Vishakhapatnam (Vizag) projects and infrastructure

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Vesuvius India plans to open R&D centre in Vizag

KOLKATA, APRIL 26:
Manufacturing firm Vesuvius India Ltd is planning to open a research and development (R&D) centre at Visakhapatnam soon.

“We are going to open an international R&D centre at Visakhapatnam in a 15-acre land,” Dr S.K. Gupta, Chairman, said at the company’s 21st Annual General Meeting here on Thursday.

According to him, the company has already made “full payment’’ for acquiring the land on a freehold basis from Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation to set up the R&D facility along with its fifth plant.

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CII meet to showcase Vizag as ideal destination

Ambassadors, High Commissioners, and diplomats from eight countries to attend the conference tomorrow

Several Ambassadors, High Commissioners, and senior diplomats from eight countries will participate in the one-day conference on ‘Trade and investment — exploring new opportunities' at Hotel Gateway on Saturday.

The conference is being hosted by the Confederation of Indian Industries in association with the Andhra Pradesh government to showcase Visakhapatnam as a destination for investment in industry, infrastructure, and tourism. Those who confirmed their participation include Dato Paduka Haji Sidek Ali, High Commissioner, Brunei, Muthafa Yusof, Minister Counsellor (Economic Affairs), Malaysia, Nguyen Thanh Tan, Ambassador, Vietnam, Guna Seelan Balakrishnan, Second Secretary (Economic Affairs), Malaysia, Pisan Manawapat, Ambassador of Thailand, Chanchai Charnavatnakit, Consul-General, Royal Thai Consulate, Thailand, Vichael Angelo D. Roaring, Commercial Attache, Philippines, Hun Han, First Secretary, Cambodia, Chan Kah Mei, First Secretary (Economics), Singapore, Pimpha Keomixay, Deputy Chief of Mission, Laos, and Sasirit Tangulrat, Minister-Counsellor, Royal Thai Embassy, Thailand.

Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development D. Purandeswari will inaugurate the conference. Minister for Investment and Infrastructure, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Ganta Srinivasa Rao, Industries Principal Secretary T.S. Appa Rao, and RINL Chairman-cum-Managing Director A.P. Choudhary will speak.

RINL Director (commercial) and CII zonal chairman T.K. Chand said on Thursday that the high-level delegation from ASEAN countries would visit key industrial establishments such as Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, Visakhapatnam Port Trust, and the Special Economic Zone.

They will also have a glimpse of tourist potential of Visakhapatnam.

One-to-one interaction

CII will organise a one-to-one interaction of top entrepreneurs with the ASEAN delegation to explore the possibility of collaboration and investment.

The conference is expected to bring together corporate bodies, entrepreneurs, representatives from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

The objectives are essentially two-way dissemination of information — among the local industry on business opportunities in the ASEAN region and among the ASEAN representatives on sectors of strength of the local industry — as well as to explore possibilities of collaboration and investment. The programme includes a session on investment opportunities in Visakhapatnam in different sectors. An exclusive session with the ASEAN delegation showcasing their countries' investment opportunities and one-to-one meeting between delegates and representatives of the ASEAN group on their business opportunities will be highlights.

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It's 'look Vizag' mantra for ASEAN countries now

After a two-day trip to Visakhapatnam on Friday and Saturday, delegates from ASEAN countries have shown keen interest for partnership in various spheres in Visakhapatnam and promote the city as a gateway to South East Asia.

Senior diplomats from Brunei, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines and Laos told the CII, which invited them to a day-long conference on ‘South India – ASEAN trade & investment: Exploring new opportunities,' said they were returning to their work place with a good impression on exploring trade and commerce.

Brunei High Commissioner Dato Paduka Haji Sidek told The Hindu that promoting business in the region would be mutually beneficial for ASEAN members, the local authorities and the entrepreneurs.

Ambassador of Thailand Pisan Manawapat told the CII members that a consortium of nations, including his country, was building a mega port to decongest traffic in Strait of Malacca and there would be huge requirement of quality steel.

Impressed with the data on quality of production at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant and its high standard customer service, he asked the VSP management to come forward for supplying steel for the mega project.

He also saw huge opportunities in tie-ups for tourism in Visakhapatnam. Seafood is yet another area where collaborations with Vizag and Thai entrepreneurs could materialise.

FLIGHT TO BANGKOK

He expressed the hope that Visakhapatnam would soon be connected with Bangkok. A flight to Dubai was launched from the city last month.

Minister Counsellor (Economic Affairs), Malaysia Musthafa Yusof, evinced interest in steel and iron products. RINL-VSP is already exporting its products to Malaysia and this relationship he wanted to grow further. Tourism is yet another area that Malaysia wants to propose with respect to Visakhapatnm.

Vietnam Ambassador Nguyen Thanh Tan sought participation of Visakhapatnam entrepreneurs/industries in Vietnam economy. Host of areas such as MSMEs and IT could be the areas of collaboration.

Diplomats from Philippines, Laos, Singapore, and Malaysia were impressed with the educational facilities in the city and evinced interest for educational tie-up. They wanted to explore exchange of educational teams and students.

The delegates in general expressed the view that the ancient bond of South India with South East Asia would provide an excellent bridge to step up relations in contemporary time and the strength of Vizag in steel, port and logistics, IT, pharma, fishing, MSME and tourism need to be leveraged.

CII zonal chairman and RINL Director (commercial) T.K. Chand told this correspondent that the positive signals from the high-level delegation from ASEAN countries would make the city the cynosure of ASEAN countries in future.

Mr. Chand said they were overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and interest shown by ASEAN delegation and would set up a working group soon for follow-up action.

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Biggest blast furnace goes on stream at Vizag Steel

KOLKATA: A new blast furnace went on stream at RINL's Vizag Steel Plant with the first tapping of Hot Metal successfully from the newly built Blast Furnace (BF-3) taking place on Friday evening.

The blowing-in process of new BF-3 had commenced on Wednesday, April 24. The 3,800 cubic metre capacity BF-3 at the state owned RINL-Vizag Steel will be one of the biggest blast furnaces in operation. It will add about 4% to the overall capacity in the country.

The state of the art BF-3 along with auxiliary facilities like power, water, ASUs etc was commissioned at a cost of Rs 3800 crores. With this, RINL achieved a major milestone in relation to its proposed Rs 12,500 crore expansion to a capacity of 6.3 million tonne per annum. The blowing in of BF-3 was carried out by RINL employees along with the company's chairman and managing director on April 24.

A P Choudhary, CMD, RINL shared the long cherished dream of commissioning of one of the country's biggest blast furnace by participating with employees in tapping process and congratulated them on this historic moment. Beni Prasad Verma, Union Minister of Steel, DRS Chaudhary, Secretary Steel also congratulated the RINL collective on the occasion.

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Araku set to get first butterfly park

Aimed at tapping the scenic beauty of tribal and rural pockets along the Eastern Ghats in Vizag district to attract tourists from all parts of the country, the state government is all set for a mega Vizag tourism package worth Rs.250 crore.

The state’s first butterfly park in Araku has been mooted before top Union tourism officials last week and it has been okayed for further research study. Around 100 acres has been identified in Araku to initiate activities including a butterfly park.

Integrated Tribal Deve-lopment Authority, Paderu in collaboration with APTDC officials are gearing up for modernisation of the existing north Andhra’s only tribal museum in Araku valley and providing tourist-friendly activities at Chaparai Konda in Vizag agency.

Explaining the mega tourism project, APTDC general manager Sumit Singh added that the stretch of 30-km road from RK beach to Bheemili passing through Kailasagiri, Buddhist remains, Rushi Konda, will be completely transformed.

A special package of Rs.50 crore was proposed to develop the entire beach road with more theme parks, beautification works. etc.

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Alstom bags two contracts valued at Rs 84 crore from NALCO and Rastriya Ispat Nigam Limited

KOLKATA: Alstom has bagged two contracts valued at Rs 84 crore from NALCO and RINL. These include a fume treatment plant at NALCO's Angul plant and stock house dust extraction system at RINL's Vizag steel plant.

Alstom's scope of supply for the fume treatment plant at NALCO's Angul plant will include a gas conditioning tower for cooling of the gas followed by a Alstom patented fabric filter system, ducts, dampers and electrical control systems.

At RINL's Vizag steel plant, Alstom will install a new air pollution control system replacing the existing one with new duct systems, electrostatic precipitator, dampers and electrical control systems.

"The customer specifically chose Alstom due to its extensive experience in providing customized retrofit solution, seamlessly integrated into the existing production process. When completed, the Alstom system will improve energy efficiency as well as the working environment at the plant," said the company in a release.

Francois Carpentier, vice president, thermal and renewable power, Alstom India said: "We are witnessing sustained growth in the environmental control systems business. These latest contracts are further proof that utilities and industrial customers in India value our world-leading air quality control solutions. Alstom's focus will be to ensure the application of the most effective and efficient environmental control technology for both these plants".

Alstom's business unit in Kolkata will handle the execution activities associated with supply of the fume treatment plant and the stock house dust extraction system. To-date, Alstom has installed more than 90 fabric filter systems and 1100 electrostatic precipitators worldwide.

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T-effect: Vizag turns favourite investment hub

Call it Telangana affect or being an ideal place, Vizag has turned out to be a favourite destination for investments after Hyderabad. More than 100 companies have readied their plans to establish industries in Vizag.

Availability of manpower, better logistics, both air and sea connectivity, has made Vizag a favourite destination for investors.

Interestingly, of the total 104 industry enterprise memorandums (IEMs) signed by investors since 2002, 80 were signed after 2009, when the stir for separate statehood peaked.

The 104 industry proposals are all set to bring in Rs 85,000 crore investments to this region besides providing more than 36,000 jobs to skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled local unemployed youth.

“Of the 104, more than 40 per cent of the companies have reached an ‘active stage’ and will begin operations within a couple of years. Around Rs.30,000 crore investments would be pumped in the first stage,” district industries centre general manager, V.R. Nayak told this correspondent.


Though some IEMs were signed in 2002, these companies have also swung into action and begun construction and other activities only after 2009. Another interesting point is that these investments are not part of state government’s prestigious PCPIR project coming up between Vizag and Kakinada.

Besides domestic firms, international companies also show interest in establishing their industries in the Vizag region.

For instance, the US-based Brighton Group evinced interest in setting up a Rs.2,880 crore nuclear power equipment manufacturing facility in this region and signed an MoU with state government in 2011, making it Brighton’s maiden venture in India.

Brighton will invest Rs.2,880 crore and provide direct employment to 2,500 skilled workers, and indirect employment to another 10,000 persons.

The proposed plant will be set up on an 800 acre site at Nakkapalli in the district.

Around Rs.1.2 lakh crore of the total investments, that is, Rs 6.47 lakh crore, signed at the CII partnership summit held in January at Hyderabad are for the Vizag region.

“Vizag offers a calm, peaceful atmosphere away from any disturbances in the form of rasta rokos, frequent bandhs, etc., besides good manpower.

The trend of a sudden rise in investments in the Vizag region after 2009 can clearly be attributed to the Telangana agitation. Vizag already has two ports, one in the public and the other in the private sector.

Recent international air connectivity will attract more investments from global players,” opined an industrialist.

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Welspun completes Vizag berth ahead of schedule

MUMBAI, MAY 14:
Leighton Welspun said it has completed construction of the berth at Visakhapatnam Port three months ahead of schedule and is in the process of wrapping up the balance work.

The company has bagged the contract to mechanise coal handling facilities and upgrade the general cargo berth at the outer harbour of the Visakhapatnam Port to cater to 2,00,000 dwt vessels.

The berth is 356 m long and 21 m wide and built to support three ship-unloading cranes.

The public-private partnership project, awarded in 2010, is on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) basis.

Welspun's contract includes civil, mechanical and electrical works for installation of a system to unload coal at the rate of 70,000 TPD by three ship un-loaders. The main challenge in executing the project was to ensure that there was no disruption to the existing berth. For this, the work had to be carried out in two phases.

Work continues on the buildings and terminal operational facilities with the balance of the contract works slated for completion in the next few weeks, it said.

The Vizag port contract is the first project for the company.

Recently, Welspun has been chosen to build the Vizhinjam container terminal in Kerala.

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Concept Hospitality to set up 5 properties this fiscal

SPRUCING UP THE FERN

HYDERABAD, MAY 18:
Hospitality management services provider Concept Hospitality is set to lay thrust on The Fern brand, presenting it as an eco-friendly hotel chain.

Concept is set to add five more properties to its existing portfolio of 24 during the current financial year.

The company, which manages a chain of 24 properties with over 1,200 rooms, is expected to add 600 rooms during the year. Of the 24 projects under management of the chain, 13 projects are managed under the Fern Hotels & Resorts brand and the rest are branded independently.

The Fern with Ecotel tag stands for environmentally sensitive hotels across the country. It is the company's flagship brand.

“We are at an advanced stage of completing five more properties. These include projects in Chennai, Tezpur, Tirupur, Rajkot and Chandigargh,” Mr. Param Kannampilly, the Chairman and Managing Director of Concept Hospitality, said.

The Hospitality chain, which had added Mansarovar The Fern in Hyderabad last year, is scouting for more projects in Andhra Pradesh, which includes one at the port city and business hub of Visakhapatnam.

Mr Param Kannampilly told Business Line that the hospitality business is looking up lately and the occupancy levels have begun to get better with business and tourist travel increasing.

The chain, which clocked revenues of Rs 200 crore last year for its properties, expects to close this year with about Rs 250-275 crore, he explained.

Hyderabad has emerged as one of the fastest growing centres with several major hospitality chains setting up their bases.

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Vizag refinery capacity expansion by 2015-16: HPCL

HYDERABAD: Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) expects to expand the Vizag refinery plant to 15 million tons by 2015-16, a top official of the state-owned oil firm said.

According to HPCL Director (refineries) K Murali, Engineers India has been appointed as consultants for the project and they are expected to submit report on that.

"They (Engineers India) are expected to complete the feasibility report in few months time. Then we will have to take it to board for approvals. By 2015-16 we can expect the expansion in place provided we overcome all hurdles such as environmental clearances," Murali said.

HPCL operates two major refineries producing a wide variety of petroleum fuels and specialties, one in Mumbai (West Coast) of 6.5 Million metric ton per annum (MMTPA) capacity and the other in Vishakhapatnam, (East Coast) with a capacity of 8.3 MMTPA.

The project, which was scheduled to take off in 2013, could not be taken forward for variety of reasons such as environmental issues and partnership with others.

Refusing to reveal cost of the expansion, Murali said it depends on the project report being prepared by EI.

A senior official of HPCL earlier had said the capacity expansion will require investment of Rs 10,000 crore.

HPCL will be completing the shifting of its two terminals for black oil and white oil, to newer location which will free 70 acres of space in the existing complex.

On the frequent interventions of Pollution Control Board on environmental issues, Murali said they will chose the technology in such a way that the emission levels remain under prescribed norms even if the capacity goes up.

Meanwhile, HPCL will be spending around Rs 4,500 crore on capex plans in this financial year, Murali said.

"Both plan and non-plan put together and part of it will be used for the replacement of older machinery. Some of it will go in to safety features and marking also. Implementations of new safety features itself will cost more than Rs 1,000 crore investments," Murali said.

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Port Trust signs pact with Vizag Agriport

VISAKHAPATNAM, MAY 20:
The Visakhapatnam Port Trust signed the concession agreement on Friday with the Vizag Agriport Pvt Ltd, a special purpose vehicle formed by the ABG-LDA Bulk Handling Pvt Ltd, Mumbai, and IL&FS Maritime Infrastructure Company Consortium. The agreement is for the installation of mechanised handling facilities at East Quay-7 in the inner harbour of Visakhapatnam port on design, build, finance, operate and transfer basis at a cost of Rs 217.58 crore for a period of 30 years.

The Chairman of Visakhapatnam port, Mr Ajeya Kallam, and senior officials from the port and companies, participated in the function. It is estimated that the project will add 5.21 MTPA to the port traffic.

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State first police canteen in Vizag soon, says DGP

The Director General of Police (DGP), Mr V. Dinesh Reddy, appreciated the police commissioner, Mr J. Puranchandra Rao, and city traffic police on Wednesday for significantly bringing down the number of road accidents in Vizag city during the last three years.

The Director General of Police (DGP), Mr V. Dinesh Reddy, appreciated the police commissioner, Mr J. Puranchandra Rao, and city traffic police on Wednesday for significantly bringing down the number of road accidents in Vizag city during the last three years.

Mr Dinesh Reddy said that the total number of accidents that occurred in the city during the first four months of 2010 was 657.

It was brought down to 459 during the corresponding period last year and further reduced to 423 in the first four months of 2012.

Police canteens will be set up at various places in the state on the lines of defence canteens and police personnel can soon avail of subsidised canteen facilities including in Vizag city also.

Mr Dinesh Reddy said that the first such canteen will be set up in Visakhapatnam soon. Canteen facilities can be availed not only by police personnel in Visakhapat-nam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts but also by ministerial staff working in the Police Department.

He said that a police hospital would be set up in Hyderabad at an estimated cost of around Rs.50 crore for police personnel.

Answering a question, Mr Dinesh Reddy said that so far, there were no plans to set up a full fledged cyber crime police station in the city. Earlier, he inaugurated the renovated Police Club and a police sub control unit at Chavulamadhum Jun-ction in the city.

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Plans afoot to start tribal wellness centre at Araku

HYDERABAD: Tribal medicines and herbs to cure illness will soon be dispensed for the general public and tourists at Araku, a hot tourism destination in Visakhapatnam. Specialised traditional healers will provide medicines for bone fracture, arthritis and several other health problems, including medicine for snake bite and scorpion sting.

A Common Facilitation and Wellness Centre on 20-acre of land is being proposed to set up by Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Limited (Trifed) under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India where the medicines will be made available.

Trifed managing director Jiji Thomson informed this at a programme organised at the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) here on Wednesday to release a survey report on 'Diet and Nutritional status of tribal population and prevalence of hypertension among adults' brought out by the National Nutrition and Monitoring Bureau ( NNMB).

Thomson said Trifed would establish a green house to produce saplings of selected proper variety of plants. At the wellness centre, modern machinery will be set up for preparation of herbal drugs from local grown species.

The wellness centre will be established at a cost of Rs 10 crore to Rs 20 crore and the basic infrastructure could be ready in six months as land has already been identified for it. Thomson said in Uttarkhand, it was proposed to set up a centre of textiles, to sell tribal products. Shawls in contemporary style could export to Europe, he said. Similarly in Jagdalpur in Chattisgarh, a centre would be established where minor forest produce, handicrafts and other products would be sold. There was a plan to make use of land in Navi Mumbai also for promoting tribal products, he said. Thomson said there are 35 outlets all over the country, including one in Hyderabad, where tribal products were being sold. Measures will also be taken to patent tribal produce and products, he said.

Earlier speaking at the function, M K Bhan, secretary, department of biotechnology said when designing health programmes, it was important to have an understanding of the complete environment in which the targeted population lives. He pointed out that 35 per cent of the Indian population, including tribals and those living away from cities had a lifestyle of their own which had to be understood.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) director general and secretary, Department of Health Research said tribals face specific problems and their survival wisdom has also to be understood and documented.

NIN director B Sesikeran said surveys had shown the spread of non-communicable diseases even among tribals and that should be a cause for concern.

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Andhra University to take up Rs 20-cr bio-tech project

VISAKHAPATNAM, MAY 30:
Andhra University is undertaking a Rs 20-crore project for the extraction of bio-active molecules from medicinal plants and marine organisms, according to the rector, Prof P.V.G.D Prasad Reddy.

The permission of the University Grants Commission (UGC) is awaited. He was speaking at the national seminar on bio-active molecules organised in the university on Wednesday.

In his inaugural address, he spoke about the challenges in bioactive molecule research.

Prof V. Veeriah, Principal, AU college of Science and Technology, explained the importance of bioactive molecules in human health and well-being.

Delivering the key-note address, the Director of the National institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad, Dr B. Sesikeran, discussed the importance of different technologies such as agricultural technology, nutritional technology, food technology for food and nutrition security.

He also emphasised that bio-technological advances such as marker assisted breeding and transgenic technology could be used to bring about a significant increase in food production both in quantity and quality.

Prof T. Ramana, Prof. K.P.J. Hemalatha, Prof. T. Raghava rao and other professors from Andhra University and many other Indian universities participated in the inaugural function.

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Daikin eyes 15% market by entering new cities

Daikin Air-conditioning India looks to increase its market share from current 12 per cent to 15 per cent as a part of its expansion drive for FY 2012-13. The company is aggressively looking at foraying into newer markets in the tier II and III cities of Indore, Bhopal, Ujjain, Bhubaneshwar, Jaipur, Patna, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Lucknow, Vizag and Kochi—a move in line to strengthen its hold in the HVAC market of the country.

To consolidate its foothold, Daikin India is taking its Inverter & BEE Star labeled range of products to these newer markets across the eight states. It also aims to aggressively market its patented VRV solutions in the country to help create a value-driven segmentation in the residential and light commercial air-conditioning sector.

Kanwal Jeet Jawa, managing director, Daikin Airconditioning India, said, “At Daikin India, innovation is what powers our vision to stay ahead in everything.

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Nod for project to supply treated water to industries

It is being taken up by GVMC as part of reforms under JNNURM

The Andhra Pradesh Infrastructure Authority (APIA) has given its approval to a project to supply water from sewage treatment plants to industries in the city.

The project is being taken up as part of reforms required to be implemented by the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation under the JNNURM.

Once implemented, the project enables the corporation to supply treated water to industries instead of letting it off into the sea, affecting fish and causing problems to people living nearby. As of now, a portion of the treated water is supplied to industries. The approval for the project came at a high-level meeting in Hyderabad on Saturday with Chief Secretary Pankaj Dwivedi presiding, bringing to a head the process being carried out for the last two years. Principal Secretaries of Finance and MA &UD participated.

Municipal Commissioner B. Ramanjaneyulu made a presentation on the project for which a detailed report had been submitted earlier. His presentation covered the plans for sewage treatment plant, its supply to industry, saving of water from regular supply, and environmental aspects. As of now, the city has two major STPs — 38 mld and 28 mld — on which Rs.1.75 crore is being spent for maintenance. With the approval now, the city will have sufficient water for 24 x 7 supply and an additional revenue of Rs.7.5 crore.

In course of time, treating 250 mld water through STPs would result in a revenue of Rs.25 crore to Rs.30 crore, Mr. Ramanjaneyulu projected in his presentation.

An official release said Visakhapatnam was the first city in the State to get the STP project. Sources in the GVMC said after the clearance by APIA, orders would be issued by the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department paving the way for launching the project.

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Eco-friendly project launched at VCTPL

Kitchen grey water bio-treatment cum recovery unit was installed at Visakha Container Terminal Limited (VCTPL) on Tuesday on the occasion of its ninth anniversary.

The unit was installed by Greenfeathers Advisory Services along with technology partner Steps India Pvt. Ltd. The unique on-site unit follows a five-stage process that systematically allows for removal of food solids and grease found in kitchen grey water. The water is then made to slowly flow through proprietary ‘Stepsorb’ material and comes out ready for secondary use in greenery or industrial floor cleaning.

Stepsorb material allows growth of bio-film consisting of fast acting bacteria that quickly decompose organic matter and enrich nutrient content in the water making it ideal for greenery and kitchen gardens. As part of the anniversary, a blood donation camp was organised at the terminal. It was inaugurated by Chief Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise P.K. Jain.

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VRT-77 constructs new building for VBV

VRT-77 chairman Ameet Mirpuri said that the ground plus one storeyed building would have facilities to educate 400 under-privileged students of the school.

Vizag Round Table-77 has constructed a new building for the benefit of the students of Theosophical Society’s Vasantha Bala Vidyalaya (VBV) High School near Gurudwara.

The new building will be inaugurated by Minister for Infrastructure and Investments Ganta Srinivasa Rao on Saturday.

Giving details to the media on Thursday, VRT-77 chairman Ameet Mirpuri said that the ground plus one storeyed building would have facilities to educate 400 under-privileged students of the school. It was completed at a cost of Rs.40 lakhs.

The green building has been designed to provide optimum sunlight and fresh air to the students.

This was the fourth school building in the district constructed by VRT-77 since its establishment in 1983 under Round Table India (RTI) project of ‘freedom through education’.

There were four Round Tables in Visakhapatnam and together they had constructed 14 school buildings.

The Vasantha Bala Vidyalaya school building was constructed in a record four months time with Rs.10 lakhs given by the P & G Shiksha Foundation and the rest raised from donations from the public and contributions of the members.

Flyash bricks and flyash-based cement was used in the construction of the building to increase the durability of the building in the long run.

He said that Round Table India has so far built 4,000 classrooms at over 1,300 schools all over the country at a cost of over Rs.100 crores.

Round Table India provides a wide range of social and community service-related project through the fellowship of its members.

Apart from construction, the maintenance of the buildings would also be taken up by the Round Table India and the recurring needs of books and uniforms of underprivileged children would also be met as and when required.

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ifc TO HELP GVMC DEVELOP VIZAG infrastructure

The Greater Visakhapa-tnam Municipal Corpora-tion (GVMC) Commissi-oner B. Ramanjaneyulu has said that the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has agreed to support infrastructure development in the city.

Ms Usha Rao Monari, the global head of Water and Waste Global Infrastruc-ture and Natural Resources, an IFC wing, would visit the city soon to study the need for IFC’s support to develop the city’s infrastructure, the GVMC chief said on Saturday.

The commissioner also made a presentation on Vizag at the valedictory ceremony of the Leaders in Urban Governance, a workshop held at Singapore.

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Vizag cops to go hi-tech soon

Vizag police stations will go hi-tech soon as the Crime Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS), Union government’s ambitious project to connect all police stations in the country through the internet and intranet, is moving on a fast track in the city and other parts in the district.

Around 50 police stations at various parts in the district will be able to access the CCTNS within a short period.

CCTNS aims at creating a national database of crime and criminals through their biometric profiles to enable easy sharing of information across police stations at the state and national levels. Photographs, fingerprints and other details of criminals would be fed into the CCTNS and will help identify a criminal wherever s/he commits a crime.

Speaking to this paper, superintendent of police G. Srinivas said that almost all police stations except for a few located in tribal pockets in the district, were computerised under the scheme and personnel there trained to update photographs and fingerprints of criminals.