYDERABAD: An Andhra Pradesh International Centre will be set up on 19.84 acres of land in New Delhi belonging to the State Government and currently housing the Andhra Pradesh Bhavan, Old Nursing Hostel and Pataudi House.

The Rs. 1,000-crore centre will consist of an international convention centre, guesthouses, five-star hotel, clubhouse, residential quarters, dormitory facilities and serviced apartments.

A decision to develop this massive complex through Public Private Partnership route was taken by the Cabinet at its meeting here on Monday with the “prime objective” of catering to the office space/accommodation requirements of Andhra Pradesh in the national capital and meet the increasing demand for quality space for organising meetings, etc.

Thirty-year lease: The land would be leased out for 30 years after construction with the stipulation that the developer would have to pay an annual minimum amount of Rs. 45 crore during the first 10 years, Rs. 60 crore during the next 10 and Rs 75 crore thereafter.

Information Minister A. Ramanarayan Reddy told reporters that a consortium led by Nagarjuna Construction Company Limited, which offered a high revenue share of 12.34 per cent to the Government, had been selected to execute the project. In contrast, a New Delhi-based firm, Parsvanath Developers Limited, offered only 6.1 per cent share.

The massive complex would have a vast built-up space for exclusive use by the Andhra Pradesh Government such as suites for the Governor, the Chief Minister, 310 rooms for private guests, 170 rooms for Government guests, an auditorium and separate halls for conferences, functions and banquets.

Rasnaboy

October 5th, 2008, 09:35 AM

TIRUPATI: Even as the Union Cabinet has agreed in principle for the conferment of the international status on the Tirupati airport, the district administration on Saturday set in motion the process to acquire about 170 acres of land on either side of the airport to facilitate lengthening of its existing run-way.

The Collector along with other revenue officials was closeted with the officials of the Airports Authority of India, Tirupati MP, Dr. Chintha Mohan and the local legislator, M. Venkatramana on Saturday to discuss the specifics of the logistics required to put the project on stream.

Addressing a media conference the MP said that the central government was keen on a comprehensive development of Tirupati to spur economic and eco-tourism activities fully exploiting its tourist potential.

He said it was as part of the programme that the government of India besides developing the Tirupati airport as international airport also has also decided to develop a tourist corridor linking 17 unique temples located in the Chittoor and the Nellore districts.

He also cited in this connection the facility recently put in place to airlift mangoes through the Tirupati airport to Japan and other countries.

He further cited the Central scheme sanctioned to upgrade the Tirupati-Chennai highway at a cost of about Rs.900 crore and so also to develop the Tirupati-Bangalore highway into a 4-lane road to meet the increased traffic density.
Source: http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/05/stories/2008100550080100.htm

Babji

October 7th, 2008, 01:49 AM

Date:07/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/07/stories/2008100760210600.htm Back
Tata team visits Wargal site
M. L. Melly Maitreyi - The company zeroes in on Hyderabad, from among the potential sites offered
Wargal in Mulug mandal is 40 km from Hyderabad - 1,000 acres of Government land identified
WARGAL (Medak dt.): Senior official of Tata Motors inspected yet another site at Wargal village in Mulug mandal of Medak district, 40 km from Hyderabad, for the proposed Nano car project on Monday.

The Tata company zeroed in on Hyderabad, from among the potential sites offered by the Government in Visakhapatnam, Nellore and Anantapur districts, to explore the possibility of setting up the small car project in Andhra Pradesh apart from considering offers from other States.

Senior GM arrives: Senior General Manager of Tata Motors M. B. Kulkarni flew in here on Monday morning and headed straight for the site from the airport. He was accompanied by Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Executive Director D. Muralidhar Reddy and other officials.

Tata Motors’ Managing Director Ravi Kant and his team visited a 1,000 acre site Seetharampuram village in Shahbad mandal of Ranga Reddy district on Sunday. “As the team is keen about sites 30 km to 40 km away from Hyderabad. “Though yet another site at Buchinelli near Zaheerabad, about 70 km from Hyderabad was also identified, and the team preferred Wargal because of its proximity to the city,” APIIC Managing Director B. P. Acharya told The Hindu. About 1,000 acres of Government land has been identified in Wargal village of which 650 acres is in one block and the remaining in another, but both could be connected by a road, said Mr. Reddy. Mr. Kulkarni reportedly informed APIIC officials that “Wargal too qualified for their requirement”.

Apparently, their criteria was proximity to a metro rather than a sea-port or an airport. Even Singur from where the Tatas pulled out was only 40 km away from Kolkata, Mr. Reddy said.

“Tata Motors officials, who visited the two sites, will convey their impressions to Chairman Mr. Ratan Tata who is expected to take a call in the location of the Nano project soon, though they gave no concrete indication to us,” said Mr. Acharya.
exciting news! ... Mr Tata is also meeting the CM of KA (Wednesday?)...
btw, Mr Melly Maitreyi is a very reliable reporter ... chances are, AP may win!

skdubai

October 7th, 2008, 08:58 AM

the TATA's have decided to go with Gujara

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Tata_to_roll_out_Nano_from_Gujarat/articleshow/3568876.cms

bobbie501

October 7th, 2008, 10:47 AM

^^ I think it doesn't matter as much as A.P is concerned whether an automotive industry is located here or not but,we are the leaders in Car Purchasing in South India next only to Delhi & Maharashtra.

virava

October 7th, 2008, 09:01 PM

Bobbie501,
It does matter if it is located in AP or any other state. Car manufacturing is big money business and has the potential of generating several thousand jobs through the mother plant itself if not through the supporting ancillary industries located in the vicinity of the plant. It is perhaps pertinent to note that AP does not have a single big car manufacturing facility in the state. So it would been a very big deal if AP had gotten the plant.

Tata's, I guess, after the deal offered by Gujarat might have made up their mind regarding the location of the mother plant. AP with its budgetary constraints could not offer the same kind of financial incentives.

Also the fact that Gujarat is fast industrialising with Modi at the helm, has a reputation of being an investment friendly state and has a generally welcoming population might have helped their cause.

They were probably scouting lands in AP for setting up satellite assembly plants.
However, I do not think the farmer protests against the visiting Tata delegation scouting for land is going to help AP's case though. I mean how crazy is that :(

skdubai

October 7th, 2008, 10:03 PM

also, Gujarat has very good infrastructure (ex. 24 hr power without blackouts, roads etc) which is not as good in AP. According to some sources this was the deciding factor!!

Babji

October 8th, 2008, 01:27 AM

source: DC
Godavari bridge will become Asia’s largest
Rajahmundry, Oct. 7: The largest road bridge in Asia will soon come up across Godavari River, stretching about 15 km and connecting Kovvur with Rajahmundry. The four-lane bridge, to be built by spending Rs 800 crore, would have a four km stretch across the water body with a 2 km approach road on the Kovvur side and a 9 km approach road on the Konthamur stretch.

It would get connected to the National Highway No. 5 through Diwancheruvu and would facilitate transport of passengers and goods up to Kolkata. The carriageway on the bridge will be nearly 14 metres. Gamini India would be taking up the construction of the bridge under the BOT system and aims to complete it in three years The Centre has agreed to bear 20 per cent of the total cost of the project. At present, the roads and buildings department is in the process of acquiring land for construction of approach roads.

In Rajahmundry division, the department is trying to acquire about 146 acres falling in Katheru, Kolamuru and Palacharla villages. The department has already deposited Rs 18 crore with the revenue department for land acquisition and the latter is confident of completing the process by December. Similarly, about 18 acres is also being acquired in Kovvur by spending Rs 2 crore. Once the road bridge is completed, it will shorten the distance between Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam by nearly 40 kilometres. "As the Centre is proposing to develop the four-lane national highways into six-lane ones, there will be an increased volume of vehicular traffic," said Mr P. Ramesh Babu, executive engineer (special division) of the roads and buildings department

Babji

October 8th, 2008, 01:35 AM

This is the latest that I have come across. But it is only as of early this year and a lot of the stuff is still NA.

http://mospi.nic.in/6_gsdp_cur_9394ser.htm

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/2691/stategdpae5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://mospi.nic.in/7_gsdp_const_9394ser.htm

http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/2720/stategdp2fn4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://mospi.nic.in/11_percapnsdp_const_9394ser.htm

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/4223/statepercapita1wm6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://mospi.nic.in/10_percapnsdp_cor_9394ser.htm

http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/4441/statepercapita2iy9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Top 10 districts on various parameters.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/771/topdistrictsgdpvw8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I think we will have to wait till 2011.
look at the Agri GDP ... Go AP!

virava

October 8th, 2008, 03:21 AM

skdubai

October 8th, 2008, 08:14 AM

hmm.... I guess its because the govt. can only survive if it doles out incentives and schemes for farmers and gets thrown out the minute it talks about industry, so they have very little incentive to ever even think about it. Look at what happened to CBN, he was doing a great job, but was kicked out because of the farmers and the associated bunch!!

bobbie501

October 8th, 2008, 08:41 AM

I am glad that AP has 5 districts in the top 20 in terms of Agri GDP in India.

However it is alarming to note that there is not one district from AP amongst the top 20 districts in India in terms of manufacturing GDP (Gujarat is doing very well here with 5 amongst the top 20 in India). Please note that for most big developed regions of the world the share of agricultural GDP is less than 5% of total GDP of the state. Manufacturing and to a bigger extent Services make up the major sectors in terms of contribution to the GDP of a state and are also the major employers.

What I am trying to say is that is there is only so much growth potential in agriculture space in AP but the growth potential in industry and services sector's is huge.

I hope for the sake of the people that the next governments gets this message and pursues investments in the industrial space aggressively.

I wonder why Visakhapatnam is not listed in the above list as it's the Sole Industrialized city in A.P.Even though it's good to see A.P is not listed among the most pulluted places on Earth as Gujarat & Tamil Nadu are scouting for first place....:),A.P is surviving with it's Agriculture & Service based Industry[These contribute a major part in G.D.P] these not only generate good employment opportunities but,for the long-term issue it helps in environmental balance in the ecosystem.

raghussc

October 8th, 2008, 03:35 PM

also, Gujarat has very good infrastructure (ex. 24 hr power without blackouts, roads etc) which is not as good in AP. According to some sources this was the deciding factor!!

The news did say that tatas have asked AP state to compensate for the loss in Singur and that YSR rejected it ... wonder if Modi is doling out 2000 crores to compensate the loss ...

Also, Modi says that Tatas bought the land at market price .. would it not be better for them to take the cheaper land offered by YSR or other states ?!?

bobbie501

October 8th, 2008, 04:28 PM

Domestic Airport at Tirupati declared International Airport (http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=43491)

The Government today declared the existing domestic airport at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh as International Airport.

There has been a persistent demand from public representatives for declaring the domestic airport at Tirupati as an international airport. It has been represented that Tirupati being a very prominent place of pilgrimage receives around 60,000 pilgrims everyday. Many of these pilgrims include Non-Resident Indians, PIOs and the foreigners. Presently, such pilgrims have to come to Tirupati over international airports at Chennai, Bangalore or Hyderabad. Declaration of the Tirupati airport as an international airport would facilitate direct connectivity to / from Tirupati thereby benefiting the pilgrims. It is also likely to provide further impetus to tourism and economic activity in the region.

Tirupati airport belongs to Airports Authority of India (AAI). It has a runway of dimension 2286m X 45m (7500 ft X 150 ft) which is suitable for all weather operation of A320 type of aircraft. Terminal building can handle 300 passengers at a time. The airport has been, recently, upgraded to make it suitable for operations during night time. With the present facilities and infrastructure, the airport is capable of handling limited international operations. AAI is in the process of further upgrading the airport.There is a proposal for construction of new integrated terminal building to handle 700 passengers, at a time, both international and domestic.Plan for expansion of runway to operate Code E aircraft are also being prepared. The requirement of additional land has already been taken up with the Government of Andhra Pradesh.

Tirupati airport handled 169333 passengers in 2007-08 as against 80830 passengers in 2005-06. Thus, the air traffic has more than doubled in two years time indicating very high potential.

According to the Convention of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), International airport is defined as "any airport designated by the Contracting State as an airport of entry and departure for international air traffic, where the formalities incident to customs, immigration, public health, animal and plant quarantine and similar procedure are carried out".

Declaration of an airport as international airport depends upon traffic potential and demand from airlines for operation of international flights. The following facilities at domestic airports have usually been considered sufficient for declaring it as 'International airport':

(i) Runway length should be 9000 feet to cater to medium capacity long-range aircraft (MCLR e.g. B-767) or equivalent type of aircraft, as these aircraft constitute majority of aircraft used in international operations.

(ii) Availability of Ground Lighting Facilities, Instrument Landing System, for operation of aircrafts at night.

(iii) Requirement/demand from scheduled national / international airline operators.

(iv) Availability of Customs, Immigration, Health, Animal & Plant Quarantine Services.

(v) Bilateral agreement between the State (Nations) or it may be offered as a point of call to foreign carriers for operations.

'The Policy on Airport Infrastructure 1997' provides that grant of status as International hub will be with prior approval of the Union Government. The Policy further clarifies that international hubs shall have the status of international airport for the purpose of bilateral agreements. It may be mentioned here that 17 airports including Civil Enclaves at Defence airports have been declared as international airports in the past. On the last occasion, the Government had approved declaration of Port Blair as international airport.

Cool now Temple City is in the race to attract more international passengers hope it would be great airport in future.....

bobbie501

October 8th, 2008, 04:36 PM

Central Cabinet nod for upgradation of Renigunta Airport into international airport (http://www.mynews.in/fullstory.aspx?storyid=10965)

Tirupati: Member of Parliament from Tirupati Mr Chinta Mohan today said the Union Cabinet has approved the upgradation of Rengiunta Airport into international airport.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Mohan said the upgradation would provide further impetus to tourism and economic activity in the Tirupati region. It would facilitate direct connectivity with Tirupati to the rest of the world to cater to the needs of the overseas pilgrims.

He said 75,000 pilgrims were visiting Tirupati daily. At present nearly 1.7 lakh pilgrims of non-resident Indians, peple of Indian origin and foreigners were visiting Tirupati annually by touching international airports at Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Once the Rengiunta Airport was upgrated to international stadard, total number of tourists was expected to reach 3 lakh, he added. For the upgradation project of the airport, Rs 500 crore would be spent in the first phase while total cost was expected to reach Rs 1000 crore, he said.

As a part of further upgradation of logistics in the airport, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has proposed to construct a new integrated terminal building to handle 700 passengers at a time, both international and domestic, Mr Mohan said adding this was against its present capacity of 300 passengers at a time.

The proposed major projects of upgradation of Tirupati Railway station, heritage corridors, tourism centre, six lane road project between Tirupati-Chennai and four lane between Tirupati-Bangalore were interlinked for promotion of tourism and economic activity in the temple region, he said.

The government's proposal to develop a long tourist-corridor connecting 17 unique temples located in and around Tirupati would come handy for giving an international tag to the Tirupati airport, he added.

:cheers:

Sunny78

October 8th, 2008, 08:51 PM

I wonder why Visakhapatnam is not listed in the above list as it's the Sole Industrialized city in A.P.Even though it's good to see A.P is not listed among the most pulluted places on Earth as Gujarat & Tamil Nadu are scouting for first place....:),A.P is surviving with it's Agriculture & Service based Industry[These contribute a major part in G.D.P] these not only generate good employment opportunities but,for the long-term issue it helps in environmental balance in the ecosystem.

I don't know the extent of industrial pollution in Gujarat, but I agree with you as far a TN is concerned. The ground water in most of the districts in TN are extremely polluted by harmful chemicals from leather, textile and chemical industries. The number of people suffering from infertility in coimbatore, salem and Erode district due to textile pollutants is alarming. Lot of children are born with serious birth related disorders in Cuddalore because of the pharmaceutical industries there. They get free dose of all kinds of medicines in their ground water!

The petrochemical refinery in Chennai constantly emanates noxious fumes that sometime reach the heart of the city and causes lot of vomiting and nausea.

But behold! Look at the new industries coming in AP. Oil refinery, textile park and pharmaceutical park in Vizag! Leather park in Nellore! In 5 years, AP will join the dubious club!

Rasnaboy

October 9th, 2008, 04:22 AM

NEW DELHI: Tirupati airport will soon be upgraded as an international airport. The Union Cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Sin
gh, on Wednesday gave its nod for declaration of the existing domestic airport at Tirupati as an international airport, Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters here.

The upgraded airport will offer improved connectivity and wider choice of services at competitive cost to travellers to the temple town of Tirupati, known for the shrine of Lord Venkateshwara.

The exact dates for operationalising international services would be announced later, Chidambaram said. The upgradation would entail deputation of customs and immigration officials, setting up x-ray machines and developing arrival and departure lounges for air travellers, he said.

The international airport at Tirupati is expected to boost tourism and spur economic development of the region, Chidambaram said.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Transportation/Tirupati_airport_to_be_upgraded_as_international_airport/articleshow/3574994.cms

..devil..

October 9th, 2008, 05:10 AM

virava

October 10th, 2008, 11:47 PM

ajithv

October 15th, 2008, 03:53 PM

Tata Group, has proposed to set up an Rs5bn defence and civil aerospace hub in Andhra Pradesh for manufacture of allied equipment, radar and satellite systems, said financial daily.

According to reports, Ratan Tata has written a letter to the Chief Minister, Y S Rajasekhara Reddy indicating that Tata Advance Systems was keen to invest in the hub in the proposed Special Economic Zone in Adibhatla village, on the outskirts of the state capital.

The hub by Tata Advance Systems will be the first-of- its-kind in the country. The Lepakshi Aerospace Station and Academy, will have largest integrated ecosystems for design, manufacture and maintenance of space vehicles and satellites, both civil and defence, adds paper.

Source (http://www.indiainfoline.com/news/innernews.asp?storyId=81733&lmn=1&cat=20)

Babji

October 21st, 2008, 01:46 AM

Date:21/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/21/stories/2008102157240100.htm Back
Trial run of BRTS buses from November 15
Staff Reporter
VIJAYAWADA: The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC), which is implementing the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) project in the city, is contemplating plying the BRTS buses on trial basis from November 15 onwards.

This exercise is part of phase-I of the project, which is expected to be commissioned by December 2008. The corporation, during this phase, would ply the buses without taking up junction improvements, Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS), Foot-over-Bridges (FoBs) and other bridges and flyovers, which are part of the project...

According to the officials, the APSRTC has agreed to spare 10 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses for the trial run. A BRTS bus would be available for the commuters every 12 minutes, as five buses would ply in an hour on both directions. The APSRTC would be one of the partners of the Vijayawada Public Transport Services (VPTS) Company, which is proposed to be formed as a special purpose vehicle in the next two months. The other stakeholders would be the VMC and the Vijayawada Guntur Tenali Mangalagiri – Urban Development Authority (VGTM-UDA).

The buses will start at the city bus complex and reach there again after touching railway station goods shed, railway station, Satyanarayanapuram, Padavalarevu, Gunadala, Ramavarappadu ring road junction, Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences, Benz Circle, IGMC stadium, Vijayakrishna super market and old bus station.

The proposed circular route covers a distance of 15.5 km and would have 31 bus stops en route. It is part of the ‘green corridor’ (pilot corridor) that is being implemented at an estimated cost of Rs. 152.64 crores.

Rolling stock: The APSRTC would provide “rolling stock” for the project, and its central office is preparing designs for the BRTS buses. The Vijayawada regional office of the APSRTC has suggested to its headquarters to provide low floor buses for the project. However, there seems to be slim chances of introducing air-conditioned buses as planned earlier, as the officials, now, feel that the AC buses “might not be affordable” for the people of the city.

Though the fares are yet to be finalised, the officials are of the view that it would be in the range of Rs. 3 and Rs. 12...
cool :cheers:

Rasnaboy

October 24th, 2008, 02:32 PM

The Andhra Pradesh government has reversed its earlier decision to import fertilisers from the anchorage port at Kakinada. Instead, it would import them from the deep water port as usual.

The decision comes after cargo handling agencies and traders apprised the state government of the loss it would be incurring due to the move. The Centre had this year allotted about 1 million tonne of fertiliser to Andhra Pradesh for imports. Of this, the deep water port has already handled 562,000 tonne from June 26 to October 10.

According to deep water port chief executive officer, YS Prasad, “The handling chargers and wastages are very low at the deep water port as compared with the anchorage port. Besides, shipper don't have pay more hiring charges because of quick disposal of ships here. Keeping all these advantages in mind, the government has decided to go back to the deep water port,” YS Prasad, chief executive officer, DWP, told Business Standard.

The deep water port takes 2-3 days to unload 40,000 tonne of fertilisers, whereas the anchorage port needs 8-10 days to handle the same quantity. This means, the government has to pay about six days ship hiring charges, which are between Rs 12 lakh and Rs 16 lakh depending on the ship size and age, port traders said.

Besides, the handling charges at the anchorage port are about Rs 90 more per tonne as compared with the deep water port. The government thus stands to lose about Rs 4.5 crore for the remaining 500,000 tonne, particularly on handling charges, they added.

Meanwhile, the ports also plan to take up fertiliser bagging. While the deep water port has a 8,438-tonne bagging capacity, the anchorage port has a capacity of 3,000 tonne a day.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=338215

somavaram

October 26th, 2008, 09:06 AM

It is a fact.This is going to be the biggest movement for the year 2008 just before the election in mid 2009.All the political parties including the ruling party (Congress) BJP, and even the communist parties are unanimous for creation of separate Telengana State.This is the opinion ingrained in the majority of the people in this Region.Ignoring this fact by the politicians of different hues of this region is at their own peril.

Yes Telangana is now a reality and not just speculation. But the people of Rayalaseema will not accept if Tirupati is not made the capital of the remaining state. After all Kurnool was the capital before it was shifted to Hyderabad. Coastal people should not clamour for everything like water, capital etc., This time it is the turn of coastal people to sacrifice the capital in favour of Tirupati if they want the state from being trifurcated into Andhra, Telangana and Greater Rayalaseema.

skdubai

October 26th, 2008, 09:30 AM

This is going to get messy any way you slice it..

If telangana is formed and Hyderabad is made capital, then the andhra people will cause problems, and if Hyderabad is not joined to Telangana, then the Telangana people will cause problems, and if it becomes a union territory and capital of both states(which i support BTW), it becomes an even bigger mess!! Either ways, prepare yourselves for a mess of epic proportions in Hyderabad if any of the above scenarios plays out.

PS: Please do not come back at me with the rhetoric that Hyderabad is an integral part of Telangana.. i tend to agree( and i dont care as my home is Hyderabad irrespective of which state), but the masses wont and therein lies a huge problem that people seem to be ignoring.

Babji

October 27th, 2008, 10:42 PM

Land leased for airports
Hyderabad, Oct. 26: The state government has decided to give on lease 500 acres for the proposed Ramagundam airport and 1,000 acres each for the Nizamabad and Kurnool airports. It has also started issuing ‘Request for Proposals’ to all developers open till October 31. A pre-bid meeting will be convened on November 5 with November 14 being the last date to receive bids. The bids will be opened the same day.

The developers would be permitted to use much of the land for commercial activity. The government has deleted Ongole from the original list of regional airports after Vanpic bagged the project. Ironically, the government has reserved two airports — Nellore and Tadepalligudem — for Indu projects and Maytas Infrastructure respectively though they had not entered into any agreements even under the G2G method.

Sources told this correspondent that this change in the government’s policy might inadvertently lead to regional imbalances vis-a-vis developing the air routes. "Developers have shown interest in three locations in Andhra region leaving the two in Telangana and one in Rayalaseema for the open bid," sources said adding that there were apprehensions over the response to these locations. The government has also short listed 23 companies including Reliance, GMR, Unitech, Raheja, NCC and Indu projects.
source: DC

upendora

October 30th, 2008, 11:29 AM

Bobbie501,
Industry does not necessarily mean that living conditions will be horrible and pollution levels sky-high in urban centers. US has a large industrial sector but most cities in the US have pollution levels which are but a fraction of those found in major Indian cities.

This is because US outsourced most of the dirty industries.

The main point is that industry is a sector with a huge employment potential. If we are to move people away from agriculture (especially ones with small land-holdings) then it is imperative that we concentrate both on the industrial and services fronts. Tamil Nadu and Gujarat have the right strategy here. They are well on their path to sustainable development and significant urbanization of their population base (a process that could take decades to complete but the main thing is that they are moving in the right direction).

I dont know about Gujarat. TN is not self-sufficient in agriculture. Requires food imports from KA and AP. I am not sure what you mean by sustainable development. Its definetely not based on renewable energy. Watchout for collapse.

Remember between 60 to 70% of the population in AP is dependent on agriculture. A job that could easily and efficiently be done by less than 5% of the population. Imagine how much more productive AP can be with 95% of its population engaged in the services and industrial spaces.

[/QUOTE]

5% of the population in agriculture is achieved in first world, by high inputs of oil use and fertilizers.

Best way to rise GDP is reduce population. Industrialisation without improvement in women's education etc, causes further population boom (child labour).

Rasnaboy

November 5th, 2008, 06:55 PM

Eleven companies have submitted requests for proposal for the development of three private airports in Andhra Pradesh, at Kothagudem, Nizamabad and Kurnool. While developers have shown interest in all the three airports, the state government has clarified that one bidder will be awarded at most two projects. Some of those in the fray are Reliance Infrastructure, Indu Projects, Maytas Infra, Navayuga Engineering, HCC, SREI Infrastructure, Madhucon Projects and Gayatri Projects. A pre-bid meeting is scheduled for November 5, 2008.

Source: http://www.projectsmonitor.com/detailnews.asp?newsid=17316&secid=80

Rasnaboy

November 5th, 2008, 07:32 PM

Hinduja Foundries Ltd (formerly Ennore Foundries Ltd) has planned to set up a new foundry unit at Toopran in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh, around 40 km from capital city Hyderabad. The Rs 250-crore project will come up in two phases and have a total capacity of 85,000 tpa.

Speaking to Projectmonitor, a senior company official said that this would be the biggest foundry of HFL and would be the company's fourth, after two in Tamil Nadu and one in Andhra Pradesh. The existing foundry in Andhra Pradesh is located at Uppal (near Hyderabad) and those in Tamil Nadu are at Ennore, near capital city Chennai.

In phase-I, targeted to commission by March 2011, around 48,000 tpa of capacity will be established. Once the new foundry is commissioned and some brownfield expansions at existing units are completed, HFL's total capacity will be around 2.25 lakh tpa, the official added.

Coming up on a 60-acre land expanse, the foundry will largely make engine blocks and heads for the domestic and international passenger car market. It will also cater to the commercial vehicle and tractor segment. The new foundry unit for which the foundation stone was laid recently will also have a training institute to be set up with an investment of Rs.7 crore.

Chennai-headquartered Hinduja Foundries is part of the Hinduja (Ashok Leyland) Group and has been in operations since 1961.

Source: http://www.projectsmonitor.com/detailnews.asp?newsid=17302&secid=28

Rasnaboy

November 6th, 2008, 07:51 PM

Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) has shelved its plan to build a multi-storied hotel complex on the National Academy of Construction (NAC) campus at Izzatnagar in RangaReddy district because no surplus land.

It was reported that APTDC had sent a proposal to raise the hotel complex on 10 acre of vacant land on NAC/Hitex campus on 16 August 2008. But after two months, NAC Director General, F C S Peter sent a letter to APTDC Managing Director, Jayesh Ranjan on 27 October 2008, claiming the academy had no surplus land.

Source: http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/detailNews.aspx?aid=2519&sid=1

Rasnaboy

November 7th, 2008, 09:52 PM

Mumbai, Nov 7 Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd is in the process of setting up a one-million-tonne coke making plant near Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

Land for the purpose has been acquired at Rs 20 crore and the unit should be operational in two to two-and-a-half years, said Mr Arun Kumar Jagatramka, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Gujarat NRE Coke. The plant would come up at a cost of Rs 350 crore.

Coking coal shipments

The company expects to ship one million tonnes of premium hard coking coal to India from its two mines in Australia.

Gujarat NRE operates two underground mines in Southern Coalfields of New South Wales. With a capital expenditure of $500 million, to be spread over four years, the company intends to mine over 7 million tonnes. About 70 per cent of the funds would be from internal accruals and the balance debt, Mr Jagatramka said.

Conceding that the current scenario looked bleak, with coal prices falling drastically, he said, demand was bound to pick up as many steel companies were in the process of depleting their inventories, which were close to 2 months.

Asked whether the company was looking at possible production cuts, he said globally there is a shortage of good quality hard coking coal and met coke and the company was well integrated, with coal mines in Australia. “Shipments for three months beginning January have been booked at $550 a tonne,” he said.

Gujarat NRE has three coke making units – Khambhalia and Bhachau in Gujarat and at Dharwad in Karnataka – which produce close to one million tonnes of met coke.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/11/08/stories/2008110851100200.htm

Rasnaboy

November 8th, 2008, 10:23 PM

The Andhra Pradesh Government has revoked its order (No. 34) relating to the development of a coastal industrial corridor between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada in the first phase, which is later to be extended to the other coastal districts, following political controversy kicked up over the issue by the Opposition parties, especially the Telugu Desam.

The proposal came in for condemnation from the Telugu Desam and other opposition parties, as well as environmental groups, which gave vent to apprehensions that the proposed industrial corridor would ruin the coastal environs and lead to displacement of farmers, fishermen and other coastal communities on a large scale. Agriculture, fisheries and other sectors would be adversely affected and the gains from the corridor would be illusory, the Opposition contended.

Demo against corridor

Mr Chandrababu Naidu, former Chief Minister and Telugu Desam leader, participated in a demonstration against the corridor at Kakinada last month and promised that, if voted to power, his party would revoke the GO. Later, the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, said the Opposition was misleading the people on the issue and the proposed corridor was nothing more than a coastal road between Kakinada and Visakhapatnam and the Government would give up the proposal, if the public was really opposed to it.

Apparently, fearing the political fallout, the Government scrapped the GO on Saturday, a move welcomed by the environmental groups but described by the Opposition as a “mere election stunt.”

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/11/09/stories/2008110951250300.htm

Rasnaboy

November 14th, 2008, 09:01 PM

Detailed project report will be submitted to Centre next month.

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The funds under this programme are aimed at bringing down transmission and distribution losses to 15 per cent by the end of the Plan period.
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Hyderabad, Nov. 14 The Andhra Pradesh Government has charted out a Rs 8,000-crore plan under the Union Government’s Rs 50,000-crore Accelerated Power Development Reforms Programme for use during XI Plan.

A detailed project report will be submitted to the Government early next month. The funds under this programme are aimed at bringing down the transmission and distribution (T&D) losses to 15 per cent by the end of the Plan period, according to the Union Minister of State for Power, Mr Jairam Ramesh.

This project also includes establishment of baseline data and IT applications for energy accounting, auditing and IT-based consumer service centres.

Addressing a press conference here today after meeting with the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Mr Ramesh said the AP Transco needs to be congratulated for bringing down T&D losses substantially. The AP Genco and BHEL project to set up country’s first integrated coal gasification plant with an outlay of Rs 950 crore, will secure Rs 300 crore grant which has been recently approved by the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, for the project’s uniqueness.

The Union Cabinet will take up the issue of clearance for 600 MW project to be implemented by Singareni Collieries Company Ltd, in Adilabad district, he said.

Mr Ramesh also complimented AP Genco for being the first one to try out 800 MW supercritical technology by setting up 2x800 MW plant at Krishnapatnam in the State. This will be commissioned by 2012. While AP Genco will be able to add about 1,000 MW by next year, its capacity will go up from 7,000 MW now to about 22,000 MW within 10 years making it one of the largest utility in the country.

In a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office, Dr Reddy said that a project report on APDRP will be submitted to the Government in the first week of December.

Referring to the proposed 2x1000 MW nuclear plant in Andhra Pradesh, the Union Minister said that a team from Nuclear Power Corporation is set to shortly visit the State and inspect the sites for follow up work.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/11/15/stories/2008111551511900.htm

Rasnaboy

November 25th, 2008, 06:36 PM

Hyderabad: Sparsha Pharma International has opened its manufacturing facility in Muppireddy Palli village in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh. The company would start manufacturing low-cost transdermal patch products for pain relief from April 2009.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/11/25/stories/2008112551452100.htm

Rasnaboy

November 25th, 2008, 06:37 PM

The Noida-based Jaypee Group will be setting up a cement manufacturing facility in Andhra Pradesh with Rs 1600-crore investment. “The company has already acquired 250 acres of land near Jaggayyapet in Krishna district to set up a 5 million tonnes cement manufacturing facility,” Mr N Prasad, Commissioner of Industries, Government of Andhra Pradesh, told newspersons here on Monday. The company expects to commence cement production by 2010, he added. On the impact of global economic slowdown on the investment in the State, Mr Prasad said there is no change/delay in the previously announced investment plans of the major corporates.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/11/25/stories/2008112551492100.htm

Rasnaboy

November 26th, 2008, 07:23 PM

Hyderabad, Nov. 25 Gangavaram port, being developed by a consortium led by the Chairman of the port, Mr D.V.S. Raju, is in the process of testing various systems at the port. “We have to test them piece by piece to measure their efficacy. After that, we will go for a trial for the whole of the port. This will be completed in a week or two,” Mr Raju told Business Line. The port would be formally inaugurated after that.

The port has been handling vessels since three months as it tested various components. The port, which would have 29 berths with a total capacity of 200 million tonnes a year when fully functional, would be ready with five berths and can handle 35 mt initially.

While one berth each would be dedicated for iron ore and coal, three berths would be used to handle multi-purpose cargo handling.“We can handle 35 million tonnes with the five berths,” he said. Mr Raju said the port would be the first in the country to handle “super cape size” ships.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/bline/2008/11/26/stories/2008112650432000.htm

Rasnaboy

December 1st, 2008, 03:37 PM

Hyderabad-based MTAR Technologies Private Limited will invest about Rs 100 crore in the aerospace and precision engineering special economic zone (SEZ) at Adibhatla in Rangareddy district, said MTAR chairman P Ravindra Reddy.

The SEZ, which is coming up on 280 acre, is the first of kind and is likely be begin operations in one-and-a-half years. Tata, TVS and about 50 local industries have proposed to set up their units here.

Speaking to the media, Reddy said the company would depend on internal sources for funding the project. “MTAR is modernising and expanding its facilities to cater to the global markets in space, nuclear and defence segments,” he added.

MTAR is a major supplier of sophisticated equipment to nuclear power stations in the country. The company has supplied Vikas and cryogenic engines to space launch vehicles (PSLV/GSLV), satellite components and modules to the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).

On Friday, MTAR delivered a 7m diameter stainless steel grid plate, a critical component in a nuclear reactor, to Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar. This will be installed in the prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu. The order from the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited is valued at Rs 30 crore.

The Blackstone Group had invested $65 million (Rs 255 crore) in MTAR for a 26 per cent stake a year ago. MTAR expects to register a turnover of Rs 200 crore this year and Rs 500 crore in three years.

Source: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/mtar-tech-to-invest-rs-100-cr-in-aero-sez/19/01/341743/

bobbie501

December 6th, 2008, 10:34 AM

Vemana varsity to build 12 blocks on campus (http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/06/stories/2008120651330200.htm)

KADAPA: Yogi Vemana University has embarked on construction of an administrative block estimated to cost Rs. 17 crore and 12 other blocks with an outlay of Rs. 75 crore on its campus, Vice-Chancellor A. Ramachandra Reddy said here on Friday.

Speaking after performing ‘bhoomi puja’ for the administrative block, Mr. Reddy said it would be an eight-storied, ultra-modern block consisting of a senate hall with seating for 200 persons, an examination centre, a Rs. 7.50 crore library with audio-visual equipment with seating for 250 persons and other facilities. Management, humanities, arts and commerce blocks, campus school, community centre, professors’ quarters and non-teaching staff quarters would be built, he said. The ‘bhoomi puja’ for the 12 other blocks would be performed next month, he added. An auditorium would be built in the fourth block. The government assured a fund outlay in the next budget, Prof. Reddy said.

Ramakrishna Reddy, General Manager of Nagarjuna Constructions, said the 13 blocks would be completed within an year and handed over to the university authorities. YVU Registrar Ramakrishna Reddy, Dean Narayana, principal Vali Basha, assistant professor Mallikarjuna Reddy and Senate members C.N.V. Subba Reddy, Damu and Sasisri participated.

bobbie501

December 6th, 2008, 10:36 AM

Rail route approved (http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/06/stories/2008120654960400.htm)

KADAPA: The Central government has accorded approval to the Kadapa-Bangalore railway route, estimated to cost Rs. 1,000 crore, according to General Manager of South Central Railway H.K. Padhi.

A survey would be conducted soon along the route through Rayachoti, Vayalpadu, Madanapalle and Bangarupet, the South Central Railway General Manager, who inspected the Kadapa railway station on Thursday night, told reporters.

bobbie501

December 6th, 2008, 10:42 AM

IT Park awaits inauguration (http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/06/stories/2008120660360300.htm)

VIJAYAWADA: The much-awaited Information Technology Park in Vijayawada is finally a reality. The IT/ ITES SEZ that has come up opposite Gannavaram airport in 30 acres of land is a joint venture of L&T Infocity Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle of Larsen and Toubro Limited, and Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (APIIC). “The first Hitech City in this region is structurally ready and is awaiting inauguration,” declared R. Sridharan, vice-president of L&T Infocity Limited.

Speaking on the role of L&T in promoting IT in two-tier cities at a seminar organised by the Andhra Chamber of Commerce and Industry Association, Mr. Sridharan said rich adequate manpower was key to the success of any software industry. “Vijayawada is the cultural hub of Andhra Pradesh State besides being a good education center. We are keen on grooming this place into an attractive destination. I am sure this project will be a great success,” he said.

Commercial hub

Stating that statistically, a sizable percentage of Indian software professionals hailed from Andhra Pradesh and a significant chunk of them were from Vijayawada region, he pointed out that close to 1 lakh graduates passed out annually from here.

Besides being a commercial hub, the place was located at a driving distance of about five hours from Hyderabad and seven hours from Chennai. It was well connected by rail, road and air, had the largest railway station in South Central Railways and had one of the largest bus terminals in Asia.

B. Ramalinga Raju, Chairman of Satyam Computers Services Limited, Hyderabad, promised the local industrialists that Vijayawada would be his company’s next two-tier destination. He said in the last couple of years, the concept of tier-2 cities had begun to take hold. “We would be here because the place deserves to be recognized for its core strengths. It has enormous talent which should be put to proper use,” he said.

Mr. Satyam said it was a misconception that service industry could generate minimum number of jobs. “Our future lies in the service sector. One can expect a steady growth of services. Today, we live in a world, which is seamlessly connected. Developed national are struggling today mainly due to fundamental causes. We are witnessing a seismic shift and people at the bottom of the pyramid are coming to the mainstream,” he said.

Stress on right use

Emphasizing the need for right use of knowledge and technology, he said the value created in the manufacturing, services and agriculture sectors in the last few years was driven by knowledge and technology. “It is important to take note of the fact that a major chunk of the global wealth is in soft infrastructure and we have access to it,” he reiterated.

He said it was also important to set new standards in leadership and innovation. “Start with a clean slate and you will see yourself scaling great heights.” Replying to a query on global recession, he said: “I am sure it’s temporary. We’ll bounce back and emerge stronger.”

bobbie501

December 6th, 2008, 10:45 AM

Speed up BRTS work, official told (http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/06/stories/2008120659520300.htm)

VIJAYAWADA: Giving a strong push to the implementation of the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) project in the city, Collector N. Sridhar on Friday asked officials of all departments concerned to work towards grounding the project at the earliest.

Taking stock of the project at a review with officials of various departments in his camp office, the Collector wanted them to keep in mind the fact that Vijayawada was far ahead of the other two cities in the State – Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam – in implementation of the project, and, hence, these two cities were likely to emulate Vijayawada, which should be kept in mind while executing it.

Municipal Commissioner P.S. Pradyumna, Police Commissioner K.V. Rajendranath Reddy, Vijayawada Guntur Tenali Mangalagiri – Urban Development Authority (VGTM-UDA) Vice-Chairman Y.S.B.S. Vittal, Sub-Collector Gaurav Uppal, Deputy Transport Commissioner T. Raghunath, Roads & Buildings Executive Engineer P. Satish and APSRTC Regional Manager A. Koteswara Rao, besides officials of the Railways, Irrigation and National Highways Authority of India attended the review.

Directive

Mr. Sridhar called upon the officials to ensure that the vehicles of other kinds do not ply on the dedicated route of BRTS. Departmental heads in the city would have to forward proposals to their headquarters to get approval for this.

Trial run

Mr. Rajendranath Reddy pointed out that as there was no precedent in the country for Vijayawada to follow for implementing the project, the city would have to customise the BRTS already being implemented in foreign countries to suit its requirements. It would be better to study the trial run for two months so that a traffic interactive study could be carried out.

bobbie501

December 8th, 2008, 05:45 PM

KG basin gas may help fire up AP power projects (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/12/08/stories/2008120851310200.htm)

Hyderabad, Dec. 7

With the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas taking a decision on pricing and commercial utilisation of natural gas from the Reliance’s Krishna Godavari basin fields, about 2,000 MW of additional power generation capacity is likely to be added once the gas is evacuated and streamed through pipeline grid.

While the exact date of production of gas is not clear, according to indications from company sources, trial production is likely in January and set to peak at 40 million standard cubic metres per day (mscmd) by March.

This could come as a major boost for Andhra Pradesh as it is bracing up for higher energy demand in the rabi season through to next summer, when the demand-supply mismatch is set to widen. It is actively considering power generation using naphtha.

Asked to comment on the development, the Advisor, Economic Affairs, Andhra Pradesh Government, Mr D.A. Somayajulu, told Business Line “ the gas pricing, a matter of concern all these days has been determined by the empowered group of ministers at $4.2 mmbtu (for crude price greater or equal to $60 per barrel), we believe it could have come down further”.“However, since the Central Government has decided both on pricing and major beneficiaries, including Ratnagiri Power, fertiliser units and other gas projects, it is for all of us to abide by its decision,” he said.

Vemagiri with a generation capacity of 370 MW, GVK Jegurupadu Extension (220 MW), Gauthami (464 MW), Konaseeema (445 MW) and Reliance Energy Projects, which have been completed but are unable to be functional, will be the principal beneficiaries.

bobbie501

December 9th, 2008, 08:54 AM

KSPL needs speedy expansion, says official (http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/09/stories/2008120951030300.htm)

Kakinada: The State Legislative Assembly Committee on Public Undertakings visited Kakinada Seaports Limited (KSPL), Spectrum Power Generation Limited (SPGL) and Coromandel Fertilizers Limited (CFL) here on Monday and took stock of the development / expansion works of the respective companies.

Led by chairman N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and comprising Nomula Narasimhaiah, P. Venkata Reddy, P. Raghunadha Reddy, Chitturi Ravindra and P. Subba Reddy as members, the committee first visited KSPL (deep water port) where they were apprised of its performance and future projects by Assistant General Manager (Logistics) M. Murali Krishna.

Mr. Uttam Reddy asked whether KSPL was likely to be affected by the upcoming ports at Krishnapatnam and Machilipatnam, to which Mr. Murali Krishna replied that Kakinada deep water port was a multi-purpose one capable of handling higher quantities of cargo but it required speedy expansion and improved infrastructure to face the competition.

KSPL is the national hub for export and import of fertilizers and food grains, edible oils and to some extent iron ore. But, in over all terms, Krishnapatnam and Machilipatnam ports were better positioned to establish themselves fast. KSPL got a fourth berth which is ccommodating handymax vessels and it has been planned to upgrade the berth to handle the bigger panamax ships.

Rasnaboy

December 10th, 2008, 06:57 PM

Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd has commissioned a 2.25-million tpa cement plant at Cuddapah in Andhra Pradesh. Together with its existing 3.5 million tpa plant at Dalmiapuram in Tamil Nadu, DCBL's total capacity now stands at 5.75 million tpa. Next year, the company expects to commission a new 2.25 million at Ariyalur in Tiruchirapally district of Tamil Nadu.

Earlier this year, Dalmia Cement (Bharat) Ltd formed a subsidiary Dalmia Cement Ventures Ltd to set up greenfield plants in different parts of the country with a combined cement capacity of 10 million tpa. The total investment, estimated at Rs 4,000 crore, will be financed on a 2:1 debt-equity ratio.

The Dalmia Group, through DCBL, also holds equity stake in OCL India Ltd (formerly Orissa Cements Ltd) that caters to the eastern India market.

Source: http://www.projectsmonitor.com/detailnews.asp?newsid=17547&secid=80

bobbie501

December 12th, 2008, 04:51 PM

Overbridge soon across Tungabhadra (http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/12/stories/2008121260460900.htm)

MAHABUBNAGAR: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy said that a road-over-bridge would be constructed across river Tungabhadra connecting Alampur in Mahabubnagar district and Nandikotkur in Kurnool district.

Speaking to presspersons at Alampur on Thursday the Chief Minister said that steps were being taken to construct bridge with an estimated cost of Rs.55 crore for which tenders would be called and foundation would be laid within a month. He said works would be completed within the three months.

The completion of the bridge will reduce a distance of about 70 kms to the villagers of Ralampadu, Sulthanpur and Jilledupadu located on the other side of Tungabhadra river but comes under Mahabubnagar district. Chief Minister came to Alampur to participate in the on going Tungabhadra pushkaram.

Into_salem

December 14th, 2008, 06:54 AM

New airports will come up at Nellore and Ongole within three years, according to a statement from the Chief Minister’s Office. According to it, the Nellore airport will come up on 2,000 acres and the Ongole airport on 1,500 acres. The terms and conditions for development will be similar to that offered to the GMR Consortium for the development of the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, near Hyderabad.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/12/14/stories/2008121450960300.htm

bobbie501

December 30th, 2008, 11:07 AM

Take-off slow for AP airport projects (http://www.blonnet.com/2008/12/22/stories/2008122250170600.htm)

Air connectivity to coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema region in the State is set to improve in the coming years, if the projects taken up by the State Government — some in association with the Airports Authority of India and others in the public-private partnership mode — take off as planned. The State Government has made a good beginning. But problems persist, especially in the matter of land acquisition, and it also remains to be seen when these projects will be completed in view of the economic recession.

In 2007, the State Government signed MoUs with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for development of Madhurapudi (Rajahmundry) airport, Gannavaram (Vijayawada) airport and the ones at Kadapa and Warangal.

According to the agreements, the State Government would make available the extra land required for the expansion works and the AAI would take up the projects. But the State Government is finding it difficult to provide as much land as sought by the AAI and has asked the latter to prune its land requirements. Of the four projects, only Kadapa has made significant progress, with 45 per cent of the work completed. For the other three airports, additional land is still to be acquired. Land acquisition may be taken up during 2009.

Vijayawada airport

The airport at Gannavaram, 20 km from Vijayawada, was built by the British and precious little has been done for its improvement, even though there have been periodical announcements that the runway would be lengthened and strengthened to facilitate landing of bigger aircraft.

Centrally situated in the State and in the midst of a rich agricultural belt, Vijayawada lacks proper air connectivity. The city is connected only to Hyderabad and Chennai. The Andhra Chamber of Commerce has decried the delay in the project. Work on the runway is yet to begin.

Rajahmundry airport

The importance of the airport at Madhurapudi, in the vicinity of Rajahmundry, under the control of the AAI, is quite evident, as it is located in the heart of the Krishna-Godavari basin where ONGC, Reliance, the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation, Cairn Energy and several others are in business.

Rich in gas reserves, the K-G basin offers tremendous scope for the development of the region. The Godavari delta is also agriculturally rich.

Keeping in view the potential of the airport, the AAI has sought the State Government to provide 1,600 acres more for the development of the airport in phases, but the latter has urged the AAI to limit the requirement to 850 acres or so. Night landing facilities have been created at Madhurapudi, and the certification by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation is awaited.

Tirupati airport

The airport at Renigunta in the vicinity of Tirupati, the famous pilgrimage centre, is the third major one proposed to be upgraded by the AAI, and it is also planned to operate international flights from Renigunta. But at Renigunta, too, the State Government is unable to provide as much land as sought by the AAI. There are plans to construct a new passenger terminal at Renigunta and create other facilities for international flights.

In addition to these projects, the State Government, in association with the AAI, is also planning to take up construction of greenfield airports at Ongole and Nellore in the public-private partnership mode, but it remains to be seen when these projects will really take off.

Vizag airport

The expansion project at Vizag airport, taken up during the last phase of the Telugu Desam rule, is nearing completion. The new runway has been built and put to use. The facilities for the operation of flights round the clock have been created.

But, for want of adequate staff, flights are being operated from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with a break of three hours in the afternoon. The new terminal building will be ready for commissioning by mid-January and, hopefully, international flights may become a reality sometime during 2009.

bobbie501

December 30th, 2008, 11:16 AM

Krishnapatnam project: AP Genco signs up for Rs 1,700-cr KFW loan (http://www.blonnet.com/2008/12/18/stories/2008121851021700.htm)

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh Generation Corporation Ltd (AP Genco) has signed up for a Rs 1,700 crore loan from KFW of Germany for executing 2x800 MW Sri Damodaram Sanjeeviah Thermal Power Station coming up at Krishnapatnam.

With this move, the financial closure for the project would be achieved with the balance fund coming in from the Power Finance Corporation.

The loan agreement was signed by the Managing Director of AP Genco, Mr Ajay Jain, and others at the Department of Economic Affairs and Officials of the Power Ministry with KFW earlier during the week, according to an AP Genco statement.

In a related development, AP Genco’s Kakatiya Stage-II 600 MW project has been granted environmental clearance by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, earlier this week.

This project will be an expansion initiative of the Kakatiya thermal project stage one of 500 MW. Works on this phase are under way.

AP Genco had placed orders for the 600 MW unit from BHEL at an estimated cost of Rs 1,325 crore. This project will be commissioned within 39 months by March 2012.

The environmental clearance comes following a meeting Mr Jain had with the expert committee of Ministry of Environment and Forests.

The coal for the project is being sourced from Tadicherla captive mining block to be developed by AP Genco.

The mining would commence by 2010 and full production would be achieved by 2012.

bobbie501

December 31st, 2008, 10:05 AM

Collector lists developmental activities in district (http://www.hindu.com/2008/12/31/stories/2008123159940500.htm)

VIJAYAWADA: The stage is set to hand over 2,000 acres of land to the developer of the Machilipatnam Port for financial closure in the next couple of months, according to District Collector N. Sridhar.

Listing the important developmental activities in Krishna district in 2008 and the activities that are in store in 2009, the Collector said on Tuesday that 450 acres had already been acquired under the Land Acquisition Act and the acquisition of another 1,600 acres was in process.

The State government had allocated Rs. 1,590 crores for the development of a port in Machilipatnam and ground was being prepared for the acquisition of 6,000 acres on the whole for the development of the port.

Care was being taken to ensure that only land, and not village areas, was being acquired for development of the port, unlike what was done in the case of some other ports. A hearing for granting environmental clearance for the development of the port was scheduled for January 26.

Mr. Sridhar said that widening of National Highway (NH) - 9 from Machilipatnam to Hyderabad and from Machilipatnam to the port would be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs.1,600 crores. While 80 per cent of the road would be four-lane, the remaining 20 per cent would be widened to six lanes.

The Collector said that the subject of identifying suitable land for construction of a super-specialty hospital in or around the city had come up for discussion when the Chief Minister came to the city on Monday. He said work on the widening of the Budameru Diversion Channel (BDC) would be completed before June.

bobbie501

January 7th, 2009, 09:44 AM

30 more buses to join RTC fleet (http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/07/stories/2009010750670300.htm)

Rajahmundry: APSRTC is going to get 30 new generation buses which are almost similar to Volvo buses. Volvos are imported from Sweden where as the three new models are indigenous.

Luxura, Globus and Cerita buses are 12 mts in length with rare engine, air suspension and air-conditioned and RTC is going to introduce these buses shortly. Cerita mini bus is already on roads and was given to Chief Minister to use in his convoy.

Replacement

U. Sudhakara Rao, Executive Director (Engineering) on Tuesday said that, while Volvo is 305 HP and costs Rs. 65 lakhs, the new models cost Rs. 52 lakh to Rs.55 lakh with little less HP but gives good mileage.

According to him, there are 20,565 buses in the State, in which RTC replaces 2,120 per annum.

This year Corporation has already replaced 1,600 and by March another 1,400 will be completed. Sudhakar Rao said that any bus that runs 11 lakh kilometers will be replaced with new buses.

He said that every year the Corporation is using 43 crore litres of oil by spending Rs.1,569 crores.

bobbie501

January 8th, 2009, 05:06 PM

Vijayawada emerges a major shopping hub (http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/08/stories/2009010852980500.htm)

This festival season, the city promises a lot for shoppers as it emerges as the biggest shopping hub in south coastal Andhra with new malls, high-end textile showrooms and consumer goods companies arriving here amid huge publicity fanfare.

They bring with them a whole variety of items within the reach of all segments of shoppers – middle-level and high-end.

In the past two years, every big name in textiles, jewellery, cosmetics and consumer goods has arrived here. More are in the pipeline this year, promising to offer a much more pleasing shopping experience to people of all segments.

After a brief lull in the 1990s, the city is now reclaiming its status of a traditional textile hub. Many big names appeared on the city skyline in 2008 – RS Brothers, Chandana Grand, Kalaniketan, Twills, K-Lounge and Maanya in textiles and TBZ, Mussaddilal and Sridevi in the jewellery. These came up on Bandar Road with the trend started by M&M. Among the malls, well-known names like Big Bazaar, Spencers, Modern and Magna brought a new sheen to the city lifestyle habits.

In the 70s and 80s, shoppers poured into the city on a daily basis from villages and towns in Guntur, West Godavari and Krishna district rural. Their chief shopping destination at that time was Besant Road. Shoppers from towns and villages in nearby districts used to come here for a shopping spree. Big names like Chillapalli commanded a huge market. With other top players arriving on the scene, and almost all of them on one single road, it has brought about a transformation in the overall profile of the shopping scene in the city.

In the changed scenario, shopping is happening on a much bigger scale on Bandar Road when compared to Besant Road even as trade circles talk about a significant increase in the number of shoppers to the city. One good thing that has happened after the arrival of top showrooms is that a lot of variety including designer wear and jewellery is available for people in Vijayawada itself. It has eliminated the need for going to metro cities like Hyderabad and Chennai.

“It is a fact Bandar Road has become an attractive shopping destination. We are the first to start a big showroom here. More is expected to happen,” says Dinesh, managing director, M&M.

He points out that the economic slowdown has not hit Vijayawada in a big way, as two-tier and three-tier cities are largely unaffected.

Being a two-tier city, Vijayawada looks poised to become a more impressive shopping destination.

The New Year also brings good news for the city denizens with Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle and Aishwarya Silks expected to enter the scene sooner than later. Shoppers Stop is coming up on Ring Road, which is fast emerging as the second potential hub for top showrooms after Bandar Road. Spencers is also located on Ring Road.

Chillapalli Srinivas, managing partner, Chillapalli Nageswara Rao & Sons, says that newer segments of customers are visiting the city after the arrival of big showrooms. Generally, the festive season is abuzz from December 15 to January 15. “This year, we see a 50 per cent increase in business this festive season when compared to regular days. If there is no recession, it will have been 75 per cent jump in sales,” says Mr. Srinivas.

A very centrally located city, Vijayawada still attracts the most vibrant floating population from villages, towns and 3-tier cities in the surrounding coastal districts. Retail giants have added another feather in the city’s cap by adding colour, variety and buzz to shopping.

When textiles houses and malls do business in areas ranging from a few thousands to one lakh sq.ft., it will be a metro shopping experience for choosy customers. A comprehensive range of brands and products are offered in all segments of shopping - apparel, western outfits, designer wear, perfumes and accessories

bobbie501

January 8th, 2009, 05:09 PM

Nuclear plant to come up at Pulivendula (http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/08/stories/2009010856670400.htm)

HYDERABAD: The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) will soon sign an agreement with AP Genco by the end of this month to pave way for setting up a 2,000-MW capacity nuclear power plant at Pulivendula in Kadapa district proposed by the State government.

While the NPCIL will have 51 per cent stake in the project, AP Genco’s shareholding will be 49 per cent. This was announced by Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy in New Delhi on Wednesday in the presence of Union Power Minister Jairam Ramesh.

An NPCIL team which visited Kadapa district recently, expressed satisfaction. The balancing reservoir Telugu Ganga project at Brahmamgari Mattam was shown as water source for the project.

The Pulivendula plant will be India’s first nuclear power project to be set up as a joint venture .

G. Vaman Rao, Director (Human Resources), AP Genco, who made a presentation before Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy on the project after discussions with NPCIL official at Mumbai, told The Hindu that soil, seismic and other formal tests would be conducted for Pulivendula site shortly as required. He also said the project’s capacity might go higher if the NPCIL imported the reactors in preference to indigenous ones.

bobbie501

January 8th, 2009, 05:13 PM

Energy-saving plan for GMC (http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/08/stories/2009010858380300.htm)

GUNTUR: Energy Saving Company (ESCO) has come out with an energy-saving solution to cut down the mounting power bills of the Guntur Municipal Corporation. In a PowerPoint presentation made to Mayor R. Mohana Sai Krishna, ESCO manager Vijaya Kumar Kunche said his company would ensure that GMC would save about 45 per cent of the existing power bill on street lighting, which is close to Rs.17 lakhs per month.

Stating that the present peak deficit was 17 per cent, he predicted a power growth of 6.2 per cent which required an additional capacity of 7,800 MW per year. The power requirement would shoot up from 1.40 lakh MW to 3.40 lakh MW in the year 2020.

He said the ESCO had successfully implemented similar energy-saving project for street lighting in Vijayawada by setting up fully automated street lighting controllers with remote monitoring using GSM/GRPS networks. With a project cost of Rs.4.5 crores and a contract period up to five years, they were able to save 42-48 per cent power.

He promised that similar automated switch panels with GSM monitoring and replacement of existing tubes with high lumen tubes would be done.

The Mayor assured him that GMC would consider his proposal.

bobbie501

January 9th, 2009, 09:01 AM

Tourists get luxury cruise at Yanam (http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/09/stories/2009010954260300.htm)

Kakinada: ‘Shuddha Saveri’, a luxury cruise of M/s Saveri Projects Private Limited (SPPL), was inaugurated at Yanam on Thursday by Chief Minister of Puducherry V. Vaithilingam.

It is a part of the first phase of tourism projects SPPL has planned to develop in Konaseema region of East Godavari district at a total cost of Rs. 25 crores.

A day’s trip on Shuddha Saveri offers fun-filled entertainment and a spectacular view of the rural landscape comprising lush green paddy fields. It also paves the way for exploring various tourist attractions in the district. “The mission of SPPL is to tap the natural resources in the area and provide affordable holidays and world class amenities,” Managing Director Venkatesh Chada said.

In addition to the luxury cruise, a three-star hotel ‘Saveri Keerthana’ is being built on the outskirts of Yanam. It is spread over 2.5 acres with 80 rooms with state-of-the-art amenities, which include music therapy, facilities for yoga and meditation and an ayurvedic centre. Bhoomi pooja for it is scheduled for Friday morning.

bobbie501

January 10th, 2009, 10:41 AM

Petition delays NH widening (http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/10/stories/2009011058870600.htm)

HYDERABAD: The proposed widening of the Hyderabad-Vijayawada stretch of National Highway 9, which was expected to start this month, is once again delayed by a petition pending in Supreme Court challenging selection of bidders for the BOT project.

Union Minister of State for Surface Transport K. H. Muniappa told media persons here on Friday that as per norms and guidelines, the NHAI short-listed top six companies from among those who evinced interest in taking up work on widening of the high density 182-km-long stretch from Hyderabad to Vijayawada into four lane under PPP mode an year ago.

But Madhucon Constructions which was not in the list that was finalised following a high level committee’s decision went to High Court questioning the selection of bidders for technical evaluation.

As per the Court direction, the list was revised with inclusion of Madhucon. Meanwhile other companies went to Supreme Court challenging their exclusion. The hearing is scheduled for January 20. Until the case was resolved, work could not be started, the Minister said.

The Minister however stated that once the petition was disposed of, Hyderabad-Vijayawada stretch would be completed in 24 months to 30 months.

God help us when will they do? How many more years do they need people are dieing to use this road.

bobbie501

January 10th, 2009, 10:47 AM

Pacts with Maytas ‘on hold’ (http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/10/stories/2009011054700400.htm)

HYDERABAD: The State government has decided to put on hold the agreements which it has to sign with Maytas Infra or the consortia of companies in which it is a partner to implement another list of irrigation projects/ packages worth Rs. 4,000 crore, till a clearer picture on Satyam imbroglio emerges.

Announcing this here on Friday, Major Irrigation Minister Ponnala Lakshmaiah, however, said the government saw no threat to irrigation projects/packages awarded already to Maytas Infra or to the consortia of companies in which it was a partner, to the tune of Rs. 15,465 crore, despite the present crisis.

He clarified that, of the packages/projects covered by the massive amount, Maytas Infra was implementing independently, only three projects worth Rs. 241 crore--Tadipudi lift (Rs. 178 crore), Bhoppathipalem (Rs. 39 crore) and Ankapalli Aqueduct (Rs. 24 crore).

The Minister said, Maytas Infra gave no problem so far, especially in financial matters. With respect to some projects, it did not even claim mobilisation advance. The work turned out was found to be ‘qualitative’ as testified through a unique three-tier system involving Irrigation Department, contractors, and third-party experts. “The works are going on well and will go well. No fears”, he said.

Agreement deposit

Mr. Lakshmaiah said, the safeguards in existence within the system were such that the government would not suffer any loss. The companies were asked to deposit 25 per cent of the agreement value of the package with the government by a bank guarantee or cash. Payments against bills were being cleared after holding back 7.5 per cent of the amount due to the firms. Interest was being claimed on the mobilisation advance.

Earlier projects

As against the projects and packages worth Rs. 15,465 crore awarded initially to Maytas and its partners, the government signed agreements with them for works valued at Rs. 4,171 crore. Out of them, works worth Rs. 1,835 crore have been completed.

Similarly, works worth Rs. 137 crore are completed regarding the three projects handled independently by Maytas.

Agreements for another list of works worth Rs. 11,294 crore were signed later.

Babji

March 8th, 2009, 10:47 PM

http://www.projectsmonitor.com/NEWPROJECTS/ropeway-cable-car-to-link-warangal-temples
Ropeway cable car to link Warangal temples
Ropeway cable car will connect the famous Sri Bhadrakali temple with the heritage temple of Sri Padmakshi.

The Kakatiya Urban Development Authority, which falls in Karimnagar district of Andhra Pradesh, intends to build a ropeway cable car in Warangal under public-private partnership on develop-finance-build-operate-maintain basis, Kuda Project Planning Officer, Ajit Reddy, told Projectmonitor. The authority has invited EOI for selection of private partner for a concession period 33 years.

Warangal-Khazipet-Hanamkonda are historically prominent towns of Kakatiya dynasty and form the golden triangle for heritage tourism. Khazipet railway station is a also major junction. Warangal, a tier-II city, is being actively considered for development of IT parks.

The ropeway cable car will connect the famous Sri Bhadrakali temple with the heritage temple of Sri Padmakshi, covering a distance of 1.675 km. The main project components are entrance plaza and base station at Bhadrakali temple site along with a recreation and amusement park at Padmakshi temple site with food court, lacer/sound and light shows, waterfalls and fountains, joy rides and landscaping.

“The project is envisioned as an integrated complex of adventure, entertainment, leisure and hospitality. The complex will come up on 2,000 sq. yards which will be made available for development at Padmakshi temple site along with route rights to operate the ropeway at a designated route,” Reddy explained.
He added, “We will apply for environment clearance in the second week of March. The work is expected to start by the end of May. Once complete, the project will be the first of its kind in the south. The estimated cost of the ropeway cable car is around Rs 15 crore.”

Babji

March 14th, 2009, 01:09 AM

Tourists get luxury cruise at Yanam (http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/09/stories/2009010954260300.htm)

^^ nice updates from AP. Thanks Bobbie.
I visited Yanam in 1994 and went on a cruise on a big flat boat (some what like a punt) - It was an exclusive ride for me and my friends from Kakinada. One of my friends happened to be biggie in Yanam - he arranged for the ride. I guess, they used it as a ferry boat at that time. I had a really great time.

bobbie501

March 14th, 2009, 04:42 AM

^^Great I love the coastal belt very much Kakinada & Rajahmundry are fantastic places to be the greenery in & around it's a treat for your eyes.

Babji

March 17th, 2009, 02:52 AM

http://www.projectsmonitor.com/PrintArticle.aspx?aid=726&sid=0
Bhavanapadu gets environment nod
Mrinalini Prasad , Monday, March 02, 2009, 14:09 Hrs [IST]

The ministry of environment and forests has accorded clearance to East Coast Energy Ltd’s 2,640-mw Bhavanapadu thermal power project in Andhra Pradesh.
The clearance was issued by the ministry after its expert committee gave the go-ahead at a recent meeting held for the submission of required clarifications by the project developer. Previously, the committee had considered the project in December 2008 when it recommended that the developer shift the site away from the marshy areas. ECEL agreed to this recommendation and proposed to leave out about 500 acres located to the south of its plant and also shifted all the facilities about 1.35 km from the original proposal. The plant now lies outside the ambit of Nauplada swamp and Teleneelapuram bird site.
The environment clearance for the project had also been held up due to non-availability of coal linkage. The project authorities informed the ministry that the coal linkage committee had approved the coal for phase-I of the project while imported coal would be used for phase-II. With the grant of environment clearance, the financial closure for the project is likely to be achieved soon. ECEL is also seeking mega power status for its power venture.
The Bhavanapadu project is located near Kakarapalli village in Santhabommali Mandal in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh. The project will be executed in two stages of 1,320 mw each. Stage-I (2x660 mw) is scheduled for commissioning during the ongoing 11th Plan. The first unit is due for commissioning in December 2011 while the second unit is expected to go on steam in March 2012.

Babji

March 19th, 2009, 01:31 AM

Date:19/03/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/03/19/stories/2009031956361600.htm Back

KPCL achieves financial closure for Phase II

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd (KPCL), which expects to net a gross revenue of Rs. 350 crore by the end of the current fiscal from its operations, has achieved financial closure for the Rs. 4,000-crore second phase.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, C. V. Rao, Chairman of Navayuga Group, the promoter of KPCL, said that a consortium of 16 banks, with State Bank of India (SBI) as the lead bank, tied up an amount of Rs. 3,500 crore, while the debt component was Rs. 3,000 crore. Phase-II would be commissioned by January 2012.

A private equity firm, Strategic Port Investments KPC Ltd, had invested Rs. 800 crore in the company by acquiring a minority stake in it.

Babji

April 4th, 2009, 01:28 PM

http://www.myiris.com/newsCentre/displayPrint.php?%20fileR=20090401190410203&secID=livenews&dir=2009/04/01

GMR`s AP-2 highway project commences operations

GMR Group`s Adloor-Yellareddy to Gundla-Pochanpalli highway project (AP – 2), has commenced commercial operations with effect from Mar. 26, 2009. This is the group`s third highway project in Andhra Pradesh.

This 102 km stretch on NH 7 between Adloor Yellareddy and Gundla Pochanpalli on Hyderabad – Nagpur Highway was executed on a build operate transfer (annuity) model with an investment of Rs 7 billion.

The concession period for the project is 20 years and it took two and a half years to complete it. The project was executed within the time schedule agreed under the concession agreement and also received its provisional completion certificate.

GMR Group had won this project through an international competitive bid from NHAI in October 2005. The scope of the project included widening of the existing 2-lanes to 4-lanes, improvement, operation and maintenance and rehabilitation and strengthening of the existing road.

Four laning of this road will ease traffic congestion and provide a tremendous boost to trade and commerce in the region. The road has been build to world-class standards and will provide travelers a safe and fast means to commute.

Shares of the company gained Rs 2.85, or 3%, to settle at Rs 97.75. The total volume of shares traded was 1,054,796 at the BSE (Wednesday).

Babji

April 6th, 2009, 03:52 PM

oops - wrong thread - self deleted ...

Babji

April 27th, 2009, 12:35 AM

Date:27/04/2009 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/04/27/stories/2009042750981200.htm
Rice export ban jolts Kakinada old port Ch. R. S. Sarma
The anchorage port of Kakinada suffered a considerable setback during 2008-09, more as a result of the ban on export of non-basmati varieties of rice than the economic recession. However, the new deep-water port at Kakinada has shown improvement over the previous year.

The old port has always depended on the export of rice and related products such as rice bran for its sustenance, and 2007-08 was a particularly good year. A record was created, with the cargo throughput exceeding four million tonnes that year, of which rice exports accounted for more than two million tonnes.
However, the Union Government took a decision to impose a ban on export of non-basmati varieties of rice, striking a body blow to the old port.

Rice exports slumped to 5,12,559 tonnes during 2008-09, with the total cargo dropping to almost half the previous year’s. Only 21,92,617 tonnes of cargo was handled totally at the old port during 2008-09. Rice shipments were allowed to Bangladesh under humanitarian grounds under a bilateral treaty between the two governments. That accounts for 5 lakh tonnes of rice shipments. The plight of the port would have been worse, had those shipments not been allowed.

Trade circles in Kakinada were deeply upset with the ban on rice exports and the matter was represented to the Union Government by trade delegations several times to review the ban. But the Government stood firm, this being an election year, and as the prices of rice in the market were pretty high. As and when the ban is lifted, there may be more activity at the old port.

The other major commodity exported from the old port was maize (7,48,920 tonnes), as against 6,02,212 tonnes in 2007-08 and fertiliser imports accounted for more than 6 lakh tonnes. The revenue earned slumped from Rs 20 crores during the previous year to Rs 16.89 crore during 2008-09.

Deep-water port: The deep-water port at Kakinada handled 14.52 million tonnes of cargo during 2008-09, with transshipment cargo (crude) accounting for 6.7 million tonnes. Exports accounted for 2.8 million tonnes and imports 4.9 million tonnes. During 2007-08 the total cargo handled at the deep-water port was 12.64 million tonnes, inclusive of transshipment cargo of 6.12 million tonnes.

One of the fallouts of the slump in cargo at the anchorage port is more unrest, as the allegations of cargo diversion from the old port to the new port increase during such periods. Whenever the old port is busy with rice exports and other cargo, there is no problem. In that sense, rice exports are crucial for both the ports.

Reliance to sell KG-D6 gas to Anil Ambani power plant in AP

Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries would sell natural gas from its eastern offshore KG-D6 fields to Anil Dhirubhai (Q, N,C,F)* Ambani Group (ADAG) power plant in Andhra Pradesh (AP) at government approved rates, reports Economic Times.

While ADAG has taken RIL to court seeking gas from KG-D6 at rates decided in a private agreement that split Dhirubhai Ambani empire between the two brothers, Power Ministry has identified Reliance Energy Samalkot plant in Andhra Pradesh as one of the recipients of KG-D6 gas.

It is learnt that the 220-MW power plant has been allocated 0.19 million cubic meters per day of KG-D6 gas at government approved rates of USD 4.20 per million British thermal unit plus taxes and transportation. ADAG is seeking gas from RIL at USD 2.34 per mmBtu.

Samalkot is one of the eight power plants identified in Andhra Pradesh to receive KG-D6 gas from next month.

Babji

April 27th, 2009, 01:33 AM

http://www.projectsmonitor.com/PrintArticle.aspx?aid=1046&sid=0

Jegurupadu-II starts operations
PM Research Bureau , Monday, April 20, 2009, 15:06 Hrs [IST]

GVK Industries Ltd has announced that its 220-mw Jegurupadu expansion power project in Andhra Pradesh has begun commercial operations with effect from April 24, 2009. The development follows assured gas supplies from Reliance Industries whose D6 block in the KG Basin began gas production earlier this month.

Located at Kadiyam Mandal in East Godavari district, the 220-mw combined cycle gas-based power plant consists of a 140-mw gas turbine and a 80-mw steam turbine (in combined cycle mode). Interestingly, the Rs 700-crore power plant was commissioned in as early as February 2006 but lack of assured gas supplies consumed over three years to bring the plant into production.

Incidentally, phase-I of 216-mw of the Jegurupadu power plant is India's first independent power plant that was set up in the mid-1990s.
Meanwhile, GVK is also likely to soon start commercial operations on its 440-mw Gauthami gas-fired power project in Andhra Pradesh. Fuel supplies are being negotiated with Reliance Industries Ltd.

Babji

May 2nd, 2009, 03:11 PM

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4473145.cms?prtpage=1
IFFCO seeks partners & investors for world-class agro park
1 May 2009, 2050 hrs IST, Prabha, OUR BUREAU
NEW DELHI: Fertiliser giant IFFCO is shopping hectically for international partners and investors for its Kisan SEZ coming up in Nellore, Andhra
Pradesh. The world class agro park__which will the nation s first such high-end farm produce and processing park in the country promoted entirely outside the public sector___ has already found companies from the Netherlands, Israel and Italy, evincing an interest in it at a recently organised international investors meet held by the cooperative major.

Other renowned Indian agri business companies also participated in the event held earlier this week, which included a one day site visit to Nellore as well as a post visit technical dicussion with participants. Investors at the meeting showed an interest in areas such as greenhouses, dairy production and processing, high end processing of poultry products, fruit and vegetable processing, processing of paddy and bio-mass based power generation, company officials said.

A renowned domestic fruit and vegetable retailer has expressed interest in setting up a fruit processing unit and is in advanced stage of the feasibility study. , a leading Indian conglomerate has proposed to set up a fully integrated dairy farm and is in dialog with international technology partners. Leading Dutch and Israeli business houses are scouting for Indian partners to venture into green house production and integrated poultry production, so we re working on clinching that for the agri park, they added.

.IFFCO has already started the development of this world class infrastructure. We are open to participation in new and innovative joint ventures aiming at a positive influence on the lives of farmers in the region, Iffco officials said here.. Iffco would also be investing in the development of state of the art infrastructure at the agri park, according to Mr Rakesh Kapur, deputy MD at the company said. The coopertive would also evaluate options of investing in specific joint ventures which, when actualized, will have a positive influence on the lives of farmers in the area, he said at the recenting meeting while addressing potential partners and investors.

The 2800 acres Park is believed to have a very strong logistical advantage in that it is located on both sides of the National Highway No. 5, just three hours drive from Chennai and half an hour drive from the Krishnapatnam port. In that , the agri park is believed to open up excellent investment opportunities to address the grwoing metropolitan demand for processed foods besides the export markets in a cost-efficient manner, both for foreign and Indian companies.

At the agri park, about 108 Rural Transformation Centers (RTCs) will be developed at the village level under the hub and spoke model in order to enable direct linkage of the farmers to the demand side of the food chain. These centers would act not only as a collection point for supply of raw materials to the AFP but also serve as vehicles for agri-extension and quality control. It is expected to generate employment avenues for more than 5,000 persons apart from large-scale economic development of the region.

In addition to developing the Kisan SEZ, IFFCO is also planning to set up state-of-the-art technical training institute to impart training in agriculture and post harvesting technologies as well as grain-harvesting facilities and construction related skills. The co-operative is also looking at the option of adopting a few farmer training institutes in the district to upgrade their facilities in its bid to train local manpower.

Babji

May 7th, 2009, 11:23 PM

Date:08/05/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/05/08/stories/2009050852070300.htm
East Godavari tops in SHG bank linkage

Staff Reporter
Kakinada: East Godavari district stood first in the State in providing bank linkage to self-help groups by achieving 106 per cent (Rs. 864.07 crore) of the targeted sum (Rs. 817 crore) in 2008-09. It was followed by Chittoor, West Godavari and Krishna districts which achieved 79, 78 and 70 percentage of their respective targets. East Godavari district has no backlog to be added to the 2009-10 target which is another distinction.

Collector Gopalakrishna Dwivedi has stated in a press release that the SHG bank linkage was an important initiative under the Indira Kranti Patham wherein the District Rural Development Agency was given the above target which included normal bank linkage, total financial inclusion and bridge loans. The DRDAs which could not achieve at least 50 per cent of their targets were asked to give explanation for their failure. Of the State’s total target of Rs. 11,038 crores, East Godavari district accounted for 7.4 per cent while its achievement was nearly 14.5 per cent of the total figure of Rs. 5,918.49 crores.
making a big difference in the lives of poor ppl and empowering the rural women... :cheers:

harsh1802

May 28th, 2009, 05:06 AM

GMR Infra wins Andhra highway project (http://www.livemint.com/2009/05/27221034/GMR-Infra-wins-Andhra-highway.html?h=B)

GMR Infrastructure Ltd has emerged as the winning bidder for the coveted Rs1,460 crore Hyderabad-Vijayawada four-lane highway project

Rahul Chandran

New Delhi: Infrastructure developer GMR Infrastructure Ltd has emerged as the winning bidder for the coveted Rs1,460 crore Hyderabad-Vijayawada four-lane highway project.

The company was one of the five bidders on the project, which was mired in controversy after several rounds of litigation in the Delhi high court and the Supreme Court over who would be allowed to place bids for the project.

Revenue share: A road under construction. GMR will share around 31% of the revenue in the first year of the concession period.

When the bids were opened on 19 May, GMR had offered to share revenues from some 11,169 days before the date of completion of construction. The firm will effectively start sharing around 31% of the revenue in the first year, with an annual increment of one percentage point for the duration of concession—25 years.

The project is among the few that saw high interest from bidders struggling to raise funds. A GMR spokesperson declined to comment, saying the company preferred not to respond to news that was not formally in the public domain.

“It isn’t that there is no interest. It is just that you need to structure the project properly,” said a senior government official who didn’t want to be identified.

“We are receiving interest in some projects, but most of the projects that are being rebid are not viable,” said an official with the National Highways Authority of India, who also requested anonymity.

hyderabadnawab

May 28th, 2009, 05:21 AM

^^ This is awesome news. I travel to Vijayawada from Hyderabad once in a while. I can't say how much excruciating pain one needs to go through on that road with so much traffic but just 2 narrow lanes (not even paved shoulders) at some parts of the road.

Now that it has fallen into the safe hands of GMR, i am eager to drive on that highway after 30 months. I did look at the feasibility report, it is going to be a partially access controlled highway, with town bypasses at 5 towns, service roads, flyovers, vehicular underpasses, pedestrian underpasses etc.

Babji

May 28th, 2009, 06:23 AM

^^ cool! ^^
more on this ... (source: my IRIS)
GMR Infra bags Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway project

GMR Infrastructure led consortium has won the Hyderabad-Vijayawada highway project on a Build, Operate and Transfer (Toll) basis through international competitive route.

The group has received letter of award from National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on May 27, 2009. This is seventh highway project of GMR Group after successfully completing six projects as per schedule.

The project measuring 181 kms on NH-9 entails designing, engineering, finance, procurement, construction, operation and maintainance of the four-six laning of the Hyderabad-Vijayawada section in the sate of Andhra Pradesh.

This will ease traffic congestion and provide a tremendous boost to trade and commerce in the state. Apart from reduction in travel time, this development is expected to improve safety levels for travelers since it will be built as per world-class specifications.

The project will be implemented through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) set up by the group which will be signing the concession pact with NHAI for a period 25 years...

skganji

May 29th, 2009, 07:36 PM

^^ cool! ^^
more on this ... (source: my IRIS)

Guys. This is definitely sweet news. I have been waiting for this for last 5-6 years. I come from Nalgonda Town and this will change the entire Nalgonda district drastically as around 125-150 kms of this conversion falls in our distrcit. If SLBC is also completed in next 4-5 years , Nalgonda town can become like another guntur interms of development.

Babji

May 31st, 2009, 09:58 PM

AP chemical hub gets first customer
By By Our Correspondent Jun 01 2009 Hyderabad

May 31: The Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) in the state got its first customer after the Centre notified the project with a huge investment potential.

The Nagarjuna Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (NFCL) has been allotted 100 acres to set up an agro chemical unit. The AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC), the nodal agency for PCPIR, allotted land to NFCL at Rs 30 lakh per acre.

The APIIC also signed a MoU with the International Finance Corporation to work out modalities for attracting investments. The Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, Mittals and GMR have drawn up plans to invest by setting up refineries.

The government is elated at the state receiving investment proposals of about Rs 8,000 crore within two weeks of formation of the new government. Two bio-technology majors in the US, Lonza and Alexandria, agreed to invest Rs 750 crore and Rs 1,000 crore respectively in Genome Valley. The agreements in this regard were signed during the international bio-conference on May 20.

Land was allotted to BHEL-NTPC joint venture in Chittoor district to set up an electrical equipment manufacturing unit with Rs 6,500 crore. The deal was signed during the visit of Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy to New Delhi recently.
Source URL: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/ap-chemical-hub-gets-first-customer-313

Babji

June 1st, 2009, 12:49 AM

Date:01/06/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/06/01/stories/2009060155750400.htm

6 irrigation projects listed for national status

YSR has apprised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and AICC chief Sonia Gandhi on the issue
These projects vital for State’s development: YSR
Plan being readied to complete pending projects

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has said that he will use his good offices to get national project status for six important irrigation projects in the State.

Polavaram, Pranahitha-Chevella, Dummugudem, Uttarandhra Sujala Sravanthi, Devadula and Yellampalli projects have been listed for the status of national projects, Dr. Reddy said. The Chief Minister said he had already apprised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and AICC president Sonia Gandhi on the issue and urged them to declare the six as national projects.

110 clearances: “We have obtained a record number of 110 clearances for various irrigation schemes in the last five years. Hence it is our right to seek national project status for these projects, which are absolutely vital for the development of the State. They have been taken up with a long term vision and with the aim of giving a quantum jump to the State’s progress,” Dr. Reddy told officials over phone on Sunday from Jerusalem, where he is on a pilgrimage with his family.

A press release from the Chief Minister’s Office on Sunday said Dr. Reddy had asserted that the government would come out with a time-bound comprehensive action plan to complete all pending irrigation and power projects in the next four to five years.

Review meet: Dr. Reddy, who will review the progress of irrigation and power projects in the State on Monday, said that once the projects were completed, the State-owned APGenco alone would generate 10,380 MW of additional power. The 59 irrigation projects once completed would ensure water for an additional 83.24 lakh acres and stabilisation of additional 22.05 lakh acres.

He directed the Ministers and officials to constantly monitor the progress of works and promptly bring hurdles, technical snags or financial constraints to the notice of the higher-ups. “Funds will not be an impediment for completion of projects already announced or started,” he said.

Directive to Genco: The Chief Minister directed APGenco to optimise power generation through its projects to meet the growing demand.

The officials told him that APGenco had generated on an average 69.5 million units per day from January first this year to May 30. This helped APTransco to meet the peak Rabi and summer demand. All the thermal units were maintained properly without any major break down, they said.

Date:02/06/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/06/02/stories/2009060256660400.htm

Polavaram to get national project status

HYDERABAD: The State government has added two more projects—Kanthalapalli and Dummagudem-Tailpond—to the list of the projects being proposed to the Centre for financial assistance.

Kanthalapalli is a new project planned to be constructed across the Godavari at a cost of Rs. 10,400 crore while Dummagudem-Nagarjunasagar-Tailpond has already been taken up under Jalayagmam to transfer Godavari waters to the Krishna. The State government had earlier requested the Centre to treat five projects as national projects. Briefing the media after Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy reviewed irrigation matters at a meeting here on Monday, Major Irrigation Minister P. Lakshmaiah saw a “clear possibility” of Polavaram getting the national project status first.

Budget to swell: Chief Minister appointed Shailendra Kumar Joshi, one of three Irrigation Secretaries, to handle issues relating to Central clearances for the listed projects. Mr. Lakshmaiah said ample scope existed for the State to get Rs. 3,500-4,000 crore this year under Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme and this would straightaway take the Rs.14,000 crore annual irrigation budget to Rs. 18,000 crore.

Dr. Reddy sought efforts to complete the 20 projects which were already providing partial benefit to farmers. Similarly, another 16 projects listed out for this year out of the 59 pending ones, must be expedited.

As directed by the Chief Minister, Mr. Laksmaiah said, designing, land acquisition and rehabilitation and resettlement would be taken up simultaneously to ensure quicker completion. So far, 12 projects have been completed and water provided to 22 lakh acres. A huge sum of Rs. 46,000 crore has been spent till date on Jalayagnam.

Babji

June 2nd, 2009, 01:42 AM

Date:02/06/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/06/02/stories/2009060258840400.htm

Mega power plant at Srikalahasti
Special Correspondent
Joint venture of NTPC-BHEL to provide 6,000 jobs

HYDERABAD: A Rs. 6,000-crore project to manufacture power plant equipment will be established near Srikalahasti in Chittoor district as a joint venture of the two public sector giants, NTPC and BHEL.

This will be the highest public sector investment in a project in the State after the Visakhapatnam steel plant and it will provide jobs to 6,000 persons directly and to 35,000 indirectly. On assuming office as Major Industries Minister on Monday, Kanna Lakshminarayana signed a file requiring the Revenue authorities to hand over 750 acres of land for the project at Mannavaram village.

He signed another file enhancing the upper limit for loans which can be granted by district industries centres towards small-scale units from Rs. 1 crore to Rs. 5 crore.

Mr. Lakshminarayana said that notwithstanding the global slowdown, the State was attracting new investments.

Alexandria, a bio-technology major, had come forward to establish a Rs. 1,000-crore plug and play lab space and Lonza and R&D and bio-pharmaceutical unit, both with an investment of Rs. 750 crore, at Genome Valley near Hyderabad.

State-of-art logistic hubs would be set up at Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam under PPP model, a second CFS facility at Mamidipalli in Ranga Reddy again near Hyderabad, air cargo facilities at airports like Tirupati and logistics manufacturing facilities at Kadapa, Vijayawada, Guntur and Nellore.

Babji

June 3rd, 2009, 01:16 AM

Live Mint ...
APGenco to start new projects
The government had earlier approved projects to generate 4,728MW of power at a cost of Rs23,000 crore

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh government has approved an additional Rs40,000 crore of investment to raise power generation capacity and bridge a demand-supply shortfall in the state.

State-owned Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corp. Ltd, or AP Genco, obtained government approval on Monday for fresh capacity addition of 10,172MW through a combination of coal- and gas-based power projects and nuclear and hydel plants, managing director Ajay Jain said. "We are planning to meet the funds requirement through a combination of 20% of internal accruals and some 80% of debt from domestic and international funding firms,” Jain told Mint.

The government had earlier approved projects to generate 4,728MW of power at a cost of Rs23,000 crore. Work has commenced on those projects, for which AP Genco has already tied up finances. "We have already placed orders for plant and machinery of these projects and we expect these projects to be completed by 2012-end or early 2013, taking our total installed capacity to 12,316MW,” said Jain.

AP Genco has the capacity to generate 7,588MW of power now. The planned capacity additions would triple its installed capacity, helping Andhra Pradesh meet an annual peak shortage of 1,200MW. The state-owned utility hopes to generate internal accruals of some Rs2,000 crore over the next five years, Jain said.

Babji

June 3rd, 2009, 01:30 AM

http://www.financialexpress.com/news/govt-clears-9-sezs-most-belong-to-it-ites/470055/

Govt clears 9 SEZs; most belong to IT/ITES
Agencies Posted: 2009-06-02 15:50:52+05:30 IST Updated: Jun 02, 2009 at 1550 hrs IST

New Delhi: The Government cleared nine fresh proposals for setting up special economic zones, most of which related to IT and ITES, followed by the bio-technology sector.

The Board of Approval in the Commerce Ministry gave green signal to Gulf Oil Corporation, L & T, Emaar MGF and MM Tech to set up IT/ITES tax-free enclave in Bangalore, Mumbai, and Chenagamanadu (Kerala), respectively.

Three bio-technology SEZs have been sanctioned for Bangalore, Anantpur (Andhra Pradesh) and Ratnagiri (Maharashtra).

Besides, two multi-product and multi-services SEZs would come up at Kota mandal in Andhra Pradesh and Nasik in Maharashtra.

Since 2006, when the SEZ Act was notified, formal approvals have been granted for setting up 568 SEZs, of which 315 have been notified.

Exports from SEZs grew by 36 per cent to Rs 90,416 crore in 2008-09 from Rs 66,638 crore in the previous fiscal.

Babji

June 3rd, 2009, 02:06 AM

IDBI, PFC to lend Rs 4k cr for R-Power's Andhra project
3 Jun 2009, 0140 hrs IST, Pradeep Pandey & Piyush Pandey, ET Bureau

MUMBAI: IDBI Bank and state-run Power Finance Corporation (PFC) have agreed to lend close to Rs 4,000 crore to Reliance Power (R-Power) for its
proposed 4,000 MW ultra mega power project (UMPP) at Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh costing over Rs 17,000 crore.

R-Power has appointed IDBI Bank and PFC as the lead managers to raise debt proportion of about Rs 12,000 crore for achieving the financial closure of its imported coal-based UMPP, two banking sources familiar with the development confirmed ET.

IDBI and PFC have committed for nearly Rs 2,000 crore each to R-Power. An IDBI official confirmed the development, while PFC spokesperson said that the power financing company is likely to finalise the deal sooner. The company will be out in the market to tie-up with various domestic and overseas lenders for another Rs 8,000 crore within a couple of weeks, said a Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG) source.

R-Power has been awarded with this project in 2008 and plans to commission its first unit by 2013, and will be fuelled by the coal sourced from its Indonesia mines. R-Power, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Reliance Coal Resources, has acquired few coal mines in Indonesia with an estimated reserve of around 2 billion tonne.

Amidst liquidity crunch, the company past month closed the financial closure of Rs 19,400 crore Sasan UMPP raising about Rs 14,500 crore from 14 financial institutions, mostly from PSU banks and financial institutions.

The company has bagged three out of four UMPPs at Sasan, Krishnapatnam and Tiliya. Tata Power bagged UMPP at Mundra, Gujarat. The company is waiting to get the line of order from the government for the Tiliya UMPP, following it will start for its financial closure.

Shares of R-Power on BSE dipped 1.75% to close 179.90 over the previous closing day. The stock has gained 13.22% in the past one week and 45.90% in the past one month.
Economic Times

Babji

June 6th, 2009, 10:52 AM

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister to inaugurate first tower of IT Park

Vijayawada, Jun 5 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy will inaugurate next month the first tower of the IT park coming up at Gannavaram near here, according to Krishna District Collector N Sridhar.

Mr Sridhar said here today the first phase of works of the IT park taken up at a cost of Rs 70 crore will be completed by the end of this month.

He said the district administration is finalising the dates of Dr Reddy's visit to Krishna District and added the Andhra Pradesh Industrial and Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) and L&T were jointly constructing the IT park at an estimated cost of Rs 450 crore. L&T project manager Mr PV Murali Krishna and chief operating officer Mr P. Udaya Bhaskar explained the progress of works to the Collector who visited the construction site.

The project includes construction of five towers, was expected to be completed in five years. The government has allotted 30 acres of land and after the completion of the project, the Hitech City could provide accommodation for 30 companies to generate employment opportunities to 20,000 IT professionals directly, said Udaya Bhaskar.

The Collector said the IT Park has an advantage of connectivity, as it is located close to National Highway-5 and Gannavaram airport.

Later, the Collector visited the Gannavaram airport and enquired about the expansion works. Airport Controller Premkumar and Deputy General Manager Patil explained to the collector that the first phase of airport expansion would be completed by August while second phase works would be started with the acquisition of 400 acres of land.

Mr Sridhar assured them full cooperation in acquiring land required for runway expansion, construction of new terminal and car parking.
--- UNI :cheers:

Babji

June 12th, 2009, 04:16 AM

Date:12/06/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/06/12/stories/2009061259601200.htm

Land allotted to NTPC-BHEL unit near Srikalahasti

HYDERABAD: The State Cabinet on Thursday decided to allot 750 acres of land at a nominal price to the Rs. 6,000-crore mega project, jointly proposed by the NTPC and BHEL near Srikalahasti in Chittoor district to manufacture power plants equipments.

Speaking to the media later, Information Minister J. Geeta Reddy said the joint venture company of NTPC-BHEL Power Projects Private Limited would undertake engineering, procurement, manufacturing, erection and commissioning of power projects and also implement infrastructure projects.

Seen as the biggest venture in the State being undertaken by the Central undertakings next only to Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, the project would provide employment to 6,000 people directly and to another 30,000 indirectly.
cool. :cheers:

Babji

June 16th, 2009, 12:42 AM

Date:16/06/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/06/16/stories/2009061660040600.htm

YSR to take up upgradation of State roads with Centre

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy will take up with the Centre, the issue of clearing the proposals sent by the State government to upgrade five different State roads into National Highways.

A decision to this effected was taken at a meeting here on Monday chaired by him and attended by Roads & Buildings Minister G. Aruna Kumari. The five roads proposed for upgradation are :

Hyderabad-Srisailam-Dornala-Atmakur-Nandyal (354 km)

Guntur-Tadipatri, Dharamavaram connecting NH 5 to NH 7 (530 km)

Adilabad-Vemulawada-SiddipetPiduguralla-Narasaraopet-Vodarevu (630 km)

Srioncha-Nakrekal-Naglonda-Rapur-Venkatagiri-Renigunta (725 km)

Kakinada-Rajahmundry-Suryapet (300 km).

Babji

June 18th, 2009, 12:46 AM

Date:18/06/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/06/18/stories/2009061860290500.htm

$720.5 mn WB loan for State highways

Issue of loan approval for A.P. to be taken up on June 25
Five roads identified for development under PPP
Centre likely to provide grant subsidy of 20 per cent

HYDERABAD: The stage is set for approval of US $720.5 million loan by the World Bank for improvement of some major State highways under the purview of the Roads & Buildings Department in the State.

The World Bank board will take up the issue of loan approval for the Andhra Pradesh Road Sector Project at its meeting on June 25. Under the project, the government plans to upgrade 422 km of priority State highways in two phases under public sector financing and take steps for maintenance of 6,073 km of core road network under long-term, performance-based maintenance contracts.

Five roads Chittoor-Puttur, Kurnool-Devanakonda, Kandi-Shadnagar, Mydukur-Jammalamadugu and Jagityal-Peddapalli spanning 863 kms have been selected for development under the public private partnership (PPP) mode as part of the project.

The Andhra Pradesh Road Development Corporation, designated as the project monitoring unit, would develop these high density corridors through toll revenues and viability gap support from the State and Centre to make the selected roads financially viable.

The Central government is likely to provide 20 per cent as grant subsidy and the State will bear another 20 per cent, if necessary, from its budget towards viability gap funding. According to the Project Information Document, the actual amount of viability gap funding would be determined during the bidding process.

Though spending on road maintenance was increased over the years, it was not adequate

Babji

June 19th, 2009, 12:32 AM

Biotech, livestock SEZ at Kadapa
By By Our Correspondent Jun 19 2009 Hyderabad

June 18: The AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) is setting up an Special Economic Zone focusing mainly on livestock and animal biotech near Pulivendula for research and development of zoonotic diseases, such as swine flu, avian flu.

Two leading US-based companies have already agreed to set up their units in this SEZ. Based on the successful model of biotech cluster created in the Genome Valley on the city outskirts, the APIIC is also planning an exclusive biotech SEZ close to the Bengaluru International Airport. Located in the industrial growth centre of Hindupur in Anantapur district, the SEZ spread over 70 acres of land, will be developed by the Bengaluru-based developer, Salarpuria as a world class hub for biotech companies. The proposal for this SEZ was formally approved in the Board of Approvals meeting on June 2.

Meanwhile, the Lepakshi knowledge hub is being developed in Chilamathur area, about 70 km from Bengaluru International Airport on Hyderabad-Bengaluru NH-7, and another biotech and life sciences park is being set up over 100 acres. In addition to this, APIIC is developing an SEZ in the Genome Valley, over an extent of 50 acres, with a focus on biopharmaceutical manufacturing.
Source URL: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/biotech-livestock-sez-kadapa-843

Babji

June 21st, 2009, 11:38 PM

Rail Budget likely to sideline state
By By Our Correspondent Jun 22 2009 Hyderabad

June 21: The state has resigned itself to another year of no direct benefits in the form of rail networks or new trains in the Union Railway Budget, which will be presented on July 1. According to the sources, the railway ministry has said it will do “justice” to Andhra Pradesh, in a phased manner, over the next five years. This is seen as a clear indication that the state should be prepared for disappointment this year.

MPs from the state recently met the Union railway minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, seeking more trains and funds for the state. She reportedly said the ministry will certainly consider the state’s proposals in the 2010-11 budget.

The railway ministry has neither sanctioned new projects, nor allocated sufficient funds for the completion of on-going projects in the state. Successive railway ministers have turned a blind eye to the state’s plea for new trains, modernisation of networks, and new railway tracks.
If and when sanctioned, many of the suggested railway projects will ensure good returns for the department. The Bengaluru-Kadapa railway line, proposed at an estimated cost of Rs 693 crore is expected to generate 17.37 per cent returns. There is similar potential waiting to be unlocked in the Bhadrachalam-Kovvuru, Nadikudi-Srikalahasti, and Ramagundam-Manuguru rail projects.

Though the railway ministry agreed to these projects in principle, there has been little progress since. Choked to a halt with insufficient funds, some of the projects taken up 10 years ago, have still not been completed. Nandyal-Yerraguntla, Kotipalli-Narsapur, Kakinda-Pithapuram, Macherla-Nalgonda, and Dharmavaram-Pakala gauge conversion projects require Rs 1,400 crore.

The Union government is dragging its feet over the projects, and has not sanctioned even 10 per cent of the estimated cost. Sources reveal the state wanted four express trains from Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam, Bengaluru, Goa and Ahmedabad. It wanted a passenger train between Hyderabad-Kadapa, commuter trains. In the 2009-10 Interim Budget, the ministry sanctioned just two trains for SCR out of a total of 43 trains. Secunderabad-Manuguru superfast express, and Machilipatnam-Mumbai superfast express were sanctioned. Funds have not yet been sanctioned for the MMTS phase-II and the modernisation of Secunderbad railway station.

“It is true that the ministry has not sanctioned sufficient funds. During the NDA regime, we got sanctions for the MMTS, which is now a very popular mode of transport in Hyderabad,” said the former minister of state for railways, Mr Bandaru Dattatreya. South Central Railway generates the highest revenue for the government, after the South Eastern Railway. SCR’s gross earnings crossed Rs 6,500 crore in 2008-09 financial year, but only Rs 1,563 crore were sanctioned for new lines, gauge conversion, doubling, traffic facilities and rolling stock.
Source URL: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/rail-budget-likely-sideline-state-607

Babji

June 22nd, 2009, 12:20 AM

National status for projects may take time

Union Cabinet’s decision depends on Water Resources Ministry’s proposals Polavaram likely to get ‘national project’ status Union Cabinet’s decision may take two months

HYDERABAD: The State government will have to wait for some more time before the Central government announces its decision on the demand for according ‘national project’ status to some of the major irrigation projects launched in the State.

Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy who called on Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Saturday is said to have requested him to grant national project status, among others, to Polavaram, Dummugudem and Uttarandhra Sujala Sravanti.

Mr. Ahluwalia is learnt to have expressed his “positive inclination” for the request and assured that a decision on whether or not to accord national project status would be taken within two months.

In spite of the assurance from Mr. Ahluwalia, senior officials claimed that the Union Cabinet would take a decision on the issue based on the recommendation of the Water Resources Ministry. “Given the parameters adopted for declaration of a project as a national project, Polavaram project taken up by the State government immediately fits the bill,” a senior official said. source: The Hindu

Babji

June 27th, 2009, 07:10 PM

Date:26/06/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/06/26/stories/2009062657472000.htm
Massive tunnel boring machine launched

M. Venkateswara Rao
Project is to bring water to parched areas in Prakasam, Nellore and Kadapa districts
This is the second TBM in the district == The project costs Rs. 700 crore

ONGOLE: A massive tunnel boring machine (TBM) began drilling through the Nallamala hill range on Thursday to bring water to parched areas in Prakasam, Nellore and Kadapa districts of Andhra Pradesh.

As part of the second phase of a project to draw water from Srisailam Dam to Veligonda reservoir in Prakasam district, the gigantic 9.2 m diameter TBM will burrow its way under the Nagarjunasagar Tiger Reserve, without harming the ecology of the region.

The government had initially proposed a single tunnel with an 11-metre diameter to fetch 42 tmc ft (thousand million cubic feet) of water to irrigate 4.25 lakh acres in Prakasam, Nellore and Kadapa districts.

The plan was later changed to a 7-metre diameter tunnel to irrigate about 1.25 lakh acres in Prakasam district. However, Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy agreed to sanction a second tunnel and provide water to the entire envisaged area in two phases, following protests by the elected representatives.

This is the second TBM to be launched in the district, running parallel to the first one (7 m diameter) launched at Dornala last year. Situated about 60 m away from the first tunnel, the second phase being launched at a cost of Rs. 700 crore, including a sum of Rs. 200 crore being spent on the TBM, will create an 18.8 km-long tunnel.

Minister for Major Irrigation Ponnala Lakshmaiah launched the boring machine fulfilling the long cherished dream of the drought prone upland areas of the three districts.

Launching the machine, Mr Lakshmaiah said that the government had taken up 81 irrigation projects at a cost of Rs. 1.75 lakh crore. It has completed 12 projects to irrigate 22 lakh acres till now.

Journalists stung by bees: Several journalists were badly stung by bees when the whirring sound of the massive machine disturbed a beehive nearby. The Minister and senior officials escaped as they took shelter in the cars parked nearby.

Babji

June 28th, 2009, 01:45 AM

http://www.123telugu.com/news/Jun09/Mannavaram_project_meekae_PM_tells_CM_27060914.html

"Mannavaram project meekae" - PM tells CM
27 June 2009, Hyderabad.

Midway through the collectors conference yesterday, there was an unexpected but pleasant telephone interruption. The caller on the line was PM Dr. Manmohan Singh. Dr. Singh assured YSR that just as in 2004, his first visit outside Delhi would be to Tirumala in A.P. The PM further added that he would be coming to AP on a Friday and a Saturday. He would be spending one day offering prayers to Lord Balaji and on the next day he would attend to all official duties. The PM also told the CM that the Mannavaram project of NTPC and BHEL would definitely come to A.P. Rajasthan CM Ashok Ghelot had been informed by the PMO that the project has to go to A.P. The project with an estimated outlay of over Rs. 7000 crores is expected o provide indirect and direct employment to over 30,000 people. The PM once again conveyed his appreciation to the people of AP and said that their support to the current government was of utmost importance to him.

Kewl Batty

June 30th, 2009, 12:15 PM

Plan to make AP a slum-free State

Source (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/06/30/stories/2009063050201701.htm)

The Andhra Pradesh Government is finalising plans to make the State a slum-free State in five years, the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajashekara Reddy, said here on Sunday. Reviewing the progress of works under various urban development schemes, the Chief Minister instructed that the department to undertake various infrastructure development works to facilitate a holistic growth of urban areas. He said the State Government would lay special emphasis on implementation of integrated housing and slum development programme, a Centrally sponsored scheme, as part of its efforts to make Andhra Pradesh slum-free by 2014. - Our Bureau

Babji

July 11th, 2009, 02:37 AM

http://www.andhrabhoomi.net/mhead1.html

Mamataji kept her promise to the MPs from AP.
New Non-stop train btn Sec-bad and New Delhi
Development of Rajahmundry, Guntur and Gadwal as Multi Functional Complex stations
Development of 5 other Rly stations as ideal stations (?)
Completion of all the gauge conversion projects within one year ...
Date:10/07/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/07/10/stories/2009071055031100.htm

Babji

July 12th, 2009, 03:50 PM

Date:12/07/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/07/12/stories/2009071259010300.htm
First phase of Inner Ring Road by November, say UDA officials

Staff Reporter
It is being developed at a cost of Rs. 74.24 crores
Foundation stone was laid in February, actual works started in March
About 20 farmers, landowners have reportedly not given their consent

VIJAYAWADA: Works on the first phase of Inner Ring Road (IRR), which is being developed by the Vijayawada Guntur Tenali Mangalagiri – Urban Development Authority (VGTM-UDA), are likely to be completed by November this year.

The 100-ft IRR from Ambapuram to Ramvarappadu, which links NH-9 and NH-5, is being developed at a cost of Rs. 74.24 crores.

The UDA officials say that the gravel works on the IRR have been completed recently and metal works are being executed from IBM College at Pipula road centre in Ajit Singh Nagar to Nainavaram flyover. Electric poles have also been shifted at most of the places, and works on the remaining stretch would be taken up shortly.

Though the foundation stone was laid in February, actual works started by March this year, and the project is supposed to be completed in nine months from the date of commencement of works. Barring a few, most of the land owners and farmers have already given their consent for acquisition of their lands.

The efforts to convince the remaining farmers would fructify without any hassle, UDA Vice-Chairman Y.S.B.S. Vittal expresses confidence.

About 20 farmers or landowners have reportedly not given their consent as yet. Some of these farmers stand to lose a large extent of their lands, going by the requirement projected by the UDA officials. These farmers fear that the remaining bits and pieces of lands would be of no use to them, and, hence, the delay in giving consent for acquisition, sources say.

Acquisition mode: The UDA had decided to acquire the lands of the owners who have not given their consent to voluntarily give away their lands, so as to complete the road widening as per the schedule. The district administration has already completed 5A inquiry, a statutory procedure under the Land Acquisition Act, and is in the process of issuing draft declaration (DD) for acquiring the lands. Of the total Rs. 74.24 crores that the project is pegged at, the Central government is expected to bear Rs. 37.12 crores and the State government Rs. 14.84 crores.

The remaining Rs. 22.27 crores would have to be borne by the UDA. The project is being implemented in four phases. While phase-I, which covers a distance of 3.5 km, costs Rs. 20 crore, the 2.9-km phase-II costs Rs. 15 crore. In phase-III and phase-IV, two Road over Bridges (RoBs) would be constructed across the Chennai-Howrah and Vijayawada-Bandar railway lines.

Suncity

July 12th, 2009, 10:15 PM

EVERY VOTE COUNTS

Please vote for a new moderator - the contest is hotting up

Voting closes July 19, 2009.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=909566

harsh1802

July 12th, 2009, 11:13 PM

Power Grid to invest Rs. 10,000 crore in State (http://www.hindu.com/2009/07/13/stories/2009071355920400.htm)

HYDERABAD: The Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCI) will pump in up to Rs. 10,000 crore in the State in the next two years.

This will be to establish a transmission system to evacuate power from Krishnapatnam ultra-mega power project and provide open-access system to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) for the purpose of inter-State transmission.

The Krishnapatnam project and the requirement of IPPs would cost Rs. 5,000 crore each, PGCI chairman and managing director S.K. Chaturvedi told reporters on Sunday after laying the foundation stone for a complex to house the southern region headquarters of the corporation at the erstwhile premises of Praga Tools at Kavadiguda here.

Mr. Chaturvedi said that Andhra Pradesh would receive the lion’s share of spending by the corporation in the next two years. Of the Rs. 55,000 crore budgeted for expenditure during the current five year plan, the PGCI had spent Rs. 15,000 crore in the initial two years. The capital expenditure for this year was pegged at Rs. 11,500 crore and the remaining amount would be spent in the next two years, he added.

Behind schedule

The chairman also said the Krishnapatnam project fell behind schedule after initial plans to commission its first unit by 2011. Just when the corporation was about to finalise its contract to evacuate power from the project to different States, the capacity of each unit was reworked which resulted in the delay. The indications were that the project might be commissioned in 2013.

With regard to IPPs in Andhra Pradesh, he said the corporation had cleared five of the nine applications referred to it for access to inter-State transmission by open-access system. The IPPs all over the country planned to produce 35,000 MW but only a few projects would be completed this year.

Shortage

He estimated a shortage of 900 MW in AP at the present generation level of 11,000 MW, of which the State-owned stations contributed 8,000 MW and the Central sector and IPPs pooled 3,000 MW. The PGCI would commission 800 kva transmission systems in the west to evacuate power from Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Commissioning

Mr. Chaturvedi said a 400 kva sub-station constructed by PGCI at Warangal to evacuate power from Neyveli Lignite Corporation plant in Tamil Nadu over dedicated lines would be commissioned this month end. It was done as part of Prime Minister’s assurance to launch important programmes within a hundred days of his Government returning to power. Executive director of southern region of PGCI S.K. Datta was also present.

harsh1802

July 12th, 2009, 11:46 PM

70 tech colleges for state (http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/70-tech-colleges-state-967)

July 12: The All India Council for Technical Education has given approval to 70 new engineering colleges in the state this year. With this, Andhra Pradesh became the first state in the country to have more than two lakh engineering seats. It also has 610 engineering colleges, the highest in the country.

The state has now surpassed Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, which earlier had the largest number of colleges and seats. All these states have less than 1.25 lakh seats each now. From a mere 6,500 seats in 32 colleges in 1994, AP has come a long way. This happened after private players were allowed to set up engineering colleges by the Telugu Desam government in 1995. About 240 colleges came up in 1995 alone, taking the total number of seats to 35,000. The colleges increased to 350 during the TD tenure.

The Congress, which returned to power in 2004, also encouraged private colleges. It approved 150 new colleges during the last academic year alone and 70 this year. About 240 colleges came up in 1995 alone, taking the total number of seats to 35,000. The colleges increased to 350 during the TD tenure.

The Congress, which returned to power in 2004, also encouraged private colleges. It approved 150 new colleges during the last academic year alone and 70 this year. During the last academic year, there were 540 engineering colleges in the State with an intake of 1,74,232 seats. With the AICTE’s latest decision, the number of seats goes up to over 2 lakh.

:bash:

Sienna

July 13th, 2009, 12:59 PM

70 tech colleges for state (http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/70-tech-colleges-state-967)

:bash:
I see below mentioned advantages in setting up astronomical number of colleges in Andhra Pradesh.

1) AP state is getting good educational infrastrure in terms of setting up these engg colleges.
2) I am sure, these engg collleges establishment is helping economy in bringing out the much wanted Black money out (I guess, good number of the colleges are estblished with Black money).
3) Colleges construction, functioning and maintanance kind of activities would generate of lot of employment in State
4) As supply is more than demand, there would be hell lot of competion among college to attract seat takers. Competion among them will lead to education standards improvements
5) As good number of colleges are established in villages, that leads setting up better facilities in villages (banks (ATMs), post office, police station, transportation, better road connectivity)
6 ) Last but not least, If they don't find takers, these colleges can be converted as Primary or Secondary Education institutions (as under 15 years age group population is more in india, I am sure there will be lot of demand for primary education). this will quench near by village living people educational requirement.

Regarding College Owners, I don't understand, why they are interested in engg colleges establishment when arready AP is flooded with colleges. I think, there is a misconception among these college owners that, it is easy way to earn money.

Babji

July 16th, 2009, 03:27 AM

[India eNews]
Andhra cabinet allots land for industrial park in Visakhapatnam
From correspondents in Andhra Pradesh, India, 15 Jul 2009 8:30 PM - (www.indiaenews.com)

The Andhra Pradesh cabinet Wednesday approved a proposal for setting up an industrial park in the coastal district of Visakhapatnam and allotted over 300 acres of land for the project.

The state cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, approved the proposal for industrial park in Rachepalli village of Visakhapatnam district.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Information and Public Relations Minister J. Geeta Reddy said 334.95 acres of land was allotted to the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) for the industrial park.

In another decision, the cabinet approved giving six acres of land on lease to the Indian Silk Mills, Bangalore for establishing a mini spun silk mill in Anantapur district.

The mill, the first of its kind in Andhra Pradesh, will come up Hindupur mandal of Anantapur district bordering Karnataka. 'The mill will benefit 10,000 sericulturists. They will get additional annual income of Rs.5,000,' Reddy said. She said an action plan would be prepared for modernising Hyderabad's underground drainage and storm water drains at a cost of Rs.10,000 crore.

The minister said the state government has sent a proposal for funding the second phase of Multi Modal Transport System (MMTS) in Hyderabad. The first phase of world class Outer Ring Road (ORR) covering 80 km will be completed in 2010 while the remaining stretch of 80 km will be ready in 2012....

Read more at: http://www.indiaenews.com/business/20090715/208686.htm

Babji

July 16th, 2009, 04:41 AM

Date:16/07/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/07/16/stories/2009071657240400.htm
American Telugus opt for study in India

R. Ravikanth Reddy
Children of Telugu migrants keen on studying in State’s engineering colleges
TANA group ties up with JNTU for seats under 15 p.c. NRI quota
JNTU expects 100 US students this year, course fee to be $2,500 p.a.

HYDERABAD: American Telugus are returning to India, not to trace their roots but in search of quality education. Sounds strange, but children of Telugu migrants shattered with recession are looking at universities in Andhra Pradesh for taking up engineering education.

For them it works in three ways – much cheaper than US, staying with their grandparents for four years and easy admission in the best institutions here. Interestingly, people who opted for US universities once upon a time want to send their children back to India. “They all understand the quality of education offered since they were part of it once and it is dirt cheap compared to the US,” says Mohan Nannapaneni, Secretary of Telugu Association of North America (TANA).

Mr. Mohan along with Raghu Korrapati, Commissioner for Higher Education, State of South Carolina has started a group assisting American Telugu students showing keen interest. “We received more than 1,000 requests when we floated the idea and it reflects the popularity of Indian education,” he says.

The group forged an alliance with the JNTU Kakinada for seats in the B.Tech, M.Tech and Ph.D courses under the 15 per cent supernumerary quota especially created for the NRIs. The NRI quota was already in existence but there was little response earlier. But JNTU Kakinada Vice-Chancellor, Allam Appa Rao promoted the concept in the US using the alumni network and it worked. He also sent two officials to the TANA conference recently where it was widely received. “We are expecting around 100 students this year,” he told The Hindu.
Online courses

Unlike local students they will get admissions directly and the course fee would be just US $2,500 per annum. The same course in US would cost them US $50,000. As of now, M.Tech and Ph.D courses would be offered online while B.Tech students have to come to India. Prof. Appa Rao argues that university colleges continue to maintain their reputation abroad and parents who were products of these colleges hold them in high esteem. He credits APSCHE Chairman K.C. Reddy for conceptualising the NRI quota.

Dr. Raghu admits recession as the reason for this but it is also being realised that Indian education is a fabulous combination of quality and affordability. Moreover, there is also the emotional angle of exposing children to Indian culture. “This is a great opportunity for NRIs to work on their dream of getting Ph.Ds while working in USA,” says Mr. Mohan.

portsez

July 17th, 2009, 08:29 AM

Sub: Developing a sea port between Durgarajupatnam & Thoopulipalem in Vakadu Mandal of Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh under PPP mode – - Regarding.

*****
This is to inform all the prospective investors and venturecapitalists that there is sufficient scope for developing a sea port between Durgarajupatnam& Thoopulipalem in Vakadu mandal of Nellore district in Andhra pradesh. This would give a boost to the economy of the neighbouring Chittoor district as well as the Special economic zone at Sathyavedu and also the M.I.R.& the Interstate South Indian Industrial corridor which are in the pipeline besides giving scope for some more power projects in and around the proposed port.Durgarajupatnam is known for port activity since times immemorial. A team from the ports department also visited the site recently to assess the potential of the port.

In fact Armagon was the first British settlement before they acquired Madras.Am reproducing the following paras from old British records which made particular reference to Durgarajupatnam for your kind perusal and better appreciation of it’s potential as a sea port.

“To Coromandel’s shores, following the trade routes first navigated by the Arabs, then centuries later by the Portuguese and Dutch, the British came in the early 17th century. Seeking a permanent trading settlement and investment in a textile-producing area, Andrew Cogan, the chief agent of the East India Company at Machilipatnam, sent his Factor at Armagon near Nellore, Francis Day, scouting for a place where the Company, established on the first day of 1600, could find ‘cloath better cheape’

By 1612, the Dutch established themselves in Pulicat to the north. In the seventeenth century when the British East India Company decided to build a factory on the east coast they selected Armagon (Dugarazpatnam), a village around 35 miles North of Pulicat, as the site in 1626. The calico cloth from the local area, which was in high demand
Armagon (Armeghon, Armugam).-Village in the Gudur taluk of
Nellore District, Madras, situated in I3? 59' N. and 80? io' E., on the Bay of Bengal. The place is now sometimes called Monapalem,from a neighbouring village with a lighthouse, and sometimes Dugarazu-patnam, from another village where open communication with the sea can be maintained. It is said to be named after one Arumuga Mudaliyar, by whose assistance one of the earliest English settlements on the Coromandel coast, consisting of a factory defended by twelve pieces of cannon, was established in 1625. A lighthouse is maintained at Monapalem in 13? 53' N. and 80? 8' E., which gives a flash every 20 seconds visible 14 miles away, and warns vessels off the Armagon
shoal, 6 miles from shore. The shoal is about Io miles long, and the shallowest patch on it has ix fathoms of water, and lies from 3? to 51 miles east-by-north of the lighthouse. The still water inside the shoal is called Blackwood's Harbour, after Sir Henry Blackwood, once admiral on this coast, who had it charted, and suggested that it would make a practicable harbour. Seven miles north of Armagon lighthouse is Dugarazupatnam, a small village of 2,388 in habitants on the Buck-ingham Canal .

www.maplandia.com/india/andhra.../durgarajupatnam/

www.dgllnoida.gov.in/visaga/ARMAGON.html

The site is 30 km from the NH at Nayudupeta and with in 100 Km from Chennai/Tirupati besides being in close proximity to Tada growth centre. In view of the upcoming MIR/South indian industrial corridor the proposed port based Sez at Durgarajupatnam would bea successful venture for any investor.

Sienna

July 17th, 2009, 09:21 AM

AICTE man arrested

The Central Bureau of Investigation on Thursday arrested Dr K. Narayan Rao, member secretary of the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), while he was accepting a bribe of Rs 5 lakh from an engineering college owner of Andhra Pradesh.
The CBI said the seized amount was the first instalment of the Rs 20 lakh deal struck for giving approval to the college. A middleman, Mr S.B. Subba Rao, was also arrested.
Dr Narayan Rao hails from Andhra Pradesh and has worked in Osmania College of Engineering for nearly three decades and had faced several corruption charges during his stint there. After being appointed in AICTE in 2006 too, he faced several allegations about taking money for granting approvals. Sources said the union minister of State for HRD, Mrs D. Purandareswari, was very upset with his functioning but could not do anything as long as Mr Arjun Singh was at the helm.
However, after Mr Kapil Sibal took over, the issue was referred to the Prime Minister’s Office. The CBI raids were carried out reportedly on the directions of the PMO. AICTE has permitted about 170 new engineering colleges and 100 MBA and MCA colleges in the state last year.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/aicte-man-arrested-980

Unfortunately, Dr Narayan Rao taught us Hydrulics during my Engg Graduation

Babji

July 19th, 2009, 11:11 PM

AP to seek Rs 46,000 cr
By By Our Correspondent Jul 20 2009

Hyderabad, July 19: The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, has asked the finance minister, Mr K. Rosaiah and principal secretary, finance, Mr G. Sudhir, to present the ‘phenomenal’ growth achieved by the state before the 13th finance commission to get more funds.

It was decided to request a Rs 46,336-crore grant from the commission for the next five years. This includes Rs 20,000 crore for irrigation projects, Rs 3,296 crore for infrastructure improvement in villages, Rs 500 crore for modernisation of jails, Rs 4,540 crore for protected water supply, Rs 2,315 crore for ports and airports upgradation, Rs 1,500 crore for Arogyasri and another Rs 1,500 crore for roads.

The Chief Minister said despite the global economic recession and its impact on the economy, the state government could successfully implement all its welfare and developmental programmes including Jalayagnam, Indiramma housing programme and pensions, without any hassles.

He suggested that the officials showcase the achievements of the state government before the finance commission to seek more assistance so that similar programmes could be continued with more vigour in the coming years.

Dr Reddy directed the officials to be fully prepared to impress upon the finance commission headed by Dr Vijay Kelkar about the need for liberal assistance for the massive programmes undertaken by the state government, particularly for Jalayagnam.

Keeping in view the mobilisation of huge financial resources, the state had proposed that important irrigation projects like Polavaram, Dummugudam-Nagarjunasagar Tail Pond, Pranahita Chevella Sujala Sravanti, Uttarandhra Sujala Sravanti, Devadula Lift Irrigation Scheme, Kanthanapalli and Sripadasagar Yellampally LIS be declared as national projects, Dr Reddy said.
Source URL: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/ap-seek-rs-46000-cr-600
btw, there are indications that the Polavaram project would be declared as national projects - soon.

Sienna

July 20th, 2009, 09:03 AM

http://www.andhrajyothy.com/mainshow.asp?qry=/2009/jul/19state32

As it is related to Andhrapradesh, posting here as well. Hope it is ok to post here, Apart from Renewable energy thread from Industries.

for the sake of who don't understand telugu,

Raus Power limited established a Power plant in East Goadavari district(Andhrapradesh) to produce power from Poultry Litter(dried) and Rice husk.As per the Plant incharge Mr. Sridhar,

It's been in operation for the last 4 months
To operate this plant, daily 120 Tonnes of Litter and 50 tons husk are required.
To dry the litter , special boilers are used.
To avoid of the risk of nonavilability in rainy season, 600 ton capacity godown is constructed.
To do away with pollution, EPC(electrostatic precipitator) is being used.
Waste from the plant is being used in brick manufacturing and laying the roads.
The reason why this place was choosen is, near by poultry farms capacity is more than 8 Million (Guess it is almost 40% of total State)
Local farm owners are happy as it is no more issue to get rid the litter

Media says, apart from this place, Chittor(Famous temple town Tirupati is located in this district) also equal potential place for the same.

harsh1802

August 1st, 2009, 08:08 PM

YSR stakes Andhra's claim on Chennai, B'lore airports (http://ibnlive.in.com/news/ysr-stakes-andhras-claim-on-chennai-blore-airports/98305-3.html)

New Delhi: The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister has made a claim that's likely to spark a political reaction, even though it was made in a light vein.

AP Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy said that the international airports in Chennai and Bangalore are almost part of Andhra Pradesh.

"We have three international airports. You are already aware of Hyderabad international airport. As far as we are concerned, even Bangalore international airport and Chennai international airports are ours," Reddy said amidst laughter.

"Since the Bangalore international airport is about 45 minutes from our borders, you see we are building a city there called Lepakshi Knowledge City (http://www.lepakshi.co.in/Default.aspx). Even Chennai international airport is about 40 minutes from our border and we are building a major city and SEZ called Sree City (http://www.sricity.in/media.html) there," he added.

Progress of Sree City (http://www.sricity.in/images/special-economic-zone-projectstatus.pdf)

great india

August 3rd, 2009, 05:48 PM

^^http://www.sricity.in/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/user/sricity
http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=330005
http://www.indopia.in/India-usa-uk-news/latest-news/636420/Business/4/20/4

project looks good, someone make a thread on this.

harsh1802

August 9th, 2009, 12:35 AM

Plan for Tirupati-Srikalahasti metro rail line (http://www.hindu.com/2009/08/09/stories/2009080956490400.htm)

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: A metro rail line connecting Tirupati with other popular temple towns -- Srikalahasti and Kanipakam for the convenience of lakhs of pilgrims visiting Tirumala is proposed by the Tirupati Urban Development Authority.

Detailed reports for the rail line and a BRTS connecting the three pilgrim centres to provide fast mode of transport were being prepared, said Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development Anam Ramnarayan Reddy here on Saturday. Speaking to media persons after reviewing the progress of projects worth Rs.10,000 crore in six urban development authorities, he said UDAs should gear up with comprehensive plans to provide infrastructure, public transport systems and recreational facilities in public private partnership mode. For the Tirupati metro rail project, JNNURM funds could also be utilised.

The government recognised the need to create some more urban development authorities for planned development and Kakinada was one such proposal, he said.

Canal tourism and navigation wherever possible, provision of truck terminals and parking areas were other proposals. On satellite townships, amendments were proposed to the earlier GO and it would be sent soon for Cabinet approval. HMDA Commissioner K. S. Jawahar Reddy, Vice-Chairmen of Visakhapatnam, Kakatiya (Warangal), Tirupati, Vijayawada and Puttaparthi UDAs attended the meeting.

Babji

August 9th, 2009, 01:35 PM

^^ :cheers:

Babji

August 16th, 2009, 02:39 PM

Date:15/08/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/08/15/stories/2009081553120300.htm

PCPIR master plan to be prepared

Special Correspondent
Need for selecting a reputed agency for the job stressed
Kakinada-Vizag region will have a processing area of 269.44 sq.km.
It is resolved to send staff to Gujarat for study

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Master Plan for the proposed Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) will be drafted with unique and high quality features and more public-oriented vision.

The Board of the PCPIR which met here on Thursday evening at the VUDA Office resolved to this effect and underscored the need for selecting internationally reputed and highly experienced agency for preparing the draft of the Master Plan. The Board met under the chairmanship of its Chairman BP Acharya. The Vice Chairman of VUDA and PCPIR, VN Vishnu, District Collector of Visakhapatnam J. Syamala Rao, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of INCAP, KV Reddy, Chief Conservator of Forests in Visakhapatnam PAV Udaya Bhaskar, GVMC Commissioner B. Sridhar, Chief Urban Planner of VUDA, K. Ananda Babu, Zonal Managers of APIIC, District Managers of District Industries Centres of Visakhapatnam and East Godavari and others attended he meeting. The PCPIR comprises of 603 square km. in 110 villages in 10 mandals in Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts. It will have potential for huge investments and employment generation up to 11 lakhs.

The region spreading from Kakinada to Visakhapatnam will have a processing area of 269.44 sq.km. and 334.14 sq.km.of non-processing area. The Board discussed at length various matters relating to PCPIR’s structure and establishment and felt the need for engaging experienced and experts in Master Plan aspects. Environment is also a big challenge in the implementation of PCPIR and it shall be addressed with high priorities.

To draft qualitative and constructive eco-plans, the Board resolved to engage a reputed agency which would give the best proposals.

The Board also resolved to send the staff to Gujarat for study on the PCPIR. Due to lack of understanding, it was mostly thought that the PCPIR and the Coastal Corridor are one and the same, the Board felt and called for taking up campaign to educate the difference and Coastal Corridor is not a part of the PCPIR.
:cheers:

Babji

August 17th, 2009, 02:47 AM

Date:17/08/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/08/17/stories/2009081755030700.htm
YSR to seek national status for seven projects

Special Correspondent
HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has decided to impress upon the Centre the need to declare important State irrigation projects as national projects and extend assistance for completing them in a time-bound manner.

Dr. Reddy who left for New Delhi on Sunday decided to raise the issue during the meeting convened by the Centre to review the drought situation on Monday and request Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to declare Indirasagar, Dummugudem, Pranahita-Chevella Sujala Sravanti, Devadula, Kantanapalli and Yellampally projects as national projects. In addition, the State would also seek the Centre to bear 90 per cent expenditure to be incurred on the seven major projects.
Stress on completion

Interacting with the elected representatives who called on him on Sunday morning, the Chief Minister underlined the need to complete the pending irrigation projects which would ensure making the State drought-proof. The government had, therefore, commissioned works on 84 projects with an estimated Rs. 1.76 lakh crore to irrigate 1.3 crore acres of land. Of these, 12 projects had been completed fully and 13 others partially providing water to 24 lakh acres.

Recalling that several eminent persons, including the Prime Minister, had appreciated the government’s ambitious Jalayagnam programme, he reiterated his government’s commitment to complete the pending irrigation projects in five years for ensuring all-round development of the State. Dr. Reddy was critical of Opposition leader N. Chandrababu Naidu for “creating obstacles” in project works ...

Date:17/08/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/08/17/stories/2009081755660100.htm

State may float gas corporation

Staff Reporter

RAJAHMUNDRY: The State Government is thinking of floating its own gas corporation on the lines of the Gujarat State Gas Corporation and others.

Finance Minister K. Rosaiah announced here on Sunday that Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy has been discussing the issue with senior officials and oil and gas industry experts during the last few days.

“We are seriously thinking about it,” he said in reply to a question at a press conference here. Rajahmundry MP Vundavalli Arun Kumar, MLA Rowthu Suryaprakasha Rao and MLC K. Durgesh attended the press meet.

harsh1802

August 18th, 2009, 06:00 AM

^^ Second one is an interesting story. Might be a risky venture.

Babji

August 19th, 2009, 01:16 AM

more on the second one ...
ate:19/08/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/08/19/stories/2009081955660700.htm
A.P. to float new corporation for oil and gas exploration

HYDERABAD: The stage is being set for Andhra Pradesh government to enter into oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) business.

Clearing the decks for floating a new corporation on the lines of the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation from its side, the AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation on Tuesday formally decided to enter into a joint venture agreement with the AP Genco.

The APIIC board which met here approved the new initiative with equity sharing of 51and 49 per cent respectively between the two State-owned entities.

To be christened as ‘AP Gas Infrastructure Corporation’, the new corporation will be involved in E&P activities in oil and natural gas as a facilitator on behalf of the government.

The new entity’s main purpose would be to optimise the utilisation of oil and natural gas available in the KG Basin within the State and create employment opportunities in these areas to benefit youth.

The APIIC, which disclosed the decisions of the board in a press release, however, did not specify whether the new corporation would be entirely State-owned or would seek international collaboration for technical know-how required in oil exploration. Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy recently approved the venture based on the recommendations of the Director-General of Hydrocarbons V.K. Sibal.

Mr. Sibal, who made a presentation on the various aspects and opportunities on August 11, favoured creation of an independent body, at an “arm’s length” to the government, and capable of taking financial/technical decisions.

Pipeline network: The board also approved five per cent equity participation by APIIC in Bhagyanagar Gas Ltd, a joint venture of HPCL and GAIL involved in City Gas Distribution, as well as industrial gas supply in Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Kakinada. Participation of APIIC will facilitate allotment of land to Bhagyanagar Gas at strategic locations to expedite gas pipeline network, so as to ensure gas supply reaches homes at the earliest.

Babji

August 20th, 2009, 01:53 AM

Krishnapatnam Port - Ship with 1 Lakh Ton loading capacity arrives to take iron ore to China :cheers:

Four ships are anchored at port for loading/unloading operations ...
Five more ships are waiting in the Bay of Bengal to anchor at port ...

http://epaper.sakshi.com/Details.aspx?id=240055&boxid=29045404

Babji

August 21st, 2009, 01:54 AM

Date:21/08/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/08/21/stories/2009082154120400.htm
Four laning of Hyd-Warangal road soon

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: The widening of National Highway 202 Hyderabad–Warangal Road into a four-lane one will be taken up soon, said Minister for Transport, Roads and Buildings G. Aruna Kumari here on Thursday.

Responding to a question from B. Venkateswarlu (TDP) in the Legislative Council during Question Hour, she also said that National Highways Authority of India had already proposed widening of the NH 202 stretch from Ghatkesar to Raigiri at a cost of Rs.410 crore under BoT.

Mr. Venkateswarulu said that the stretch was badly damaged between Jangaon and Warangal and needed urgent repairs.

irutavias

August 23rd, 2009, 06:07 PM

harsh1802

August 23rd, 2009, 11:12 PM

Hyderabad: The 'Institute of Biotechnology' and 'Agri Biotech Foundation' was inaugurated by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy on Sunday at the Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU).

Built at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore, the 'Institute of Biotechnology' is equipped with advance equipments for different laboratories including Mark Resistant selection, Genomics laboratory and Transgenic, ANGRAU Vice-Chancellor P Raghava Reddy said.

"All these laboratories will culminate in identifying the desirable trades from different species and once we identify this we can be able to transfer it to the desired crop so that we can be able to imbibe in the variety resistance for a particular pest and disease or tolerance for water-logged conditions or tolerance for drought etc," he said.

"Taking these aspects into consideration we could be able to expect improvement in the productivity in different crop lands. At present we are concentrating on rice, oil seeds like groundnut, sesame, sunflower and also in cotton-crop and maize," Reddy said.

Source (http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/ysr-inaugurates-biotech-institute-improve-agri-ap-782)

harsh1802

August 23rd, 2009, 11:15 PM

AP needs to execute a Regional Expressway plan linking Hyderabad to Vijayawada and Vizag; Something along the lines of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway. Parallel to this, High Speed Rail should also be implemented simultaneously.

The arid regions of land around Hyderabad and Telangana should encourage Industries to set up there, as opposed to setting up on more fertile soil.

I think the four lane extension of Hyd and Vjw is underway with GMR winning the project. I'm sure the current quadrilateral projects that are under way have strengthened the corridor you are talking about.

As per Telangana region, i agree.

Babji

August 26th, 2009, 03:30 AM

Date:26/08/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/08/26/stories/2009082660810700.htm

Proposal for four airports cleared

Special Correspondent
Sites chosen are Orvakal, Jakaranpalli, Ramagundam and Tadepalligudem
State adopts austerity measures in view of the drought situation
‘Avoid air travel and go for economy class instead of executive class’

HYDERABAD: Greenfield airports will be developed at
Orvakal (Kurnool district),
Jakaranpalli (Nizamabad),
Ramagundam (Karimnagar) and
Tadepalligudem (West Godavari)
through private-public partnership route to ensure regional balance, improve domestic connectivity and provide linkage to Hyderabad.

A decision to this effect was taken by the Cabinet at its meeting here on Tuesday on the basis of a study made by the Airports Authority of India according to which these airports would be feasible and viable.

Sources later said the Infrastructure & Investment Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (INCAP) would shortly notify the projects, seeking expression of interest from private parties. The parties selected would be offered incentives like land on lease, infrastructural facilities like roads, water and power. Besides, displaced families, if any, would be rehabilitated at government cost. They would be exempted from paying VAT and land conversion charges.

Highest revenue: Those bidders offering highest revenue to the government would be selected. Construction of an airport would be completed in 36 months after the project was awarded to the party. The PPP conditions would be valid for 30 years and extendable by another 30 months. Approvals would be secured by Civil Aviation Ministry after signing the agreements....

Babji

August 29th, 2009, 03:22 AM

Mega power plant to come up in Srikakulam district

Staff Reporter

Srikakulam: Yet another mega power project of the East Coast Energy Private Limited (ECEPL) – Bhavanapadu thermal power plant – is all set to come up at Kakarlapalle village in Santhabommali mandal in the district.

The 2,500-odd MW plant is being established with an investment of Rs.12,000 crores for which 2,050 acres of government land has been allotted to the ECEPL. In Stage-I, some 1,300 MW will be generated and the rest under Stage II. Up to 70 per cent of coal requirement will be supplied by the Mahanadi Coal Fields Limited and the rest will be imported.

Project general manager P.V.N. Raju told The Hindu that Srikakulam district would emerge as a power hub in the next five years with several power projects in the pipeline. The ECEPL was leading the way, he added. The machinery, including boilers, turbine generator, would be supplied by Ding Fang Electric Company of China for which an agreement had been signed. The project was expected to generate employment to skilled and unskilled workers, particularly to family members of those who had given up their lands for the project. It was also expected to trigger development of ancillary industries, benefiting scores of people and the local economy. The promoters of the project had already entered into an MoU with the Power Transmission Corporation of India for purchase of power. Clearances had been obtained for use of sea water, construction of chimneys and coal jetty. To take care of environmental concerns, the company was adopting super critical technology to reduce green house gas emissions and introduce flue gas conditioning system, resulting in less particulate matter emissions, matching international standards.
source: The Hindu
==============
Date:29/08/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/08/29/stories/2009082951480600.htm
A.P. to complete Jalayagnam projects by 2014
Special Correspondent
HYDERABAD: The State Government is confident of getting national project status for Polavaram and Devadula Lift Irrigation projects and also of completing all the Jalayagnam projects by 2014, said Major Irrigation Minister Ponnala Laxmaiah.

Replying to a question in the Legislative Council on Friday, Mr. Laxmaiah said that the proposals seeking national project status are under consideration of the Union Government. While a high power committee of the Water Resources Ministry cleared the Polavaram project and sent it for the Centre’s approval, it sought clarification on Devadula which was being given, he said.
according to sources: the Mannavaram project of NTPC and BHEL has been confirmed for A.P.
Investment: Rs. 7000 crores == employment to over 30,000 people == GoAP to hand over 750 acres of land for the project at Mannavaram village.
more details soon!

Babji

August 29th, 2009, 10:12 PM

AP income drops Rs 2,000 cr
By By Our Correspondent Aug 30 2009 Hyderabad

Aug. 29: Revenue from key state sectors such as land revenue, registrations, commercial taxes, excise and mining have sharply fallen in the last four months, resulting in drop in the expected income to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore.

Alarmed by this, the finance department is already thinking about a cut in the allocations to manage the situation even before the formal approval of the state Budget.

In the first four months of the present financial year, income from commercial taxes alone went down by about Rs 1,000 crore indicating slower revival of the commercial market.

Similarly, income from land revenue, stamps and registrations have registered a plunge by Rs 250 crore.
“All key revenue earning departments have recorded nearly Rs 2,000 crore shortfall,” said a senior official. “As against the actual target of Rs 13,311 crore, these wings could only receive Rs 11,334 crore up to July end.”
The Centre's decision to allow state governments to raise loans of up to 4 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product has saved the day for the State. With the Centre’s approval, the state has raised Rs 5,000 crore from the open market by issuing government security bonds. “We are once again going to tap the financial market to meet additional requirement for the funds,” said a senior official of the finance department. “This time, we will raise Rs 1,000 crore through sale of government bonds.” The government is also examining the reasons for the steep fall in revenues, especially in the excise department.

The income from liquor has seen a drop since the start of the year. To beat this, excise department had even banned the sale of toddy in and around Hyderabad city.
Source URL: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/ap-income-drops-rs-2000-cr-249

AP gets BHEL-NTPC unit
By By Our Correspondent Aug 30 2009 Hyderabad
Aug. 29: The Centre has finally decided to locate the BHEL-NTPC power equipment plant in Andhra Pradesh. The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, also agreed to set the foundation-stone of the plant on September 6 at Mannavaram, near Srikalahasti in Chittoor. This was communicated to the state government by the Prime Minister’s Office on Saturday.

The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, had announced in June that the foundation stone of the unit would be set in the first week of July.
But with Rajasthan too joining the race for the project, Dr Manmohan Singh had reportedly delayed the decision on the project location. The two Navratnas public sector units had set up an equal-share joint venture last year. NTPC and BHEL will together invest Rs 5,000 crore in the venture over the next five years.

Besides manufacturing power equipment, the venture also seeks to undertake EPC contracting jobs for power projects both in India and abroad.
“This is a historic decision. My sincere thanks to the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, and Dr Manmohan Singh for supporting our state’s cause,” said the Chief Minister.

The government had announced allotment of 750 acres of land at Rs 100 per acre for the Rs 6,000-crore project at Mannavaram and gave the Cabinet clearance a fortnight ago. “The plant would provide direct employment to 6,000 and indirect employment to nearly 25,000 people,” said Dr Geetha Reddy, the information minister.
Source URL: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/ap-gets-bhel-ntpc-unit-255
Date:30/08/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/08/30/stories/2009083057430400.htm
State bags NTPC-BHEL project

HYDERABAD: The State has finally bagged the Rs. 6,000-crore NTPC-BHEL power equipment manufacturing unit...It will now to be set up at Mannavaram, in Chittoor district.

Prestigious: The bagging of the prestigious projectis being viewed as a major success, as Rajasthan was stated to have made a strong bid for its location.
A press release issued by the Chief Minister’s Office said on Saturday that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would lay the foundation for the project when during his visit to Tirupati on September 5 and 6. He would unveil the stone at 10.05 a.m. and that of the Tirupati international airport at 12.05 p.m. on September 6.

Babji

August 30th, 2009, 08:50 PM

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/andhra-pradesh/article11533.ece?css=print

PM to lay stone for NTPC-BHEL project at Chittoor on Sept. 6
Special Correspondent
Photo: CV Subrahmanyam

The State has finally bagged the Rs. 6,000-crore NTPC-BHEL power equipment manufacturing unit... It will now to be set up at Mannavaram, in Chittoor district... The bagging of the prestigious project, to manufacture boilers and turbines, is being viewed as a major success to its efforts, as Rajasthan was stated to have made a strong bid for its location.

A press release issued on Saturday by the Chief Minister's Office said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would lay the foundation for the project when during his visit to Tirupati on September 5 and 6. He would unveil the stone at 10.05 a.m. and that of the Tirupati international airport at 12.05 p.m. on September 6.

The two functions would be attended by Union Minister for Power Sushil Kumar Shinde, Minister for Civil Aviation and Praful Patel besides Mr. Deshmukh.The release quoted Dr. Reddy as saying that the Mannavaram project would be a milestone in the State's development, as it would provide direct employment to about 6,000 persons and indirect employment to 30,000, besides leading to establishment of 400 ancillary industries.

While describing the project's location as an instance of the Centre's goodwill for the State, he thanked Dr. Singh and AICC president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on behalf of the Telugu people.The Chief Minister attributed the success of the State in securing the project to its 'efficiency' and *contribution to the UPA's strength'. He telephoned Dr. Singh on Saturday to convey his thanks for the Centre's gesture.

Dr. Reddy recalled that 750 acres of land had been allotted for the project. He said that the prestigious project was coming to the State with the blessing of the Lord of Seven Hills, who, he said always played his hand in giving the green signal to any scheme aimed at people's welfare. Hence he was dedicating the Mannavaram unit to Lord Venkateswara.
its now official! :cheers:

harsh1802

August 30th, 2009, 08:52 PM

^^ Holy cow....that is a huge project.

Do put in the pic too.

Babji

August 30th, 2009, 08:57 PM

^^ Holy cow....that is a huge project...

:cheers: great job, team YSR! :cheers:

Tirumala to be declared as 'No Fly Zone': Patel

Tirumala, Aug 30 : Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel today said Tirumala Hills would be officially declared as 'No Fly Zone' shortly as part of security measures.

Talking to newspersons here, Mr Patel said, ''Though there was no mandate about this so far but the norm was being followed unofficially.
'' In view of upgradation of Tirupati Airport into International Airport and increasing air traffic in future, it was necessary to make Tirumala a 'No fly Zone' ...

The Minister, who earlier held a review meeting with the officials of Airport Authority of India(AAI) and Renigunta Airport, said Prime Minister Manhoman Singh would arrive here on September five on a two-day visit, would lay the foundation stone for the International Airport on September six...
--UNI (thru NewKerala)

Kewl Batty

September 3rd, 2009, 07:59 PM

Two-tier flyover planned at Benz Circle in Vijayawada (http://www.exchange4projects.com/ROADWAY/twotier-flyover-planned-at-benz-circle-in-vijayawada)
By e4p Correspondent, Thursday, September 03, 2009, 14:42 Hrs [IST] |

The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) plans to construct a two-tier flyover at Benz Circle to ease traffic congestion.

The two-tier flyover is estimated to cost around Rs 90 to Rs 100 crore. The VMC is to submit the report to the Union Government for sanction of funds under JNNRUM programme.

The two-tier flyover is expected to enable vehicle users to move to the other side of the crossroads on Bandar road as well as NH 5. While a tier of the flyover is likely to carry the traffic moving in the direction of Skew bridge to Ramavarappadu and vice-versa, another is meant for the vehicles coming from the Police Control Room side and going towards NTR Circle, Patamata and vice-versa.

Babji

September 13th, 2009, 01:15 AM

PM to launch YSR project
By By Our Correspondent Sep 13 2009 Hyderabad

Sept. 12: The Centre has agreed to name the NTPC-BHEL project after the late chief minister, Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy.

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, would inaugurate the project at Mannavaram in Chittoor within a week. The Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, has invited the Prime Minister to inaugurate the project. Rajasekhar Reddy had wanted the project to be inaugurated on September 16 or 17.

Talking to mediapersons at the Secretariat, Mr Rosaiah said he would strive for completion of projects started during YSR’s time. “There were many projects which were to be inaugurated by YSR. I will try to start them on time,” Mr Rosaiah said. He added that efforts are on to bag the Iffco fertiliser project for the state. Answering queries regarding changes in the administration, Mr Rosaiah assured that major problems would be sorted out soon. The Chief Minister said that because of his age he is unable to spend much time on governance. He promised that he would try to spend 14 hours a day on administration.

Taking a cue from the Centre’s austerity measures, the Chief Minister announced that he would travel only by economy class henceforth. Talking to this newspaper, he made it clear that he would all his ministers to follow the Centre’s restrictions to beat the slow down. He informed that he would ask all the IAS and IPS officers to restrict their travel expenditure.

He disclosed that government has plans to give fresh instructions on saving energy in offices, consumption of stationery among others.
Officers have been asked not to buy new cars and proposals from the Chief Minister’s Office to buy two new cars were also withdrawn.
When asked about reports that the director-general of police, Mr S.S.P. Yadav, would be sent out, Mr Rosaiah said he also read the reports but was not thinking about such a move now.
Source URL: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/pm-launch-ysr-project-408

Date:13/09/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/09/13/stories/2009091353660400.htm
National status for Polavaram likely by next month: Ponnala
Special Correspondent
KODURU (Krishna district): Minister for Major and Medium Irrigation Ponnala Lakshmiah on Saturday expressed confidence that the Centre will confer the status of national project on Polavaram project latest by the first half of October.

Addressing a meeting after unveiling a statue of late Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy here, Mr. Lakshmaiah said that the Central team that arrived on Saturday would complete its study on Sunday and could submit its report in a week.

Decision soon: The Union Cabinet at its first sitting after that, either in the last week of this month or in the first week of October, was likely to favourably decide on the national status for the project.

Paying rich tributes to YSR for his vision in placing emphasis on irrigation projects, Mr. Lakshmaiah said that the government would endeavour to complete the Polavaram project by the end of 2013 as wished by Dr. Reddy. He admitted that the Pulichintala project, another favourite project of Dr. Reddy, had been badly delayed due to several legal hurdles. In any case, water would be impounded in the project by next June, he asserted.

Mr. Lakshmaiah favourably responded to an appeal made by former Minister Mandali Buddha Prasad to name after YSR, the double lane road being laid on the Krishna bund from Vijayawada to Puligadda in Diviseema area at a cost of Rs.135 crore.

Babji

September 13th, 2009, 01:45 AM

Date:13/09/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/09/13/stories/2009091353420400.htm
IFFCO unit at Nellore

Special Correspondent
All YSR’s projects will be completed, says Chief Minister
Foundation stone to be laid tentatively around Sept. 20

HYDERABAD: The Centre has decided to locate the fertilizer factory project proposed by IFFCO in Nellore district.

A formal communication to this effect is expected from the Centre anytime now, Chief Minister K. Rosaiah told reporters here on Saturday. This was confirmed by former Chief Minister N. Janardhan Reddy who telephoned him from New Delhi after meeting the Prime Minister.

Mr. Rosaiah said several States vied for the NTPC-BHEL power plants equipments project but it was finally given to Andhra Pradesh and this was also due to the relentless efforts made by YSR. He disclosed that the Prime Minister had given his nod to lay the foundation-stone for the project tentatively around September 20...

harsh1802

September 13th, 2009, 01:49 AM

^^ Good pieces of news there. Looks like things are falling bck to normal in the AP secretariat.

Kewl Batty

September 18th, 2009, 07:10 AM

Tirupathi to get Metro Rail By 2019 (http://www.india.com/news/india/tirupathi_get_metro_rail_6254)
September 18, 2009, 12:14 am

If all goes well the temple town of Tirupathi will have a Metro rail system in ten years, effectively solving the traffic congestion in the city.

Tirupati MP Chinta Mohan wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to pitch in for the metro rail project in the city, stating that apart from Tirupati temple, Krishnapatnam sea port, Sriharikota space research centre, Mannavaram, Tirupati international airport and the world-class railway station in Tirupati could form part of the metro rail corridor.

A metro rail project would be the third jewel in the crown for Tirupathi where a heritage corridor project and a 200-bed exclusive children's hospital are under way. On Spetember 11, it was reported that Rs 2000,000 crore were allotted to fund the the Metro Rail System in India. The Rs 2 lakh crore would be invested in the next 10 years and will cover a total of nine cites.

Besides Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chennai, projects will be launched in Pune, Lucknow, Kanpur, Ahmedabad, Ludhiana, Kochi, Indore and Chandigarh.

Babji

October 2nd, 2009, 12:52 AM

Andhra Pradesh Govt signs MoU with PCPIR

Hyderabad, Oct 1 : Andhra Pradesh Government today signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with the Centre for Petroleum Chemicals and Petrochemical Investment Region(PCPIR) between Visakhapatnam and Kakinada.

The MoU was signed by Principal Secretary, Industries, B Sam Bob on behalf of the State Government while Joint Secretary, Petrochemicals, Neel Kamal Darbari represented the Centre in the presence of Secretary, Petrochemicals, GOI, Bijoy Chatterjee, APIIC CMD B P Acharya and other senior officials at New Delhi, a CMO release said here today.

Expressing his happiness on the signing of the MoU, Chief Minister K Rosaiah said, today is a golden letter day in the history of the State, as it takes a big leap on the industrial front.

Lauding the achievement, Mr Rosaiah said, PCPIR was one of the dream projects of former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.

It may be recalled that the state government has announced a policy for PCPIR between Visakhapatnam-Kakinada in May 2007.

The objective was to create world class infrastructure like widening of roads, rail links, upgradation of airports, seaports, power supply and water supply, among others, at an estimated cost of Rs 19,031 crore. This would attract global investments, leading to large-scale employment generation in the State, the release added. --UNI
New Kerala.com

Babji

October 2nd, 2009, 01:12 AM

Date:02/10/2009 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2009/10/02/stories/2009100251701700.htm
BSNL to invest Rs 3,000 cr in AP

Our Bureau

Hyderabad, Oct. 1 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) has earmarked Rs 3,000 crore for developing infrastructure for its broadband, landline and cellular services in Andhra Pradesh.

3G services: The investments would go into buying and establishment of necessary equipment to launch 3G services, Mr T.N. Sudhindra Kumar, Chief General Manager (Telecom-AP) of BSNL, said.

The Chairman and Managing Director had recently announced in Hyderabad that the 3G services would be rolled out in the State from November.
formation day

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday to mark the BSNL Formation Day, Mr Sudhindra Kumar said the company has a market share of 57 per cent in broadband segment with a subscriber base of three lakh.

He said the company had huge demand in the urban and semi-urban areas for broadband connections.

BSNL launched mobile advertising service for its cellular service users, allowing them to earn some money for viewing some advertisements on their mobiles.
The Hindu Business Line

Vara123

October 2nd, 2009, 04:34 AM

Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals and Government of Andhra

http://www.webnewswire.com/node/467529

Pradesh sign MoU to set up a Petroleum Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR)
Submitted by editor on October 2, 2009 - 01:00
In pursuance of the PCPIR policy of the Government of India and the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in February 2009, the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Government of India entered into a Memorandum of Agreement earlier today with the Government of Andhra Pradesh to set up a PCPIR in the Vishakhapatnam – Kakinada region of the State. The PCPIR policy is a window to ensure the adoption of a holistic approach to the development of global scale industrial clusters in the petroleum, chemical and petrochemical sectors in an integrated and environment friendly manner. The idea is to ensure the setting up of PCPIRs in a planned manner with a view to achieve synergies and for value added manufacturing, research and development.

Government of Andhra Pradesh proposes to set up a PCPIR at Vishakhapatnam-Kakinada-Rajahmundry within the Vishakhapatnam and East Godavari Districts of Andhra Pradesh covering an area of 603.58 sq. kms. This will include a Processing Area of 269.44 sq. kms, which is approximately 44.64% of the total area and hence in conformity with the PCPIR policy that states that the minimum processing area for the PCPIR will be about 40% of the total designated area. The balance 334.14 sq. kms will be used as Non-Processing area and will include residential, commercial and other social and institutional infrastructure.

The State Government has proposed to notify the delineated area of AP PCPIR under Section 13(1) of The Andhra Pradesh Urban Areas (Development) Act 1975. The nodal agency for implementation will be Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (APIIC).

The total industrial investment in the Andhra Pradesh PCPIR is estimated at Rs. 343,000 crore including committed investment of Rs. 1,63,890 crore. The direct and indirect employment in the PCPIR is estimated to be about 5.25 lakh and 6.73 lakh persons respectively.

The proposal envisages development of physical infrastructure such as roads, rail, air links, ports, water supply, power etc. at a cost of Rs. 19,031 crore. The PCPIR policy provides that infrastructure will be created/upgraded through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to the extent possible. Central Government will provide the necessary Viability Gap Funding (VGF) of approximately Rs. 1,267 crore subject to VGF guidelines existing from time to time.

The delineated region has a strong industrial base comprising HPCL’s Visakhapatnam refinery, two pharma Special Economic Zones (SEZs), three fertiliser plants and a pharma manufacturing complex. Government of Andhra Pradesh has identified Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and a GMR led consortium as the Anchor Tenants in the proposed PCPIR. The GMR led consortium proposes to set up a 15 MMTPA refinery and a 450,000 MTPA Polypropylene Unit in Kakinada SEZ with an investment of Rs. 31,000 crore.

The State Government has already conducted a preliminary Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) while submitting its proposal and is committed to a detailed EIA subsequently. All existing labour laws of the country would be applicable in the PCPIR. SEZs in the region, if any, would be governed by special laws, as approved by Government of India.

Babji

October 3rd, 2009, 12:52 AM

Date:03/10/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/10/03/stories/2009100350860200.htm
Prestigious appointment

Chief Project Coordinator, Institute of Development and Planning Studies, Vizag, R.V. Rama Rao, is made member of the PM’s National Review Committee.

Date:03/10/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/10/03/stories/2009100354630500.htm
Five major thermal power plants in pipeline

R. Jagadeeswara Rao
Need to revive Bhavanapadu port stressed
Bhavanapadu connected by rail and road, says expert
It offers a gateway for development

VISAKHAPATNAM: Five major thermal power plants with a capacity to generate nearly 10,000 MW of power, to be located in five different parts of Srikakulam district, are in the pipeline. These include
the East Coast Energy at Santhabommali, NCC-Infra at Sompeta,
Meghavaram Power project at Santhabommali,
Surya Chakra at Itchapuram.
The total estimated investment, according to experts, is of the order of Rs.45,000 crore. These require transport facilities for movement of huge amounts of coal as also machinery. According to recent reports, the Government had also decided to set up an atomic park in Ransthalam mandal of Srikakulam district.

It was in this background that the need to revive the Bhavanapadu port is being stressed. Heavy silting in the dredged channel and disturbances due to high waves near the entrance were the main problems that resulted in the port being in disuse for a long time. Successive Governments promised to revive the port but nothing came of those assurances.

According to R.V. Rama Rao, Member, National Expert Appraisal Committee on Thermal Power Plants, Bhavanapadu is ideally located to cater to the needs of the proposed thermal power projects. It is also in tune with the national policy of promoting coastal shipping and the Environmental Ministry’s policy of not permitting development of new minor ports, Mr. Rama Rao said. It has many advantages which include its ideal location and well connected rail and road network.

When developed, it would be the only operational port strategically located between Visakhapatnam and Dhamra (in Orissa) ports, covering a coastline of about 120 km. It offers a gateway for development and exploitation of mineral sources like manganese, bauxite, and granite occurring in huge quantities in the hinterland of Srikakulam district. According to Mr. Rama Rao, designs for the development of port had already been developed.

Instead of individual managements developing facilities for their thermal power plants, development of Bhavanapadu port would meet their requirements in a better and cheaper way, Mr. Rama Rao asserts.

Babji

October 3rd, 2009, 11:22 PM

Date:04/10/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/10/04/stories/2009100450050100.htm
Srisailam powerhouse submerged

M. Malleswara Rao

HYDERABAD: The right bank powerhouse of Srisailam dam was submerged on Saturday when the water discharge from the dam reached a high of 25 lakh cusecs after its first crest-gate was opened for the first time in 20 years.

But for the precaution taken in time by the AP Genco in stopping generation and closing this powerhouse as well as the 900 MW tunnel powerhouse on the left bank (900 MW) on Friday night, the submergence would have caused a catastrophe, killing hundreds of engineers and others.
Second submergence

This was the second submergence of the 770 MW powerhouse in 11 years, the first being on October 14, 1998 when the Krishna, like now, unexpectedly received a huge inflow of about 10 lakh cusecs. At that time too, the powerhouse was shut down similarly as a precaution. The government spent over Rs. 70 crore to salvage the equipment and make the station operational.

G. Adiseshu, Director (Hydel), AP Genco, told this correspondent from Srisailam that they had decided to close the power houses minutes after the first indication was available that the inflows would cross 20 lakh.

The submersion of the powerhouse, which lies at the foot of the dam on the right side, took place in spite of the retention wall constructed along with the dam isolating it from the river course as a protection. After 1998 mishap, the height of the wall, indeed, was increased far beyond the powerhouse building. Officials, however, suspect that the water this time might have also entered from gaps in the rear of the building. According to an estimate, the salvaging of the seven turbines (each 110 MW capacity) along with the generators, stators and other equipment which were flooded, will cost Rs .100 crore.

As the salvaging will take about 45 days, the State will have to forgo generation for this period. The loss this way will be in hundreds of crores as otherwise the Transco will have to purchase power at Rs. 3 per unit from outside sources.

The generation, however, can be started at the left bank powerhouse when the high level flood subsides.

Flood havoc continues
http://www.hindu.com/2009/10/04/stories/2009100450370100.htm

Massive relief operations launched
http://www.hindu.com/2009/10/04/stories/2009100450280100.htm

Armed forces intensify rescue operations
http://www.hindu.com/2009/10/04/stories/2009100455880800.htm

Highway converted into Air base
http://www.hindu.com/2009/10/04/stories/2009100454560400.htm

http://www.hindu.com/2009/10/04/stories/2009100453750300.htm

Srisailam twelfth gate opened for the first time in 20 years
http://www.hindu.com/2009/10/04/stories/2009100454450400.htm

Babji

October 3rd, 2009, 11:52 PM

Date:04/10/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/10/04/stories/2009100455220500.htm Back

Nature’s fury

Krishna roars: A truck is submerged as river Krishna flows dangerously over NH-7 at Rangapuram, near Beechpally in Mahabubnagar district.

Babji

October 8th, 2009, 01:58 AM

Date:08/10/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/10/08/stories/2009100852040300.htm
Rosaiah to lay stone for Singareni power plant

Special Correspondent
HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K. Rosaiah will shortly lay the foundation stone for the long-planned Rs. 2,700-crore, coal-based 600-MW power plant of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) at Jaipur near Mancherial in Adilabad distict.

At a meeting in the Secretariat on Wednesday, S. Narsing Rao, SCCL Chairman and Managing Director, informed the Chief Minister that 1,900 acres of land had been acquired for the project and everything was ready for launching it. APTransco would soon sign an agreement with the SCCL to buy power from the project.

The Chief Minister appreciated the performance of the SCCL while, Mr Rao, in turn, told him that his undertaking would not allow AP Genco power stations to suffer for want of coal. He estimated the total coal reserves of SCCL in Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam districts at 9,384 million tonnes.

Babji

October 12th, 2009, 09:52 PM

Date:13/10/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/10/13/stories/2009101355210900.htm
Andhra wins bid for oil and gas blocks in KG basin

K. Venkateshwarlu
HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh achieved a significant breakthrough in its quest to have a pie in the Krishna-Godavari Basin when it successfully won the bid for oil and gas blocks through the eighth round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) in the auction held in New Delhi on Monday.

The newly-formed Andhra Pradesh Gas Infrastructure Corporation (APGIC, a joint venture of AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation and AP Genco) participated in the auction as part of the ONGC-led consortium for all the five blocks. The success meant Andhra Pradesh has become the second State in the country after Gujarat to bid for the oil and gas blocks through NELP.

The consortium won the bid for a deep water block (D6) with projected investment in the next five years expected to be Rs. 200 crore for seismic survey, APGIC’s contribution being Rs. 20 crore. Of the four shallow water blocks, the consortium won three, while the remaining one was won by Cairn Energy. The projected investment in these blocks is estimated to be Rs. 1,400 crore in the next four years and the APGIC’s contribution would be Rs.140 crore. ONGC is the lead partner of the consortium with 40 per cent stake, British Gas 35 per cent, Oil India 15 per cent and APGIC 10 per cent.

“It is a major achievement for just over a month-old APGIC having been incorporated on September 2,” an elated B. P. Acharya, chairman and managing director of APIIC told The Hindu. Explaining the minor stake as strategic, Mr. Acharya said the consortium with the presence of big companies will bring in the required technical expertise to expedite exploration in KG basin area and optimise gas utilisation in the State.

Sources said it was on the advice of the experts that the State finalised this strategy of participating in the bidding process as a partner.

Babji

October 17th, 2009, 01:08 AM

Date:17/10/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/10/17/stories/2009101759800400.htm
WB approves $320 mn. loan for road project

Loan meant for improving quality, capacity and safety of roads across the State
Project also involves maintenance of 6,073 km of core road network
State to provide 20% additional viability gap subsidy from budget, if required

HYDERABAD: The World Bank has approved a US $ 320 million (approximately Rs. 1,500 crore) loan for improving quality, capacity and safety of roads in the State.

The World Bank board gave its approval to the loan which forms part of the US $ 720 million (about Rs. 3,500 crore) Andhra Pradesh Road Sector Project meant for upgradation of over 420 km of priority State highways in two phases – 277.7 km in phase I and 147.2 km in phase II. The project also involves maintenance of 6,073 km of core road network under long-term performance-based maintenance contracts.

Viability gap subsidy: The loan was sought for developing high-density traffic corridors under the Public Private Partnership arrangement through toll revenues and viability gap funding from the State and Central governments.

While the Centre will provide viability gap support of up to 20 per cent, the State government will provide up to 20 per cent additional viability gap subsidy from its budget, if required.

PPP mode: According to the Project Information Document, the State government has proposed developing five roads--Chittoor-Puttur, Kurnool-Devarakonda, Kandi-Shadnagar, Mydukur-Jammalamadugu and Jagityal-Peddapalli--under the PPP mode. The newly sanctioned loan will finance the cost of feasibility study, consultancy services and other aspects while it will also incorporate the road safety component involving demonstration projects on selected CRN corridors.

Resource leveraging: The project will help strengthen the State government’s ability to leverage its own resources with private sector financing for road infrastructure.
“This will help in attracting private sector participation in financing, development and management of selected high-traffic density corridors,” the PID said.

The bank expressed concern over the road safety problem which was serious and deteriorating as seen by the significant rise in the number of accidents. The lack of coordination between the multiple agencies involved had turned out to be a serious issue and the situation was likely to deteriorate further unless strict measures were taken by the relevant agencies.

Babji

November 14th, 2009, 01:49 AM

SEZ for aero sectors in Andhra Pradesh
Hyderabad, Nov 13 : Aviation Entrepreneurs from Andhra Pradesh (SAMUHA) will set up a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for civil and military aero sectors at Lepakshi in Anantapur district.

Speaking at a luncheon session here with a visiting aerospace delegation from the US today, Andhra Pradesh Principal Industries Secretary Sam Bob said companies like Tata and Nova were already setting up aerospace units on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

Urging corporates in United States to explore the possibility of investing in new SEZ coming up in the state, he said the state was an ideal place for business investments in several sectors, including the fast growing aerospace industry. Mr Karen Zens, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Head of the US-delegation, said the delegation was touring different parts of the country over the last one week. Consul General of American Consulate (Hyderabad) Mr Conrnelis M Keur opined that ''Andhra Pradesh is a safer place for investments.'' He also thanked the CII for hosting the interactive session with the visiting US aerospace team.

In his address, Mr S Balaji, Managing Director, Lepakshi Knowledge Hub Private Limited, said ''India is the second largest buyer of arms and armaments in the world and expected to spend 80 billion US dollar for buying in the next five years. Mr Shakti Sagar, CII Vice-Chairman (Andhra Pradesh) and MD of ADP Private Limited, said the Indian aerospace industry was one of the fastest growing aerospace markets in the world.

The rapid growth of the sector in India has attracted major global aerospace companies into the country, he said. ''India is seen as a major hub for MRO units and it is estimated to grow at 10 per cent,'' he said. --UNI
source: NewKerala.com thru Rediff

Date:14/11/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/11/14/stories/2009111454390400.htm
Knowledge hub to house copter units
Units for manufacturing helicopters, their components and an aerospace management school planned at Lepakshi Knowledge Hub in Anantapur district

HYDERABAD: Two companies and a university are planning to set up units for manufacturing helicopters, their components and aerospace management school at Lepakshi Knowledge Hub in Anantapur district, which is coming up on a sprawling 10,000 acre site.

This was disclosed to reporters here on Friday by the hub’s MD S. Balaji on the sidelines of a CII-organised ‘Luncheon Session’ with a visiting US aerospace delegation. He said that an Australian company was likely to firm up proposals to establish an integrated helicopter unit from design to manufacturing and training in an extent of 500 acres. Representatives from the company visited Chilamattur mandal, where the hub would be located and held discussions. They also wanted to promote aviation leisure, he added.

A city-based firm, SKM Technologies was allotted 50 acres for establishing a helicopter components unit. The company has a tie-up with an American firm. Canada-based Concordia University had signed a MoU for setting up an aerospace management school.
Cluster

Mr. Balaji said the hub was developing an aerospace and defence cluster in an area of 1,500 acres and informed the delegation that there was an opportunity to promote a “US Specific Cluster’ to attract American firms either directly or through joint ventures to maximise the benefits under the defence offset policy.

He said the Indian Institute of Science is mulling to set up its campus for under-graduate courses on a 1,000-acre site. Karen Zens, Deputy Assistant Secretary, US Department of Commerce, said the delegation was looking for both, Indian partners and market. US Consul General Cornelis M. Keur said the trade between the two countries doubled in the last five years and it was expected to grow exponentially in the days ahead.

Sam Bob, Principal Secretary, Industries and Commerce and Shakti Sagar, vice-chairman, CII AP and MD, ADP Pvt Ltd also spoke.

Babji

November 20th, 2009, 01:51 AM

Foundation for CCI facility in SEZ laid

Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh, Nov 19 : Logistics major, A S Cargo Movers (P) Ltd, today laid the foundation stone for construction of a state-of-the-art manufacturing and warehousing facility centre for US-based Control Components (India) at Sri City Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Satyavedu in the district.

The exclusive 500-acre facility will be equipped with state-of-the-art transshipment facilities and 3PL services.

In his address, Cargo Movers Managing Director Amar Rehman said "Control Components (India) (CCI) has chosen Sri City for its strategic location and its well-conceived plan for a world-class business destination.

''We will invest Rs ten crore in this facility and plan to invest about Rs 100 crore in the development of the world class facility, which is nearer to Chennai located on NH-5.

Sri City Managing Director Ravindra Sannareddy said ''Control Components from the US is one of the leading players in the business and attracted several multinational and top-league companies from both India and overseas." ''Currently, over 20 companies, both multinational and leading domestic enterprises, have expressed their willingness to set up their new facilities at Sri City.'' Over a period of five years, about 300 companies are expected to operate in Sri City’s SEZ and Domestic Tariff Zone with an estimated investment of Rs 17,500 crore, according to a study by Trammel Crowe Meghraj

--UNI
Sri City Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Satyavedu: leaping forward - one step at a time! :cheers:

jjain

November 24th, 2009, 09:24 AM

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Airports-at-Nizamabad-Ramagundam-unlikely/articleshow/5263081.cms

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has objected to two proposed regional airports at Nizamabad and Ramagundam, saying commercial planes may disturb the movements of fighter jets.

“We received a letter from the IAF that the proposed airports may disturb their plane movements at Bidar and Hakimpet airfields,” a senior official of state infrastructure and investments department said.

Rajasekhara Reddy-led government in 2008 had proposed to set up regional greenfield airports at Orvakal in Kurnool, Jakranpalli in Nizamabad, Ramagundam in Karimnagar and Tadepalligudem in West Godavari.According to the senior official, the government had to cancel the expression of interest (EOI) called last year due to the poor response from bidders.

The government had to add many incentives to lure companies to participate in the bidding. Though the government claimed global recession for poor response from all the 37 bidders, observers attributed the reason to inviable conditions laid down by the government.

As per the new terms, the lease period for land will be for 30 years. It also offered VAT exemption and discount in land registration fee with an offer to lease 1500 acres of land to each airport.

harsh1802

November 29th, 2009, 02:47 AM

Secunderabad station modernisation gets delayed (http://www.hindu.com/2009/11/29/stories/2009112959640300.htm)

Hyderabad: The plans of South Central Railway (SCR) to develop Secunderabad railway station into a world-class facility got delayed with Railway Board extending the deadline for selection of consultant to prepare a master plan of the project to December 24.

SCR issued global tenders on September 26 inviting consultants to sketch the master plan and tenders were to be opened on October 30th.

Safety clauses

Based on its experiences in finalising a consultant for the New Delhi railway station face-lifting works, the Railway Board wanted to include some safety clauses in the terms and conditions before making a choice. Hence, the deadline was extended to December 24, said SCR official spokesperson.

It may be recalled that the Railway Board plans to go in for vertical development of the station with platforms on different floors with each floor housing restaurants, malls, passenger amenities etc.

Comprehensive

The consultant is expected to prepare a comprehensive plan, including the estimated project cost, technical feasibility, real estate scenario, future expansions and other infrastructure recommendations.

Depending on the recommendations, project developers were to be invited for construction of a station of international standards. Interestingly, despite October 30 being the last date for submitting the tenders, SCR had not received any tender applications till the deadline.

Generally, bidders tend to file their tenders only on the last date and perhaps this could be the reason for not receiving any applications. The changes in tendering process were displayed on the ‘ www.tenders.gov.in’ website, informs the spokesperson.

raghussc

January 15th, 2010, 07:36 PM

Source: Sakshi daily

300 ft tall structure currently being built in Yanam ... Qutub minar at 360 ft is the tallest in India and this new structure is going to be the 2nd tallest .... costing 45 crores, reliance pitches in 25 crores and central govt another 20 crores in phases ...

http://epaper.sakshi.com/epaperimages/1412010/1412010-sh-hyd-8/D28742358.JPG

smertin

January 22nd, 2010, 06:35 PM

VISAKHAPATNAM: After a prolonged wait due to procedural wrangles, National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco) has finalised its investment plan for Andhra Pradesh. The public sector ‘navratna’ company, leading manufacturer and exporter of alumina and aluminium, was recently granted lease by the Centre to prospect bauxite ore in the hilly terrains bordering Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts.

Though Nalco evinced keen interest to mine bauxite ore and set up a refinery near here a decade ago, Jindal South West Aluminium Ltd and Anrak Aluminium Ltd (promoted by Ras Al-Khaimah, a constituent of UAE and its Indian collaborators) were granted permission and subsequently allotted land for their alumina refineries near S. Kota and Makavarapalem.

As per expansion finalised by Nalco, its estimated investment in AP will be Rs.5,700 crores. It will have bauxite capacity of 4.2 million tonnes and alumina capacity of 1.4 million tonnes per year. Nalco’s grandiose plan includes an investment of Rs.16,345 crores in an aluminium smelter and a coal-based captive power plant in Orissa’s Jharsuguda district.

Captive power plant
For pre-project activities, Nalco has earmarked Rs.2 crores each for AP and Orissa. The company has already signed an agreement with Nuclear Power Corporation of India to foray into nuclear power and set up a smelter and captive power plant in Indonesia with an outlay of Rs.14,000 crores.

Samata, an NGO responsible for getting landmark judgment from Supreme Court on Regulation 1 of 70, Tribal Land Transfer (prevention) Act, strongly favours entrusting the job of bauxite mining to Nalco to supply the ore to Jindal and Anrak instead of present lease-holder AP Mineral Development Corporation. “APMDC has neither experience nor know-how. Hence, it would be benami mining by Jindal and Anrak. If the job is entrusted to Nalco, the country’s interests will be protected,” points out Samata executive director Rebbapragda Ravi.

However, he made it clear that whether it’s a private or public sector player, adhering to environmental guidelines and proper rehabilitation of project-affected people is a must.

According to a study conducted by Swedish scholar Patrik Oskarsson, the private companies will plunder the bauxite ore and pay less revenue in the form of taxes and duties to the government, whereas Nalco, being in public sector, paid Rs.2,026 crores as against a gross sales of Rs.6,515 crores during 2006-07.

http://www.thehindu.com/2010/01/22/stories/2010012250050200.htm

smertin

January 22nd, 2010, 06:43 PM

VIJAYAWADA: is likely to emerge as an IT hub soon as IT giants are searching for alternative cities and two-tier cities to expand their services. Chief Minister K Rosaiah will inaugurate the IT Park at Kesarapalli village near Gannavaram airport on January 28. Former chief minister YS Rajasekhara
Reddy laid a foundation for the IT park to be developed in 30 acres near Gannavaram at a cost of Rs 425 crore. A sum of Rs 70 crore has been sanctioned in the first phase. Speaking to `Express', IT Park CEO V Udaybhaskar said that the IT Park of Vijayawada is the first-of-its-kind in the entire area offering an array of sophisticated facilities. It has obtained IT/ ITES/ SEZ status. The IT park offers space at a most economical price with low operational costs meeting individual customer's requirement. The Vijayawada IT Park, a prestigious and unique project in coastal Andhra is being developed by L&T Hitech City Limited (a joint venture of L&T Infocity Limited and Andhra
Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited), he added. As Vijayawada region has a good potential of manpower of nearly one lakh professional graduates, including 13,500 engineers from 35 engineering colleges
and 2,600 MCA graduates from 46 colleges, passing out annually, there will
be no dearth of manpower. Statistics reveal that a sizable percentage of Indian software professionals are from Andhra Pradesh and a significant chunk are from Vijayawada typifying the excellent manpower availability for IT/ITES operations in Vijayawada. The district administration is gearing up for the inauguration of the first tower in IT park on January 28. Aesthetically designed and constructed by L&T, the first phase of the project Medha has been completed with about 2 lakh sq.ft of IT space. The IT CEO said that the the project is being equipped with amenities like food court, fitness centre, business centre, banks & ATMs, help desks,- amphitheatre. He said the building has Intelligent Building Management System, high speed elevators and several other features. The CEO said the Vijayawada IT Zone will provide low human resource costs and low operational costs. He said the high quality hassle-free infrastructure at the most cost effective pricing makes it a true value for money for the companies operating from Vijayawada IT Zone.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Vijayawada+set+to+emerge+as+IT+hub&artid=T3mqKklwrrw=

bobbie501

January 22nd, 2010, 07:03 PM

Wow!! now Vijayawada will rock on IT radar.

smertin

January 22nd, 2010, 07:24 PM

Jan. 21: Andhra Pradesh was among the top three domestic investment destinations in 2009, according to Assocham Investment Meter (AIM) study.
Out of the total investme-nts announced in the country during 2009, Assocham says AP received 8.1 per cent. The state had recorded investment plans to the tune of Rs 1,29,157 crore.
Energy and the real estate were among the major sectors, which attracted maximum investments. The successful commencement of gas production from the D6 block of KG basin helped the state to rank amongst the top three states in attracting corporate investors in 2009.
As per the annual AIM assessment report, the total investment plans of India Inc increased significantly from Rs 13,80,099 crore in 2008 to Rs 15,94,203 crore in 2009. Among the top investment attracting states, Gujarat registered the highest share in domestic investment, followed by Odisha and Andhra.
“The robustness in corporate investment activity on the Indian soil shows how competently the economy has managed to weather the storm of unprecedented global financial crisis,” said D. S. Rawat, secretary general, Assocham.
In terms of sectoral analysis, the Assocham study shows that the power sector was the major investment attracting sector for 2009. The sector attracted investment plans worth Rs 4,14,327 crore with a share of 26 per cent in the overall investment plans. Following the power sector, real estate and energy sectors were amongst the top investment attracting sectors during the year.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/business/ap-among-top-3-investment-hubs-623

smertin

January 23rd, 2010, 04:14 PM

Hyderabad, Jan. 22: The state government inked a pact with the World Bank (WB) for a loan of Rs 3,720 crore to improve roads, water and sanitation facilities in addition to other urban services.
The state and WB officials signed the agreements in the presence of the Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, and the bank country director, Mr Roberto N. Zagha.
The catch in the loan, however, is that except for the portion of the loan given for roads, the WB funds can be claimed as reimbursement only. The state will have to spend on various projects by itself and then claim reimbursement from the WB.
The government will also adopt the “user-has-to-pay” policy for the water supply and sanitation projects in which the community contribution is fixed at Rs 21 crore. This will be 20 per cent of the government’s contribution of Rs 123 crore. The total project cost is Rs 864 crore.
The state aims to benefit 20 lakh people by improving rural water supply and sanitation in 16 districts.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/world-bank-gives-state-rs-3720-cr-885

smertin

January 23rd, 2010, 04:34 PM

BHIMAVARAM: Allam Appa Rao, Vice-Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU), on Friday said the university was making efforts for securing international accreditation as part of its endeavour to meet the world class standards in technical education. The Vice-Chancellor, who was here to take part in a meeting of the principals of engineering colleges in West Godavari district affiliated to the JNTU, told reporters that a contact was established with international bodies and the reputed universities in different countries in this direction. The international accreditation will help the students of JNTU-Kakinada who would like to discontinue their studies at any point of time during the course in the JNTU and pursue their studies in any university of their choice abroad.

Guidelines
As part of conforming to the guidelines for the international accreditation, the JNTU had decided to introduce the research component into the syllabi apart from teaching and lab experiments, Mr. Appa Rao said. He revealed that the JNTU was also contemplating introduction of grading system as an alternative to the present ranking system. The university thought of exploring alternatives with respect to the evaluation system to address the stress factor in the students caused by ranking.

Mr. Appa Rao said the university would take up training programmes on a massive scale for the faculties working in all the 227 affiliated colleges since the technical education was faced with acute shortage of skilled teachers all over the world. Lured by fatty salaries, the best brains obviously preferred jobs in industry to teaching, he observed. In this context, there was an urgent need to update the teachers in teaching and learning methods on a regular basis.

Among the other initiatives under the university’s consideration was introduction of semester system in the first year similar to the other years, he explained.

K. Satyaprasad, Director of Evaluation, G.V.R. Prasada Raju, Director of Academic Audit cell and S. Srinivas Kumar, Director of Sponsored research cell of the JNTU, spoke at the meeting of Principals.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/23/stories/2010012350990300.htm

Babji

January 23rd, 2010, 05:11 PM

more on World bank ...
Date:23/01/2010 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2010/01/23/stories/2010012355640400.htm
State signs 3 agreements with World Bank

Special Correspondent

Agreements pertain to loan assistance of 3,720 crore to fund 3 infrastructure projects
Loan assistance for roads, provision of drinking water and urban infrastructure
The agreements cover the largest loan amount availed of from the bank in recent times

HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh Government signed three agreements with the World Bank on Friday to receive loan assistance of Rs 3,720 crore to fund three projects taken up at a cost of Rs 5,699 crore to develop roads, provide safe drinking in villages, and improve infrastructure in urban areas. The balance amount of Rs 1,979 crore will be provided by the government.

Although the bank wanted to enter into the agreement long ago, but kept the move on hold due to disturbances in the State over the separate Telangana issue. Some components of these projects have, in fact, been started already.

Largest loan amount: The agreements were signed by Roberto Zagha, country director, India, World Bank, Anup K. Pujari, joint secretary (Economic Affairs), Government of India, and senior State Government officials in the presence of Chief Minister K. Rosaiah and others. This is the first time that agreements with the World Bank are being signed in the State for receiving the aid in line with the latest Central policy.

The three agreements cover the largest loan amount availed of from the bank in recent times, as the bank’s share for the Rs 4,444-crore Nagarjunasagar modernisation project is only Rs 2,500 crore.

G. Sudhir, principal secretary, Finance, said
the AP Roads project would get Rs 1,568 crore,
the municipal development project Rs 1,432 crore and
the rural water supply and sanitation scheme Rs 720 crore.
They would be implemented in the next five years but the loans would be repayable over 30 years after a five-year moratorium.
The interest payable on the loans of the first two projects would be only 2 per cent and 0.75 per cent for the last.

Strengthening of roads: The roads project aims at strengthening and widening (into two/four lanes) of 429 km roads with paved shoulders and construction of long-term performance highways for a length of 6,241 km. Under the municipal development project, sewer lines, streetlights, storm-water drains, etc would be provided in towns and cities. The rural water and sanitation project would provide for supply of piped water to 20 lakh people in six districts.

Mr Rosaiah recalled the State’s long association with the World Bank which “aided several innovative poverty-eradication schemes” and assured support to the loans in the State budget. Borrowing by government must not be sneered at, if used to create assets. Mr Roberto Zagha said he was impressed by the strides of development made by Andhra Pradesh and described his bank’s links with the State as “profitable.”

smertin

January 23rd, 2010, 06:45 PM

List of Roads proposed under PPP for four laning (Selected based on traffic intensity, connectivity and IRR) (1252 Kms)

Hyderabad -- Karimnagar-Ramagundam Road (Rajiv Rahadari) 201 Kms
Narketpally -- Addanki Road 213 Kms
Puthalpattu -- Naidupeta Road 101 Kms
Khammam -- Deverapally road 177 Kms
Kadapa -- Renigunta Road 138 Kms
Warangal -- Khammam Road 112 Kms
Suryapet -- Khammam Road 62 Kms
Pericherla -- Thokapally Road 133 Kms
Warangal -- Raipatnam Road 115 Kms

http://www.aprdc.in/projects.htm

smertin

January 23rd, 2010, 07:13 PM

courtesy-swapna,picasaweb.
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/83/dsc00251bi.jpg
http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/7499/dsc00301yk.jpg
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/6663/dsc00255mv.jpg

smertin

January 23rd, 2010, 07:35 PM

courtesy-raunak,picasaweb
http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/8823/dscf2841n.jpg

Babji

January 24th, 2010, 09:50 PM

more on the roads ...
More national highways in coastal districts soon
By By Our Correspondent Jan 25 2010

RAJAHMUNDRY, Jan. 24: With fast changing needs, several new roads and conversion of existing roads to national highways was taken up in a big way in East and West Godavari.

The proposed petroleum, chemical and petrochemical investment region (PCPIR) between Kakinada and Visakhapatnam, and the needs for transportation of hydrocarbons in KG basin, brought out the need for sp-eedy transport, particularly in East, West Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts.

The widening and conversion of road between Kathipudi in East Godavari to Pamaru in Krishna district for a distance of 240 km as NH 214, and another road between Digumarru near Narasapuram in West Godavari to Ongole in Prakasam district as 214 A for a distance of 252 km, have been under progress for the last three years.

This is in addition to a proposal for conversion of present NH 5 between Rajahmundry and Visakhapatnam into six lanes in phase I (from the present four lanes) and to eight lanes in the subsequent phases.

A new national highway is proposed for a distance of 150 km to connect the temple town Bhadrachalam in Khammam district with the commercial city Rajahmu-ndry in East Godavari. This route passes via Rajanagaram-Maredumilli to Bha-drachalam through the Ag-ency area of East Godavari from Rajahmundry.

This new NH is expected to provide speedy transport to the temple town, and an additional facility for Jagadalpur in Chhattisgadh through the Agency area.

This is in addition to another NH from Kakinada to Ashwarao Peta touching Samarla Kota-Anaparti- Ve-magiri-Rajahmundry-Kov-vur-Jangareddygudem for a distance of 165 km.

The NH 214 executive engineer, Mr A. Ramamohana Rao, said that the clearance for both Rajahmundry-Bhadrachalam and Kakinada-Ashwarao Peta are pending. We expect the clearance in the forthcoming Central budget in February/March 2010, the EE added.
Source URL: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/rajahmundry/more-national-highways-coastal-districts-soon-502

smertin

January 25th, 2010, 12:21 AM

TIRUPATI: Decks are being cleared for laying at the earliest the foundation stone for the prestigious electrical accessories plant being jointly floated by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) at Mannavaram village in Chittoor district, announced S. Sivarama Subrahmanyam, the Chairman of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC), here on Sunday. He expected final clearance of the site in 2-3 months to enable the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to lay the foundation stone for the plant.

On his maiden visit to Tirupati after assuming office recently, Mr. Subrahmanyam said that the government had already handed over 750 acres of land to the conglomerate, while the corporation was bent on developing the area by overcoming certain land-related hurdles.

Chief Minister K. Rosaiah had directed the officials concerned to attach top priority to the project by providing power, water and road network on a war-footing. The government was committed to realising the dream of former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy to transform the 2,000 acres around Mannavaram into a major industrial belt, he said and added that the establishment of ancillary units around the project would provide direct and indirect employment to thousands of youth in Chittoor and Nellore districts.

Mineral-rich Seema
Mr. Subrahmanyam announced that a master plan would be unveiled soon to establish industrial units in the mineral-rich Rayalaseema region.

Abundant in minerals but devoid of any initiative to tap the resources, the region promised a lot of potential for development. Similarly, the process of developing the ‘Coastal Corridor’ between Srikakulam and Samarlakota would be speeded up by reviewing the progress with district officials, he added.

Expressing concern over the general disinterest among industrial units towards expanding their base in Hyderabad, given the furore created by the Telangana issue, he dropped hints at the need to develop industrial estates in Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra regions.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/25/stories/2010012555300600.htm

Babji

January 26th, 2010, 02:48 AM

Date:26/01/2010 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2010/01/26/stories/2010012659120300.htm

Railways offers to bear one-third of MMTS cost

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: The Railways has offered to bear one-thirds of the cost of the second phase of Multi-Model Transport System (MMTS) proposed for Hyderabad, if the State Government meets the rest of the two-thirds expenditure.

The cost of this phase which has been proposed to connect Falaknuma with Shamshabad airport, Bollarum with Medchal, Moula Ali with Ghatkesar, Sitaphalmandi and Malkajgiri, and Telapur to Patancheru has been estimated at Rs. 641 crore. The total length of the track covering all these corridors has been adjusted to 106 km compared to 43 km of the first phase. The offer was made by M.S. Jayanth, General Manager, South Central Railway, and Arun Bhagra, Additional General Manager at a meeting convened by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah on pending railway projects of the State here on Monday.

T. Stanley Babu, Advisor, Infrastructure Projects, told this correspondent later that several pending railway projects of the State whose total cost was estimated at over Rs 4,500 crore, had been prioritised. These include
the proposed tracks of Kotipalli-Narsapur (57 km),
Kakinada-Pithapuram ( 21 km) ,
Munirabad-Mahabubnagar (246 km) and
Manoharabad-Kothapalli (149 km).

rizwan3

January 26th, 2010, 03:51 PM

State targets Rs 690 bn IT exports

January 26th, 2010
IANS

Andhra Pradesh has set a target of IT exports of Rs 69,000 crore (Rs 690 billion/$15 billion) and 1.2 million jobs in the IT sector by the end of 2012, Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan said on Tuesday.

Addressing the Republic Day parade at Secunderabad Parade Ground here, he said the IT exports from the state were expected to jump from Rs 32,000 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 36,000 crore in 2009-2010.

Narasimhan said the state government promoted several exclusive IT SEZs and so far created nearly three lakh jobs directly and another five lakh jobs indirectly. Hyderabad had so far attracted 1,300 IT companies.

He pointed out that the estimates of the first half of 2009-10 indicate that the state was recovering fast from the impact of recession. "While economy of India is growing at 6.99 percent, our state economy is expected to register a relatively impressive rate of 7.28 percent in spite of severe drought and unprecedented floods," he said.

Narasimhan said the state achieved impressive 9.14 percent growth which was higher than the national average in 2004-09. In spite of global economic crisis, the government helped the GSDP to grow at constant prices at modest rate of 5.53 percent during 2008-09.

Agriculture and services registered a growth rate of 2.27 percent and 10.06 percent respectively which was higher than the national average.

The governor pointed out that agriculture sector registered phenomenal growth during last five years. The yield has gone up from 135 lakh tonnes in 2004-05 to 204 lakh tonnes in 2008-09.

The governor said the state was "set for another year of adequacy in food production if not a bumper surplus".

On account of shortage of rainfall and floods in Krishna River the advance estimates indicate the production during Kharif 2009 will be slightly low at 68.40 lakh tonnes compared to normal of 97.10 lakh tonnes. "In order to compensate this loss of production in Kharif, 85.54 lakh tonnes against 66.90 lakh tonnes are targeted during Rabi 2009-2010," he said.

Narasimhan listed the development and welfare schemes of the state government. He claimed that the state stood first with the disbursement of six lakh acres to the landless poor.

The government is also implementing the ambitious 'Jalayagnam' programme under which 86 irrigation projects were taken up with a total budget outlay of Rs.179,679 crore. So far, a sum of Rs 48,747 crore was spent since 2004.

bobbie501

January 26th, 2010, 04:26 PM

Efforts on to reassure industry, says CM (http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/3805281)

The Andhra Pradesh Government is taking all steps to reassure the industry in spite of the disturbances in the State over the Telangana issue and doing its best to see to it that the long-term development of the State is not affected, according to the Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah.

He told reporters here on Sunday at the conclusion of his two-day visit to the district that after a small incident pertaining to the HSBC (NYSE:HBC) office in Visakhapatnam in the recent agitation the Government had immediately taken all necessary steps to provide protection and the HSBC management was also content with the measures. The IT companies in Hyderabad were also reassured with the follow-up measures taken by the Government, he claimed.

The State Government was also taking the necessary initiative to instil confidence in the Telugu film industry in the wake of certain incidents in and around Hyderabad in the recent agitation, he said.

The State was passing through a financial crisis in view of the floods and agitations during 2009 and the Government was focusing on fiscal management to overcome these constraints, he added.

Work on SEZ

In response to a question on the proposal to revive regional development councils, the Chief Minister said all such proposals could be considered only after the Union Government had taken a decision on the Telangana issue. “The Telangana issue is in the domain of the Union Government,” he said.

The Chief Minister said the Petroleum, Chemicals, and Petro-chemical Investment Region (PCPIR) coming up between Vizag and Kakinada would be taken up in right earnest and the work on special economic zones would also go on smoothly. The Brandix apparel park in the vicinity of Visakhapatnam was also making progress, he added.

smertin

January 26th, 2010, 10:56 PM

NELLORE: Collector K. Ramgopal hoisted the national flag at police parade grounds on the occasion of the 61st Republic Day celebrations in Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore district on Tuesday.

Municipal Administration and Urban Development Minister Anam Ramnarayana Reddy, MP Makapati Rajamohan Reddy, Superintendent of Police B.Malla Reddy, officials of various departments and public representatives attended the celebrations.

The Collector received the guard of honour from the police and listed out the achievements of various government departments in the last one year in the district. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ramgopal said about 20 mega projects and five Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are coming up in the district which will provide employment to about 1.50 lakh people.

Eight power plants are under construction in Krishnapatnam and Muthukur villages near Nellore city and they would be completed in the next three years. Once the power generation units are set up about 12,000 MW of power would be produced in the district.

The Krishnapatnam Port Company Limited and other industries which started operations are growing fast and very soon Nellore district will become an industrial centre with a host of projects, he said.

The Collector explained about the production of food grains in kharif and Rabi irrigation facilities, loans to farmers, women groups, weavers and physically handicapped persons. He read out the welfare activities being taken up by the government for SC, ST and BCs and students.

The Minister along with the officials visited the tableaus presented by DWMA, ITDA, RWS, AP Housing Corporation, Rajiv Vidya Mission, IKP, Small Savings, Medical and Health, AP Forest and AP Fire and Emergency Services departments on the occasion. Later, students of various government and private schools performed cultural programmes on the occasion.

In Vikrama Simhapuri University, Vice-Chancellor C.R. Visweswara Rao unfurled the tri-colour flag. Registrar V.Narayana Reddy, staff and students participated.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/27/stories/2010012750700300.htm

smertin

January 28th, 2010, 12:47 AM

VIJAYAWADA: Observing that tier-two and tier-three cities are going to be the future destinations for Information Technology (IT) industry, vice-chairman of the L&T Hitech City Limited R. Sridharan on Wednesday expressed confidence that Vijayawada would become a developed city in the next five years as a result of expansion of IT industry here.

“In Andhra Pradesh, Hyderabad has already come to a saturation point with regard to the development of IT industry.

“Now the focus is on tier-two cities like Vijayawada, where the priority is to develop infrastructure and facilities,” he said, addressing a press conference on the eve of inauguration of the first phase of the Hitech City at Gannavaram by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah at 10 a.m. on Thursday.

The L&T Hitech City Limited, a joint venture of the L&T Infocity and the Andhra Pradesh State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (APIIC), commenced the construction of the Hitech City on the 30-acre site at Gannavaram about five years ago at an expected outlay of Rs. 450 crores.

“The Chief Minister will inaugurate the building ‘Medha’ that has a carpet area of 1.75 lakh square feet and constructed at a cost of Rs. 70 crores. We have provided uninterrupted power supply, centralised air-conditioning system, office automation, landscape and communications from all major service providers,” Mr. Sridharan said.

Rate of attrition
To a question, he said that enquiries were coming from several IT companies and some of them, which were based at Hitech City in Hyderabad, were planning to move over here.

“Companies can save expenditure by 25 per cent here as compared to Hyderabad.

“Similarly, there will be a drop in the rate of attrition, as most of the IT professionals are from this region,” Mr. Sridharan observed.

Secretary to the Government (Information Technology and Communications) M. Gopikrishna said most of the special economic zones of the IT industry in the State were located in tier-two and tier-three cities and the works were in progress at many places.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/28/stories/2010012859600300.htm

smertin

January 29th, 2010, 09:57 PM

Hyderabad, Jan 29 (PTI) The state-owned National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) today entered into an agreement with AP Mineral Development Corporation for exploring minerals in four districts of the state, estimated to house nearly 200 million tonne iron ore valued at Rs 40,000 crore. As per the MoU both, the companies will form an equal joint venture company for exploring iron ore reserves and gold in Kadapa, Kurnool, Chittoor and Karimnagar districts of AP and set up beneficiation plants.

The state is expected to get Rs 4,000 crore and Rs 17 crore towards royalties on iron and gold, sources said. The MoU was signed in the presence of Union Minister of State for Steel, A Sai Pratap, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K Rosaiah and NMDC chief Rana Som and other senior state officials.

Sources added that NMDC may also come forward for setting up a steel plant in the state if the iron ore reserves were found to be more than 100 million tonne. "They have also come forward to revive the closed Chigurukunta Gold Mines in Chittoor district," sources added.

http://in.news.yahoo.com/20/20100129/372/tbs-nmdc-signs-exploration-pact-with-and.html

smertin

January 29th, 2010, 10:03 PM

The State Government will soon come out with a new tourism and culture policy which will encourage development of new projects through the public-private participation mode.

The draft policy framework is now under circulation and is poised to be finalised shortly, according to a statement from the Chief Minister's Office.

The policy now under implementation was cleared in 1998 and needs major changes in changed business environment.

Following a detailed review of the sector today, the Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, while directing early completion of ongoing projects, approved some more projects including Night Bazaar at Shilparamanm and establishment of hotel and a parking plaza.

Tourist attractions

The Government is also considering a proposal to develop a Brindavan-type garden at Nizamsagar. The Chief Minister has decided to request the Centre to start Southern Splendour, which will encourage more tourists.

In addition, the Tourism Department will be given more police force to start the ‘Tourism Police' in all the important tourist destinations. Some of the water bodies under the Jalayagnam project will be developed as tourist spots, the statement said.

The Chief Minister felt that since tourism provides large-scale employment there is a need to encourage more projects and strengthen infrastructure.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2010/01/26/stories/2010012652062100.htm

smertin

January 29th, 2010, 10:13 PM

Bangalore: Karnataka, which accounts for more than 50% of granite resources in the country, is slowly loosing its charm, as the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh has started wooing granite quarry developers and granite processing small scale industrial units by offering heavy sops. The trend was clearly visible during the slowdown. As a result, Andhra has been able to pip Karnataka in granite exports in recent years, said RR Hegde, general secretary of All India Granite & Stone Association (AIGSA).

Delay in granting quarrying licence, higher royalty and stringent rules have forced the industry to slowly shift its base to Andhra Pradesh from Karnataka, he said.

Ten years ago, Karnataka accounted for around 60% of foreign exchange earning through granite exports. But at present, Karnataka’s share has declined below 20% while that of Andhra has risen to 40-50%, said R Shiva Kumar, executive member of AIGSA.

On an average, Andhra Pradesh has been collecting Rs 1,500 from the quarry developers as royalty for per cubic metre of granite dispatched from quarry. The Karnataka government has come out with a rule that SSI units can buy up to 16 cubic meters of granite in any colour for processing by paying Rs 14,000 per month.

But, the Andhra government has been collecting royalty under three classes, categorising granite blocks into large, medium and small that benefited SSI units, which buy small blocks. Further, it offered 40% concession in royalty for SSI units during the recession, said Hegde.

But, in Karnataka the average fee of royalty stood at Rs 2,200 per cubic metre and there is no separate fee structure for small scale units. As a result, granite quarry owners used to pass the royalty fee on SSI units when they buy blocks from them.

The total granite reserve in Karnataka is estimated at around 220 million cubic metre. But the government has not taken any steps to tap this potential, Hegde added. “In AP, the grant of lease is decided by a deputy director of mines and geology and applications are disposed within 120 days. But in Karnataka, no new licence was sanctioned for the past 6-7 years,” he said.

In fact, the Union government in 1999 introduced the granite conservation rules (GCR) under the mines and minerals (regulation and development) Act. It is mandatory for all the states to adopt these rules. But it has not been adopted by Karnataka while the Andhra Pradesh government implemented it and has been granting 20-year leases to granite developers, he added.

Of the total Rs 6,226 crore earned as foreign exchange by exporting granite and natural stones in 2008-09, the value of granite exports alone stood at around 60% said R Veeramani, chairman of Chennai-based Gem Granites, and the founder president of AIGSA. The organisation, fixed an export target of Rs 7,000 crore back in 2000. But till date, that has not been achieved.

“Unless and until all states in the country implement uniform policy on granite quarrying, it will not be possible to revive the industry”, he said.

The All India Granite & Stone Association is set to conduct ‘Stona 2010’, the ninth international granite and stone fair, in Bangalore. The four-day event will commence on February 4.

AIGSA would hold a separate seminar in the event to discuss the road blocks in Indian granite industry and pass a resolution demanding that the state governments implement the Granite Conservation rules without further delay.
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Andhra-lures-Karnatakas-granite-players-with-sops/571188/

smertin

January 29th, 2010, 10:27 PM

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/businessline/blnus/27271501.htm
HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh Government has raised the tax on jet fuel to 16 per cent from 4 per cent earlier, a move that will have an impact on airlines operations. The hike will come into effect from February 1, the Principal Secretary (Revenue), Mr Asutosh Mishra, said.

The hike in tax on aviation turbine fuel (ATF) comes as part of the State Government’s drive to enhance various taxes to shore up its dwindling revenues, official sources said.

The hike in ATF has been effected under Section 79 (1) of the Andhra Pradesh Value Added Tax Act, 2005 by amending the Schedule-VI of the Act, as per an order issued by the Principal Secretary. With the tax on ATF in Andhra Pradesh being one of the lowes t in the country, main airliners have made Hyderabad their re-fuelling hub.

“Tax on ATF in other states is 20 per cent now. So comparatively, there will still be a four per cent gap in the tax rate even after the hike. There will be an impact but relatively it will be less,” an executive of an airliner said.

The Andhra Pradesh Government is facing a shortfall of over Rs 10,000 crore in revenues this financial year. Consequently, it enhanced the value-added tax on various items from 12.5 per cent to 14.5 per cent recently and has now hiked the tax on ATF as w ell.

All these measures are expected to yield an additional revenue of about Rs 6,000 crore to the state, according to official sources. — PTI

Luckystreak

January 31st, 2010, 08:26 PM

L&T Hitech City at Gannavaram near Vijayawada

http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/3857/28inhitech2328196f.jpg

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/7010/28inmedha28097f.jpg

Babji

February 1st, 2010, 01:47 AM

L&T Hitech City at Gannavaram near Vijayawada

http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/3857/28inhitech2328196f.jpg

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/7010/28inmedha28097f.jpg

way to go MEDHA! :cheers:

rizwan3

February 1st, 2010, 02:44 PM

Rosaiah to open Brandix Apparel City on Feb. 5

Project to be inaugurated in Vizag will be a boon to cotton and textile industry

Chief Minister also scheduled to lay stone for Coastal Ferro Alloy Unit at Atchutapuram

BIAC venture proposes to provide employment to 25,000 people

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister K. Rosaiah will inaugurate the Brandix India Apparel City (BIAC) at Atchutapuram in Visakhapatnam on February 5.

During a hectic schedule to the port city on February 5 before leaving for New Delhi, the Chief Minister will also lay the foundation stone for Coastal Ferro Alloy Unit in AP Special Economic Zone at Atchutapuram.

In an interaction with senior officials on Sunday after his return from Tirupati, Mr. Rosaiah said that he was sure Brandix project would be a boon to the cotton and textile industry.

He was informed by the officials that BIAC was a 1,000 acre integrated textile and apparel park with all financial and other associated activities, about 50 km. from Visakhapatnam.

Brandix Lanka, which is Sri Lanka’s largest integrated apparel exporter conceived BIAC and manages it. Other global apparel partners from US, Mauritius and UK support the venture. The venture proposes to provide employment for 25,000 people.
Industrialisation drive

A press release from the Chief Minister’s office said, the State Government would go in for a major industrialisation drive with the twin objectives of rapid economic growth and creating significant employment potential. A major programme in this direction with close coordination of top investors, industrialists, Government of India, CII, FICCI and other private players is on the anvil. The new industrial policy will also be revamped to suit this objective and drive of the State Government, the Chief Minister said.

Mr Rosaiah was told that Brandix’s business model encompassed vertical integration and specialisation in key product categories in both ‘woven and knit’ apparel. To achieve its vision, BIAC has created a vertically integrated apparel value chain and to shore up its smooth operation, centralised infrastructure along with common services and facilities were provided at the Park.
Employment

The State Government will go in for a major industrialisation drive with the twin objectives of rapid economic growth and creating significant employment potential, Mr. Rosaiah said.

A major programme in this direction with close coordination from top investors, industrialists, Government of India, CII, FICCI and other private players is on the anvil.

rizwan3

February 1st, 2010, 02:47 PM

Work in full swing to modernise port

Santosh Patnaik

VISAKHAPATNAM: Modernisation is the buzzword at the Visakhapatnam Port with the management doubling efforts to transform it into the most preferred port of South Asia.

As per the roadmap, capacity augmentation is being done to handle 78 million tonnes by 2011-12 and 82 million tonnes by 2012-13. Run by Visakhapatnam Port Trust , the port has locational advantage and excellent facilities. It has so far handled little over 53 million tonnes exceeding last year’s cargo by nearly 1.5 million tonnes.

With good progress in export of iron ore and thermal coal and container cargo compared to the corresponding period last year, the management is confident of achieving a throughput of 65 million tonnes, falling short by two million tonnes to reach Ministry of Shipping’s target of 67 million tonnes. This is due to competition posed by Gangavaram and other ports in the neighbourhood.

VPT has a steady progress in handling cargo over the years by achieving throughput of 55.8 in 2005-06, 56.38 in 2006-07, 64.59 in 2007-08 and 63.9 million tonnes in 2008-09.

Approvals have been received for taking up six projects under Public Private Partnership mode involving an investment of Rs.1,250 crores. They include development of west quay-6 berth for bulk cargo, east quay 10 for liquid cargo in Inner Harbour, mechanisation of coal handling and upgrading general cargo berth to enable navigation of 200,000 DWT vessels and mechanised fertilizer at EQ-7. It is envisaged to develop WQ-7 and 8 with mechanisation to handle alumina, caustic soda and other bulk cargo in the Inner Harbour.

Port Chairman Ajeya Kallam is confident of awarding concessions to most of these projects on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer (DBFOT) basis by March 2010. As part of environmental protection, the port is building a compound wall of seven metres height alongside the east yard and installing material data safety sheet in east yard and ore handling complex.
Panamax vessels

The port has completed the phase-I of deepening the entrance channel and turning circle in the Inner Harbour to facilitate navigation of Panamax vessels with 11 metres draft. The phase-II to handle ships with 12.5 metre draft will be completed by October, 2010. This will be followed by third phase for having facility to navigate Panamax with 14 metres depth. Deepening work in Outer Harbour is scheduled to be completed next year.

Babji

February 2nd, 2010, 05:11 AM

State gets mega power project
By By Our Correspondent Feb 02 2010

Hyderabad, Feb. 1: The Power Finance Corporation has decided to build its second Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) in the state. The 4,000 MW project would be constructed at Nayanapalli in Vetapalem mandal in Prakasam district. With this, the state has attracted nearly 20,000 MW capacity in less than five years.

The latest dole from the Centre may slow down the state government’s own UMPP at Vodarevu which is to be developed by APGenco. The project is waiting for land near the port town, Vodarevu.

Meanwhile, the PFC has submitted land acquisition application to the district collector to the extent of 980.30 acres. Another 618 acres of land which is at present allotted to Vanpic SEZ will be transferred to PFC for the power project.

“The PFC’s decision to locate the project in the state will be a big boost for infrastructure across the coastline. The project will be taken up at an estimated cost of Rs 20,000 crore,” said Mr Vijayanand, managing director of AP Genco.

The PFC team visited the site on January 24 and decided to locate the project there. A Special Purpose Vehicle “Tatiya Andhra Mega Power Limited” has been incorporated by PFC to take up the massive project.

The expert appraisal committee of the ministry of environment and forests held a meeting to study environmental impact of the project.

“The project would be completed in three years from the zero date (the day construction starts). It is based on 100 per cent imported coal,” said a senior official in the energy department.
Source URL: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/state-gets-mega-power-project-888

Babji

February 2nd, 2010, 05:13 AM

Date:02/02/2010 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2010/02/02/stories/2010020257970300.htm
State puts forth four new projects before Railways

HYDERABAD: Apart from the Multi-Modal Transit System (MMTS) phase two project under a revised budget, the government is putting forth four other new projects to the Railway Board. While reiterating the commitment to pick up two-thirds cost of phase two, it has offered to pick up half the project cost for these works.

Under the reduced cost for MMTS phase two, the Government will bear Rs. 427.33 crore while Railways’ share will be Rs. 213.66 crore with total cost at Rs. 641 crore (617 km). New lines are proposed between:
Nadikudi-Srikalahasti (Rs. 1,310 cr – 309 km),
Bhadrachalam-Kovvur (Rs. 745 cr-151 km),
Manganur-Ramagundam (Rs. 770 cr - 200 km) and
doubling as well electrification of line on the Vijayawada -Gudivada-Machilipatnam-Bhimavaram route (Rs.746 cr - 175 km).

Chief Minister K. Rosaiah has consented to the government sharing 50 per cent of cost at a meeting with senior officials of related departments on Monday, official sources said.

A formal letter is also to be sent to Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee and all MPs are also slated to meet her later this week to press her to clear the projects.

Babji

February 2nd, 2010, 05:18 AM

Mannavaram unit won’t be shifted
By By Our Correspondent
Feb 02 2010

Hyderabad, Feb. 1: The Central government on Monday said the Mannavaram project will be set up in Mannavaram village of Chittoor district as announced earlier.

There were fears that the project would be moved out of the state due to present volatile political situation.

The Union minister for industries, Mr Vilas Rao Deshmukh, who was in Hyderabad to present an award to singer Lata Mangeshkar said, “We recently met the Prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and requested him to lay the foundation stone for the project.”

The Rs 6,000-crore power equipment manufacturing unit is expected to provide employment and infrastructure in Chittoor district.
Source URL: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/mannavaram-unit-won%E2%80%99t-be-shifted-910
==
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/states/andhra-pradesh/article98520.ece
PM to lay foundation stone for power project in AP
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will soon lay foundation-stone for the Rs. 6,000 crore power equipment manufacturing plant at Mannavaram in Andhra Pradesh, Union Minister for Heavy Industries Vilasrao Deshmukh said on Monday.

NTPC-BHEL Power Projects Pvt. Ltd., a joint venture between National Thermal Power Corporation and Bharat Heavy Electricals would build the facility at a cost of Rs. 6,000 crore at Mannavaram near temple-town Srikalahasthi in Chittoor district.

The Prime Minister was originally scheduled to lay the foundation-stone for the project on September 6 last year but it was put off following the death of then Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

The State government had allotted 750 acres of land at Mannavaram for the project at a nominal price of Rs 100 per acre as it would provide direct employment to 6,000 besides indirect employment to over 25,000 people.

Deshmukh, who presented a cheque for Rs. 2.5 crore to the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister’s Flood Relief Fund on behalf of BHEL said, there were no plans to shift the project from the State owing to the Telangana agitation and the Prime Minister would lay the foundation stone soon.

The first phase of the NTPC-BHEL project is expected to be ready by 2011-12 and the second phase by 2013-14.

The NTPC-BHEL project would be much bigger than the three-decade old Ramachandrapuram unit of BHEL, which has only 200 ancillaries offering employment to about 5,500. The Mannavaram project would enable setting up of over 400 ancillary units.

BHEL Chairman and Managing Director B.P. Rao, Rajya Sabha member T. Subbirami Reddy and others were present on the occasion.

smertin

February 4th, 2010, 06:05 AM

SBQ Steels Limited, promoted by the Chennai-based diversified RKKR group, has sought the state government’s assistance for capacity expansion of its 500,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) steel plant in Nellore district and also for setting up a 300 Mw merchant-cum-captive power plant.The company proposes to expand the plant capacity to 2 million tpa at cost of about Rs 4,500 crore besides setting up a 300 Mw power plant involving an investment of Rs 1,500 crore.

A three-member delegation led by SBQ chairman Rajiv Rai called on chief minister K Rosaiah on Wednesday and sought assistance for the Rs 6,000-crore expansion programme. Rai sought additional land, which has already been surveyed and identified, for laying a private railway siding and a corridor from the Krishnapatnam port to lay a conveyor.

Stating that the relief and rehabilitation cost involving the acquisition of the identified land would be met by the company, Rai urged the government to notify the land and appoint a commissioner to proceed in this regard. He also wanted the government to allocate low grade iron ore available in Naidupeta.

Rosaiah assured all necessary support and directed the officials to examine the company's proposal. He also directed the irrigation secretary to look into the aspect of additional water requirement for the steel plant.

Rai informed that he wanted to set up an Industrial Training Institute in the area under the existing schemes of central and state governments. All the diploma holders coming out of the institute would be be employed by the company.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/sbq-steels-seeks-ap-govt-support-for-expansion/384532/

Babji

February 5th, 2010, 03:56 AM

Date:05/02/2010 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2010/02/05/stories/2010020559880400.htm
Rosaiah leaves for Delhi on 3-day trip
Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Chief Minster K. Rosaiah left for New Delhi on Thursday evening on a three-day visit to take part in Chief Ministers’ conference convened to discuss price rise and internal security on February 6 and 7 respectively.

Mr. Rosaiah was to leave for Delhi on Friday morning but the visit was advanced to enable him to be present during the Congress Working Committee meeting which will discuss the situation in the State in the wake of appointment of a committee to have wide ranging consultations with all groups and leaders of all regions on demand for Telangana.

He will meet Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee, P. Chidambaram and Veerappa Moily on Friday ahead of Chief Ministers’ conference. He is also scheduled to meet AICC Chairperson Sonia Gandhi during his visit.

The Chief Minister is expected to utilise his meeting with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to press for national project status to Polavaram and seek his time for laying of foundation for NTPC-BHEL project at Mannavaram in Chittoor district. The stone-laying ceremony got postponed after sudden death of Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. Mr. Rosaiah would also request for expansion of Tirupati airport.

High on his agenda is a meeting with Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee to seek sanction of pending and new railway projects and railway lines in the ensuing Railway Budget.

The meeting on internal security would focus on marine security, providing identity cards to fishermen, modernisation of police force, combating of terrorism among other things. He will be back on Sunday evening.

rizwan3

February 8th, 2010, 04:12 PM

Firstobject Tech to set up facility at SEZ, Vizag

Firstobject Technologies announced that as a part of its expansion strategy is planning to set up a facility at SEZ, Vizag.

The company has started interaction with the officials of SEZ, which is known as Visakhapatanam Special Economic Zone.

Shares of the company declined Rs 1.2, or 4.7%, to trade at Rs 24.35. The total volume of shares traded was 56,239 at the BSE (1.46 p.m., Monday).

smertin

February 9th, 2010, 05:49 AM

Hindusthan National Glass and Industries Limited (HNGI) plans to set up a glass manufacturing complex at Naidupet in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh.HNGI joint managing director Mukul Somany on Monday called on chief minister K Rosaiah in this regard.

The complex will comprise two container and one float glass plants.

In his representation, Somany said the mega complex would involve an investment of Rs 1,000 crore.

The company will initially set up a 450-tonne per day container glass plant with an investment of Rs 480 crore. Construction work on the plant would commence by April this year and completed by mid-2012. The plant would employ 1,500 persons directly or indirectly.

Work on the float glass plant, with a production capacity of 600 tonne per day, would begin by early 2012 and completed in two years.

On the other hand, construction work on the second container glass plant would begin in 2014 while production would start from mid-2016, according to a release.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=385070

smertin

February 14th, 2010, 10:02 AM

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh will put in all efforts to achieve additional power generation of 15,945 mw by taking up 17 new power projects in the next four to five years. This will enable the state to meet the growing power demand in all sectors such as agriculture, industry and domestic, said chief minister of state K Rosaiah.

According to a statement, on Saturday, the chief minister will lay foundation stone for two projects which includes the 600-mw Singareni thermal power plant at Pegadapalli village in Adilabad district and the first phase of 700 mw out of 2,100 mw gas-based power project promoted by APGENCO at Thimmapur Mandal in Karimnagar. While the phase I of the Karimnagar project will be operationalised by July 2013, the thermal project at Pegadapalli is expected to be completed by June 2013.

Both the projects, the chief minister said, will spur economic growth and help setting up other industries. Industrialisation of the area will also provide vast employment opportunities in the region.

Of the 17 new power projects planned in the next 4-5 years, 10 projects aggregating to 4,063 mw are under construction and seven projects totalling 11,282 mw are under development stage. With these projects, APGENCO is all poised to add 4,110 mw thermal and 653 mw of Hydel capacity by next three years. The chief minister also said fly ash generated in the power projects can be used by the cement industries to enhance their production capacities and it can also be used to set up fly ash based brick units in the local area.
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Andhra-to-start-17-power-projects/579419/

Babji

February 14th, 2010, 09:42 PM

^^ more on power

CM sets stone for power plant
By By DC Correspondent Feb 15 2010

Karimnagar, Feb. 14: The Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, said that separatist movements should not become obstacles in the path of progress and any such movements should have no place for violence.

The Chief Minister set the stone for the first phase of 2,100 megawatt gas-based power plant at Nedunur village under Timmapur mandal on Sunday.

The first phase of the project, scheduled to be completed in July, 2013, will generate 700 mw power.

Addressing a public meeting on the occasion, Mr Rosaiah said everyone has a right to conduct regional movements in a democratic manner but at the same time, the development should not be a casualty. “As these demands cannot be settled at the state level, the best option for everyone is to leave them to the Centre and go on striving for the development of their respective regions,” he said.

The Chief Minister expressed great satisfaction over launching works of developmental projects like Nedunur gas-based project besides thermal power project at Jaipur in Adilabad. “I came to power in special circumstance. But I have never feel so satisfied as today because I was able to launch these developmental works,” he said.

Mr Rosaiah said the estimated total cost of the Nedunur project was more than Rs 9,000 crore and the first phase will cost Rs 3,336 crore....

Source URL:http://www.deccanchronicle.com/karimnagar/cm-sets-stone-power-plant-443

Babji

February 14th, 2010, 10:29 PM

Date:15/02/2010 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2010/02/15/stories/2010021554390500.htm
‘Financial closure for power plant by March-end’

Santosh Patnaik
NCC says project area is miles away from migratory path of birds == Fuel supply agreements to be signed after financial closure == Company to invest Rs. 7,000 crore in the first phase

VISAKHAPATNAM: Brushing aside concern over its environmental impact, the management of NCC Power Projects Ltd wants to achieve financial closure for its 2640 MW coal-fired power plant at Sompeta by March-end.

Reiterating its stand that it is adhering to all environmental norms stipulated by Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF), the management is firm in signing the fuel supply agreements after the financial closure.

On the claim of social activists that the project would disturb Siberian pelicans and storks coming to Telineelapuram bird sanctuary, the company says the project area was 75 km away from the sanctuary and outside the migratory path of the endangered birds.

The EPC will be finalised in a month as it received five bids in the international competitive bidding.

Tata Consulting Engineers has done the detailed project report. “We are waiting for consent for establishment from AP Pollution Control Board even as we have completed 80 per cent of land acquisition out of 1,890 acres required for the project,” K.J.B.V. Subrahmanyam, former IAS officer, who is a Director in NCC Power Projects Ltd. told The Hindu.

He said the company, which is raising the resources from internal accruals, would invest Rs.7,000 crores in the first phase and an equal amount in the final phase so as to commission four units each with a capacity of 660 MW with super critical technology.

Mr. Subrahmanyam said a three-member panel set up by MoEF visited the project site and opined that part of the project area was not swamp land and it would not disturb the marine environment in anyway. The project is 2 km away from the sea.

While stating that the irrigated area within the project site would not be tampered with, he said steps would be taken to maintain status quo. He said there would not be any displacement due to the project and cited the report of National Institute of Oceanography, Goa, the designated authority, that the project area was outside the Coastal Regulation Zone.

He said the project would create employment opportunities for 750 and during construction period of four years, it would provide jobs to 1,000 to 4,000 people.

smertin

February 15th, 2010, 10:17 PM

ONGOLE: Bowing to public demand, the Central government has agreed to lay second bypass road to Ongole town as part of widening the Chennai-Kolkata National Highway No. 5 from four to six lanes.

National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) general manager Ajai Kumar Razak will be coming here on Tuesday to inspect the survey work taken up to lay the second bypass road from Edugundlapadu to Pellur via Muktinutalapadu, Koppole and Annavarappadu.

The news has brought cheer to the people who have been opposing widening of the existing road to six lanes and demanding a second bypass road for the last two years.

As the existing bypass road passed through thickly populated areas in the town, the agitators contended that its widening to six lanes would only aggravate traffic problems and endanger the lives of the people. They organised themselves into Ongole second bypass road struggle committee and enlisted the support of MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy who led a delegation to the Union Minister for Surface Transport to press for their demand.

The struggle committee suggested that the second bypass road should be taken away from the town to avoid traffic problems on one hand and on the other to facilitate town development. They felt that the second bypass should be laid from Yedugundlapadu to Pellur via Pernamitta on the western side of the town. But after preliminary studies, the government felt that it would be better and easier to lay the second bypass on the eastern side of the town. It is stated that the bypass road on the western side would run over 22 km criss-crossing irrigation canals and land acquisition would be costlier and the total project would cost about Rs. 300 crores.

Instead, the bypass on the eastern side would run about 12 km and estimated to cost only Rs. 150 crore.

The second bypass road struggle committee members welcomed the government decision.
http://www.hindu.com/2010/02/16/stories/2010021653000300.htm

smertin

February 15th, 2010, 10:26 PM

Hyderabad, Feb. 15: Contrary to expectations, the Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, has agreed to continue favouring the Jalayagnam in Budget allocations, which is likely to be around Rs 15,000 crore for next financial year.
The Chief Minister also wrote a letter to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, reiterating the state’s request to Centre for help in completion of irrigation projects as assured earlier. He urged the Prime Minister to ensure that the Union Budget made adequate allocations under the AIBP programme for several state projects including the Pran-ahitha-Chevella.
Maintaining that recessi-on resulted in slowing do-wn of the progress of irrigation projects, Mr Rosaiah said there had been growing uncertainty among Telangana farmers over timely completion of projects. This adds to growing unrest and dissatisfaction towards the government.
The Chief Minister also suggested that a single window clearance should be set up in the Union ministry of water resources to expedite necessary clearances.
Sources said the CM had agreed to allocate Rs 6,000 crore for projects in Telangana region while the remaining would be spent on both Andhra and Rayalaseema.
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/irrigation-may-get-rs-15k-cr-762

Babji

February 20th, 2010, 09:56 PM

Date:21/02/2010 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2010/02/21/stories/2010022154640600.htm
Rosaiah presents 1.13 lakh crore budget

HYDERABAD: Treading the path of Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah presented a Rs. 1.13 lakh crore budget for 2010-11 in which he assigned high priority to welfare and enforced cuts into certain sectors of development. He neither proposed fresh taxes nor increased the existing ones while presenting the budget, the 16th in his career and first as Chief Minister.

The budget outlay is Rs. 8,516 crore higher than that of the current fiscal (Rs. 1.05 lakh crore). This hike is of little significance since it will be neutralised by inflation. Over 60 per cent of the revenues for the budget are expected to be raised from the State’s own resources and the balance contributed by the Centre in the form of tax-sharing and grants. An important announcement was the revival of the Constituency Development Fund with allotment of Rs. one crore each to members of the Assembly and the Legislative Council.

The budget comprises plan outlay of Rs. 40,313 crore (including money for Centrally-sponsored schemes) and non-plan outlay of Rs. 73,347 crore. Plan funds, meant for creating capital assets, have been reduced by Rs. 1,579 crore (from Rs. 41,892 crore in 2009-10). On the other hand, non-plan expenditure, has been hiked by a whopping sum Rs. 10,095 crore because of the higher wage bill of the employees and higher subsidies to the poor.

Mr. Rosaiah walked into the House with a suitcase in hand and read out the 29-page text in 70 minutes...

Referring to the “trials and tribulations” the State was undergoing in the wake of the agitations for and against Telangana statehood, Mr. Rosaiah said that but for these developments, the growth rate of Andhra Pradesh would have been excellent despite global slowdown. He appealed to everyone to ensure peace as this was the least an investor would expect...

Direct allocations: The overall outgo for the weaker sections is more than Rs. 20,000 crore, including direct allocations to each section, the massive scholarship/tuition fee reimbursement benefit and subsidies under various schemes such as Indiramma and rice scheme. For the first time, a sum of Rs. 300 crore was provided for scholarships to upper caste students.

rizwan3

February 23rd, 2010, 06:37 AM

Infosys to open first rural BPO unit in AP on Feb 27

Hyderabad, Feb. 22

Infosys will launch its first rural Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) unit in Andhra Pradesh on February 27. The unit, with a capacity of 200 people, is located in West Godavari district, according to company sources.

In all, Infosys' rural BPO initiative is likely to have over 4,000 seats.

“They have entered into a tie-up with the State Government to set up at least one such BPO in all the districts in a phased manner. By December 2010, we will have all the BPOs up and running,” a senior official in the Information Technology Ministry said.

Business model

According to the agreement with the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty, the BPOs will receive captive business of up to 50 per cent from various Government departments, while the company is allowed to tap private opportunities in the respective districts.

Infosys, in turn, had joined hands with DesiCrew Solutions Private Limited and Ruralshores Business Services Private Limited, to run the BPOs in Andhra Pradesh. The company plans to replicate this model in other States.

Service centres

The State Government will also set up 5,000 Rajiv Service Centres under public-private partnership model, which will later be integrated with eSeva centres. It has also decided to deploy a Human Resource Management System and a Health Management System.

The official also said that the Government had initiated a study to understand the constraints on the demand side of e-governance programmes.

rizwan3

February 23rd, 2010, 06:39 AM

Sistema Shyam to launch MTS mobile services brand in AP

Hyderabad Feb. 22

Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL), a joint venture between Russian mobile operator Sistema and Shyam Teleservices, is set to launch its CDMA-based mobile services product, MTS, in Andhra Pradesh within the next three months.

Currently, the MTS brand operates across eleven circles, including Rajasthan, Kolkata, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Haryana. With the Andhra Pradesh launch, the brand will be present in the entire South. By the end of 2010, it expects to be present in all the circles in the country.

Mr Vsevolod Rojanov, SSTL President and CEO, said the company also proposed to launch smart phones, with high speed data transfer features in India around the same time. “The phones will be priced between Rs 5,000 and Rs 30,000,” he told presspersons here today.

SSTL, which entered India in late 2008, has adequate spectrum to provide mobile telephone services in all the 22 circles in the country. It currently has a subscriber base of 3.5 million in the country.

Mr Rojanov said an important feature of the MTS brand was high-speed data services, which will also be its chief marketing plank. Within the next two years, the company is targeting its data services revenue to be about one-fourth of its total business.

He did not wish to disclose the price structure of MTS when it is launched in Andhra Pradesh. “At present we are offering the product at half paise per second in Karnataka. We will take a call on our prices when we launch the product in the State,” he said.

The company, which has so far investment $1.5 billion in the country, will be investing $2.5 billion to expand its mobile telephony infrastructure in the next four to five years. “We expect to break even by 2012,” he said.

The company may also look at listing in Indian stock exchanges. “We will take a view on this in the next six to nine months,” Mr Rojanov said.

rizwan3

February 23rd, 2010, 06:42 AM

No Telangana shadow on Hyderabad air show

Mr Praful Patel

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Feb. 22

The ongoing Telangana agitation is unlikely to affect participation in the second international conference on civil aviation, which starts in Hyderabad from March 3, the Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel, said on Monday.

“There is no such anxiety in the minds of the participants,” the Minister said when asked whether participation in the conference has been affected due to the agitation.

The conference and exhibition is seeing participation of about 200 companies from the civil aviation sector. The event is being jointly organised by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

The event is not only being attended by aviation majors like Airbus, Boeing, Eurocopter, Thales, CFM, Safran, but about 12 small and medium enterprises would be participating for the first time, the organisers said. Air India, Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines are among the various airlines expected to participate in the exhibition, apart from airport infrastructure companies such as GMR, GVK, Bangalore International Airport and Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Air India

A clear picture on the state of the airline will be presented to the Union Cabinet, the Minister said without going into the specifics of by when this will happen. The airline has been going through difficult times and on last Saturday the board cleared a proposal to enhance the working capital limit by Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 18,000 crore. The airline working capital limit was about Rs 7,000 crore two years ago.

The decision to enhance the working capital limit followed threats by vendors to stop supplies unless their dues were cleared. The implementation of the threat would have forced the airline to cease or curtail its operations.

The airline loss doubled to Rs 5,548 crore in 2008-09.

Babji

February 24th, 2010, 02:56 AM

Maytas out, NEC gets Machilipatnam port
By By DC Correspondent
Feb 24 2010

Hyderabad, Feb. 23: The Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah has, in principle, agreed to hand over the Machilipatnam port project to Navayuga Engineering Company, the promoters of the Krishnapatnam port.

Mr Rosaiah has approved the proposal of the infrastructure department as well as the recommendations of the advocate general, Mr D.V. Seetarama Murthy, to replace the scam-hit Maytas with NEC as the lead partner in the port project.

Official sources said Mr Rosaiah only wanted the department to obtain the credentials of NEC and assess the company’s ability to complete the project.

“The Chief Minister did not reject the proposal of the replacement of the lead partner with another company,” sources said.

The infrastructure department has sought the company’s profile, balance sheets, experience in executing similar projects and other related information. The NEC has handled several infrastructure, road and irrigation projects across the country. The promoters enjoy a close rapport with a powerful Congress MP.

Interestingly, neither the department nor the Chief Minister’s Office went into the agreement clauses that prohibit exit of the lead partner for five years from the date of commencement of the port operations.

The Maytas-led consortium got the project in international bidding. Maytas and another infrastructure company, Nagarjuna Construction Company, hold 51 per cent stake in the consortium. The government agreed to pay Rs 300 crore as compensation for shifting the location of the project even though officials raised doubts about the genuineness of the claim.
Source URL:http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/maytas-out-nec-gets-machilipatnam-port-842

Babji

February 25th, 2010, 02:31 AM

Eastern Railway Budget
By By DC Correspondent Feb 25 2010

New Delhi, Feb. 24: Politics seemed to prevail over sound economics as the railway minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, took to the stage once again on Wednesday to present her second Railway Budget in the last seven months.

The goodies doled out to the Trinamul Congress leader’s home state came as no surprise given Ms Banerjee’s determination to dislodge the Marxists from power in next year’s Assembly election in West Bengal.

With no increase in passenger fares for the seventh year running and no revision in freight rates either this year, the railways will need to raise resources from other avenues. Apart from looking for private sector investment, the railways will also look for additional market borrowings of Rs 350 crore, it was indicated in the Railway Budget.

Railway finances should be a cause for concern given that its profits have fallen by 93 per cent in 2009-10 as compared to 2007-08. It is noteworthy, though, that the Railways hope that earnings from passenger traffic will increase by 10 per cent in the next fiscal year.

On Monday, there was a sense of deja vu given that the July 2009 budget too was West Bengal-centric. With Assembly polls a little more than a year away in that state, any hike in passenger fares or freight rates would be a politically unwise move for Ms Banerjee. The minister told the LS that she did not “propose any increase in the passenger fares of any class”.

Rail Budget 2010

* No increase in passenger fares and freight rate
* E-ticket service charge lowered to Rs 10 for sleeper class, Rs 20 for AC class
* Freight rate for foodgrains, kerosene down Rs 100/wagon
* 54 new trains, 10 Duronto trains
* Tourist train Bharat Tirth on 16 routes
* 101 new suburban services for Mumbai
* SMS updates for reservation status, train timing, wagon movement
* Free travel for cancer patients in 3rd AC and Sleepers

What AP got

* A wagon manufacturing factory to be established at Secunderabad.

* An assurance on Railway Sports Academy to be set up at Secunderabad.

* Rs 700 crore for pending projects, the highest in last one decade. Earlier, the South Central Railway get only Rs 200 crore every year for on-going projects.

* 21 new trains though some of them do not originate but pass through AP.

* Matribhoomi Ladies Special to be operated between Falaknuma and Lingampalli.

* Survey for 12 new railway lines ordered. Proposals submitted for Planning Commission’s
approval.

* Feasibility study for new railway lines between Falaknuma-Umdanagar and Secunderabad-Medchal.

* Preliminary engineering-cum-traffic survey to be taken up for dedicated freight corridor. This will help industrial and business houses of the state as AP is included in three corridors including North-South, East-South and South-South.

* Six stations - Guduru, Narsaraopet, Lingampalli, Shankarpalli, Tandur and Vikarabad - to be developed as Adarsh Stations.

* Multi-functional complexes to be set up at Dhar-
mavaram, Karimnagar, Kurnool, Nellore, Nizam-
abad, Vijayawada and Zaheerabad.

* Special tourist trains called Bharat Tirth to benefit pilgrims of the state.
Source URL: http://www.deccanchronicle.com/national/eastern-railway-budget-255
==
Date:25/02/2010 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2010/02/25/stories/2010022554030400.htm
Bonanza for State in railway budget
Twenty-two new trains and wagon unit for Secunderabad announced
State secures one Duronto service between Mumbai and Secunderabad

HYDERABAD: It was a virtual bonanza for the State in the Railway Budget 2010 presented in Parliament on Wednesday with the sanction of several new trains, new railway lines, survey of new routes and a wagon manufacturing unit in Secunderabad.

The South Central Railway’s budget has gone up to Rs. 3,388 crore, compared with last year’s Rs 3,161 crore.

In a departure from the past several years when Andhra Pradesh was neglected by former Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, the Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee announced an outlay of Rs. 498 crore for new railway lines in addition to Rs. 11.25 crore for gauge conversion and Rs. 13 crore for track doubling.

‘Outlay encouraging’: Hailing the railway budget as an ‘honour’ to the State, Chief Minister K. Rosaiah said the outlay for Andhra Pradesh was the best in recent years and would go a long way in helping the State. The efforts made by the MPs and his own meetings with United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Ms. Banerjee ensured that the outlay was increased.

The Railway Minister had shown special interest in the railway projects of the State and it had now got its due.

Mr. Rosaiah welcomed the sanction of facilities like upgradation of eight stations, setting up of a sports academy and state-of-art wagon manufacturing factory besides announcing 22 new trains.

The Union government had almost agreed to take up work on socially desirable rail connectivity lines connecting backward areas.

Cost-sharing basis: He said the State government had agreed to take up projects on cost-sharing basis in spite of stress on finances as development of railway lines was an indicator of visible development.

Though there was no mention about the MMTS Phase II works in the budget speech, he said enquiries with the railway authorities revealed that it was under active consideration of the Railway Ministry.

Meanwhile, SCR general manager M. S. Jayanth said as many as 22 new trains that either originate within the SCR’s jurisdiction or pass through the State had been announced.

Andhra Pradesh secured one Duronto service between Mumbai and Secunderabad. Briefing reporters on the budget, he said Tirupati got the lion’s share with new trains being announced separately from Coimbatore and Bangalore (both tri-weekly intercity expresses), Madurai (bi-weekly), Secunderabad (bi-weekly via Pakala and Madanapalli road).
Train to Ajmer: Fulfilling the long pending demand for a direct train to Ajmer, a bi-weekly express has been announced along with a tri-weekly train between Secunderabad and Manuguru.

At least four trains originating from Secunderabad, Kakinada (two) and Vijayawada bound for Manmad were extended to Shirdi

The SCR General Manager said several pending projects got encouraging allocations and would be completed at the earliest.

Allocations: Ongoing projects which got substantial allocations include:
Peddapalli-Karimnagar-Nizamabad (Rs. 80 crore),
Nandyal-Yerraguntla (Rs 80 crore),
Munirabad-Mahaboobnagar (Rs 40 crore),
Macherla-Nalgonda (Rs 50 crore),
Gadwal-Raichur (Rs 60 crore),
Kotipalli-Narsapur (Rs 15 crore),
Manoharabad-Kothapalli (Rs.40 crore),
Vishnupuram-Janpahad (Rs. 25 crore),
Kadapa–Bangalore (Rs. 40 crore),
Bhadrachalam Road-Sattupalli (Rs.10 crore).