The North-East - Projects and Development

[zhiemi]

ONGC, Bhel in deal for Tripura project

ONGC Tripura Power Co. Pvt. Ltd (OTPC) has signed a contract with Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd for setting up 726.6 mw capacity combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) based power project in Palatana in Tripura.

The contract value is around Rs 2,200 crore. The formal contract follows the letter of Award placed by OTPC on Bhel on June 23.

This 363.3x2 mw combined cycle gas turbine power plant is being developed by OTPC at Palatana in south Tripura. ONGC has 50% equity stake in OTPC, 26% is held by Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited and 0.5% by the government of Tripura.

The balance equity of 23.5% will be tied up through the most optimal modes, including IPO. The generation project combined with linked transmission project and upstream gas supply project is slated to bring in investments of around Rs 9,000 crore, in the north eastern region.

[zhiemi]

A bid to save Naga handicrafts from silent death

Bangalore, Aug 16 (IANS) Yanger Ao, a tribal craftsman from Nagaland, had never thought his wooden furniture would sell like hot cakes as far off as Bangalore.

Ao is one of the 20-odd poor tribal craftsmen from Mokokchung, 162 km from Kohima, still practising the fast dying art. The tribesmen make furniture, baskets and other items using Nahor palmwood and oak, taken from the forest in their area. The tools they use are also primitive.

Two designers, Aradhana Nagpal and Pooja Nichlani, seeing the potential of this Naga handicraft, have carried the work of these tribesmen to Bangalore, where the initial response to the traditional products has been encouraging.

The organisers of the exhibition say: 'We are happy with the response from the connoisseurs, who are quite excited to discover the little known craft works of Naga artisans.'

'We wanted to show the rest of the world how creative and artistic the traditional artisans of Nagaland are. Through the exhibition we wanted to encourage the few remaining craftsmen,' Aradhana, who also runs Dhoop, a popular home decor destination in Mumbai, told IANS.

'All their art works reflect indigenous history, culture and lifestyle of Naga people. But since the educated youngsters are hardly interested in carrying forward their tradition, the wood- and bamboo-based art works of Nagas are slowly dying a silent death,' added the 29-year-old designer.

'Nagas are a self-sufficient community. They create objects with ritualistic and aesthetic value. The time has come now to commercialise their art works to save them from extinction.' Aradhana said.

'I am happy that Aradhana and Pooja have taken the pain to popularise Naga art works in the metros. This will surely give a huge impetus to tribal handicraft,' Alam Longkumer, a Naga wood worker and a graduate from Delhi's National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), told IANS on phone from Dimapur (Nagaland).

Naga village doors, beer barrels hollowed out of tree trunks used to store rice, wooden benches with animal and bird carvings, water troughs, beds, tumblers and bowls and various other items were on display at the exhibition.

'I have never seen such designs and craftwork. Nagas are highly artistic and create magic in wood and bamboo,' said Deepak Pandey, a bank executive, while appreciating a storage urn.

[SarafIndian]

Photo cc Sanjay P. K. on Picasa

The Siang bridge ( under construction) , Pasighat, Over Brahmaputra

[arijeetb]

New Dunlop factories in Assam, Bengal

Kolkata: Tyre maker Dunlop India Ltd will invest around Rs1,000 crore over the next couple of years to raise production capacity. The company will build a new factory near Guwahati in Assam, and set up a new production line at its Sahaganj factory in West Bengal.
The factory in Assam, which is estimated to cost Rs400-450 crore, would be commissioned in one-and-a-half years, said Dunlop chairman P. K. Ruia in Kolkata on Tuesday. The company has already acquired a 60-acre plot for around Rs4 crore. The new factory, which will be jointly owned by Dunlop and other companies managed by Ruia, will have a production capacity of 50 tonnes per day. It would be manufacturing truck radials and earthmover tyres - called OTR (off the road) tyres in technical parlance. Alongside, Dunlop will be spending Rs500-600 crore on setting up a new production line at its Sahaganj factory to manufacture earthmover tyres.
Addressing a press conference after the company’s annual general meeting, Ruia revealed Dunlop would be signing an agreement with a foreign tyre maker for sourcing technology to manufacture truck radials.
”We will get the agreement done in 15-20 days,” said Ruia. The company is also set to sign a similar agreement with Sumitomo Corporation of Japan for manufacturing passenger car radials. Though it would source technology from other manufacturers, Dunlop would be using its own brand for both passenger car and truck radials, Ruia added.

[kronik]

Housing project for urban people in Meghalaya

THE MEGHALAYA government on Tuesday (August 28) unveiled two ambitious projects for accommodating the urban poor of greater Shillong area.

Dharavi is Asia’s biggest slum, where around a million people are crammed in. Though there is no concept of slums in Meghalaya, the central urban poverty alleviation ministry and Meghalaya government have envisaged housing complex projects for the deprived and the homeless denizens of Shillong

Addressing a press conference urban affairs minister government of Meghalaya Paul Lyngdohsaid that these two ambitious projects by the government of Meghalaya will boast all modern facilities like drainage, water facilities and sewerage system

He said "a total of 600 residential unitswill be built in a total area of 30.44 acres in the outskirts of Shillong. It will be earth quake resistant." He added that the government will keep in mind the Meghalaya Land Transfer Act while allotting the units, which will cost Rs 3.5 lakhs per unit, one of the highest in the country.

These two projects have come as a big relief to the poor who have been living in the open air and in extreme conditions. The project is a part of the Jawaharlal Nehru urban renewal mission and will provide low priced and high quality living to the poor strata of society.

[kronik]

Meghalaya bid to attract investments

Meghalaya plans to bring in private investments worth Rs 2,000 crore over the next three years to provide a boost to its economy, which is growing at around 5.6 per cent annually.

The northeastern state is looking at investments in areas such as tourism, infrastructure, horticulture, farm and mineral-based industries, information technology and IT-enabled services.

Meghalaya chief minister Donkupar Roy is currently on a visit to Mumbai to project the state as an attractive investment destination.

Roy will interact with various industrialists here tomorrow and highlight the business opportunities in the hill state.

Ranjan Chatterjee, chief secretary, government of Meghalaya, said the state aims to grow by around 9.9 per cent.

Chatterjee added that Meghalaya is emerging as an important educational hub in the Northeast with the Indian Institute of Management and the National Institute of Fashion coming up in the state.

The state government is looking for private sector participation to set up engineering and medical colleges and other technical institutions.

According to Chatterjee, various entities have shown interest in setting up facilities in the state.

While Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd is keen on building a helicopter maintainance facility, a delegation from a Swedish toy company is also scouting for opportunities in the state.

Chatterjee said Meghalaya’s tourism sector had a huge potential for investment, adding that the hospitality segment suffered from a shortage of rooms. Against a requirement of 1,200 rooms, Shillong has only 600 rooms.

[thinlizzy82]

Manganese alloy plant in State

From Our Spl Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Maithan Alloy Ltd, the country's largest manganese alloy producer, will set up a greenfield manganese alloy plant in Meghalaya to meet the growing demand from global steel firms.

The company, which will invest Rs 350 crore, will set up another plant in Andhra Pradesh. The combined capacity of the two plants would be 1.38 lakh tonnes per annum.

The Meghalaya plant would cost Rs 80 crore and would be operational by the last quarter of 2009.

http://www.theshillongtimes.com/

[thinlizzy82]

Moreh getting infrastruture facelift to boost border trade
Imphal, Sept 11: In an attempt to boost Indo-Myanmar trade through the border town of Moreh, the Manipur government has taken up various schemes for development of infrastructre in the town.
The schemes include repairing of roads, construction of an international bridge over the Khujairok river and deployment of adequate security along the Imphal-Moreh national highway 39, official sources said.
The Manipur minister for commerce and industries, Y Erabot, visited Moreh, about 120 km south-east of here, on August 30 to inspect the progress of construction of a road which borders with Myanmar town of Namphalong and the bridge over the Khurairok river.
Various other development works were being implemented by the Manipur Industrial Development Corporation in the town.
At present the border trade involves import of different varieties of rice from Myanmar through Moreh and export of readymade garments, electronic goods and other consumer items which are available at Namphalong town in Myanmar.
A report from Moreh said Erabot during his visit held wide-ranging discussion with leaders of various communities on export-import trade at the Trade Centre conference hall at Moreh.
Representatives of different organisations who took part in the meeting demanded among other things setting up of a food testing laboratory, banks which could handle foreign exchange system, construction of roads and bridges and opening of a separate commerce department for handling trade at Moreh. (PTI)


http://www.sentinalassam.com/sentine...ernational.htm

[thinlizzy82]

Centre to promote NE as major FDI destination
Spl correspondent
NEW DELHI, Sept 11 – Conceding that North-East has a long way to go to catch up with the national growth rate of nine per cent, Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Mani Shankar Aiyar said the Centre is aiming to build up the Region as a major foreign direct investment (FDI) destination and an export centre of the country. The Fourth North East Business Summit that gets underway on Monday is going to witness a galaxy of foreign delegates, diplomats and investors participate in the three-day event. Apart from the foreign dignatories, domestic investors too would get opportunity, to meet face to face with key policy planners, entrepreneurs and Ministers. Chief Ministers of six out of the eight North Eastern States have confirmed their participation in the Summit.

With the focus clearly shifting to attract investments from neighbouring South East Asian countries and ASEAN, the Guwahati Summit would see a high number of participation by foreign diplomats even from countries Czech Republic, Australia and Arab League. Thailand is coming with a seven-member delegation and has organised an ‘Amazing Thailand Evening’.

In October, a business delegation from New South Wales of Australia is visiting the North-east. The ASEAN Ambassador wants to tour the country, as does the Nordic Ambassador.

A key attraction would be the address by the former Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh, Farooq Sobhan. Bangladesh has off late starting softening its stand on granting transit rights to goods to and from the North-East and access to the Chittagong Port. The interest being displayed by Bangladesh particularly the business community is encouraging,’ said Aiyar.

A 13-member business delegation from Bangladesh is joining the Summit.

‘The North East Business Summit is not only on the map of the country but we have managed to bring it on the diplomat map in Delhi, asserted Aiyar, addressing a press conference.

The Ambassadors of Brunai, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Kingdom of Bhutan among others are attending the Summit, while Minister of Commerce of Cambodia, Dr. Cham Parisidh.

Vice President, Hamid Ansari is the chief guest, while two Central Ministers, including Minister of State for Commerce, Jairam Ramesh and Minister of State for Food Processing industry, Subodh Kant Sahay are going to participate in different session.

Describing in brief, the response from the investors, the Minister said among the 97 companies who have expressed their intent to invest in the North-East, 28 companies have already come up with their sectoral preferences.

He further added that at the last summit, 128 companies submitted expression of interest for investment.

However, on the current investment front, Aiyar admitted that it was not a rosy picture. The NEDFi has calculated that of the total private capital formation of the country, only 0.5 per cent has been in the North-East. In this regard, he maintained that the Vision 2020 document held out promise for economic growth.

‘It has been estimated that to achieve a growth rate of nine per cent, we will need to invest in the North-East Rs 14 lakh crore. However, the Planning Commission is confident of attaining this figure by 2030 give or take couple of years,’ he said.

He said the investment in 11th Plan pegged at Rs 2 lakh crore is likely to double in 12th Plan and by the period 2020, it is likely to touch the figure worked out in the Vision document.

The Minister said that the region would require some efforts to catch up with the national growth rate, asserting that the aim was to make the North Eastern region, the arrowhead of India’s economic growth.

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/...d=sep1208/at01

[ajithv]

The Guwahati Municipal Corporation has demanded that the next phase of construction and repair of the city's inner roads by National Building Construction Corporation Ltd be stopped as it did not include a drainage project.
GMC chief administrator and East Guwahati legislator Robin Bordoloi said that according to specifications, NBCC was required to repair and construct roads with a proper drainage system to prevent waterlogging. But it had planned to execute the next phase without constructing drains. Bordoloi told the media that he had come to know that NBCC was going to repair about 180 roads in Guwahati without any provision for drainage.
"Since GMC cannot allow this, I have met Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and apprised him about the matter. The chief minister has agreed that roads should not be constructed or repaired without drains and promised to take up the matter with the Centre. The Guwahati development department also assured us that it would take up the matter with NBCC and the Centre, " said Bordoloi.
He also met top officials of NBCC on the issue and asked them not to go ahead with the project. He said the project must be reviewed and the drainage scheme included. The Union ministry of urban development had released Rs 25 crore to NBCC to construct and repair 180 lanes and bylanes under GMC's jurisdiction. Under a scheme sponsored by the Centre for integrated development of roads and bylanes, NBCC has so far repaired 469 roads and bylanes of GMC at a cost of Rs 48.8 crore. NBCC was entrusted with the responsibility of executing the scheme, launched in 2006, in a phased manner.
It may be mentioned here that CBI team had arrived recently in Guwahati to verify the reports and allegations of financial anomalies and quality compromise in construction and repair of several inner roads in the city by NBCC.

Source

[Rasnaboy]

With Airports Authority of India scheduled to begin work soon on a new airport in Sikkim, air connectivity in the northeast region is expected to improve. The airport, coming up at Pakyong in East Sikkim district, is the state's first ever airport and complements ongoing efforts to provide rail and road connectivity to the tiny hilly state.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the Pakyong airport earlier this month. The development is significant given that aviation infrastructure upgrade in northeast India has been crawling. Leave alone greenfield airports, even modernisation and expansion projects have been dragging for years.

Speaking to Projectmonitor, M.B. Gurung, a senior official in the Sikkim government's roads and bridges department (which looks after airports as there is no separate department) said that the airport would be developed by Airports Authority of India. It may be mentioned that last year the Centre proposed to develop the airport on PPP basis (with AAI being the minority equity partner) and even invited expressions of interest from prospective entrepreneurs. The PPP philosophy was rolled back and the project ownership was transferred entirely back to AAI. (Projectmonitor, in December last year, had exclusively reported that the PPP route for the Sikkim airport might not be implemented.)

Gurung said that the state government had made available the entire 200 acres of land required for the project that is expected to cost Rs 345 crore, including Rs 100 crore spent on land acquisition. Describing the current air connectivity in Sikkim, Gurung said that Bagdogra Airport in West Bengal's Darjeeling district currently served the state. The airport is 124 km from Sikkim's capital city Gangtok. The Pakyong airport will be 35 km from the state capital. Although AAI officials were not available for comment, it is learnt that the Pakyong airport is likely to be made operational within three years, with AAI already having prepared the detailed project report. The airport will be equipped to handle small aircraft (ATR-72) with a terminal building expected to cater to a total of 100 passengers (arriving and departing) per hour.

The Pakyong airport is expected to counterbalance the slow progress of greenfield airports elsewhere in the northeast region. For the 11th Plan period, there are proposals to construct new airports at Itanagar, the capital city of Arunachal Pradesh, and Cheitu in Nagaland's capital city Kohima. This is apart from the revival of 10-odd airports that are currently non-functional. It is reliably learnt that the Centre might not pursue the Cheitu airport since the estimated cost of over Rs 1,200 crore has made the project unviable. Besides, the Itanagar airport project is also being reviewed in view of the high preliminary cost estimate of over Rs 510 crore.

In the long run, the Centre is also considering setting up of two greenfield airports at Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh and Kokrajhar in Assam. The pre-feasibility report of the Tawang airport has been submitted to the Centre. The site selected for the Kokrajhar airport in Assam appears unsuitable as suggested by AAI in its pre-feasibility study. An official of Bodoland Territorial Council's transport wing told Projectmonitor that BTC was keen to lodge the airport at Kokrajhar, which fell under the council's jurisdiction. He, however, admitted that land acquisition could be a contentious issue given that Bodos were unwilling to hand over land due to "poor land valuation." Negotiations were in progress although BTC and the Assam government have been approached by the Centre to suggest an alternative site.

Northeast India currently has 22 airports out of which 11 are operational but not all conduct scheduled flight operations. Assam has six operational airports (Dibrugarh, Guwahati, Jorhat, Lilabari, Tezpur and Silchar), while the others are located at Agartala (Tripura), Aizawl, Imphal (both Mizoram), Dimapur (Nagaland) and Shillong (Meghalaya).

Plans of developing the eleven non-operational airports are at various stages. The revamped Baljek airport at Tura in Meghalaya, now under AAI's management, was inaugurated on October 23.

According to statistics available with AAI, the total passengers handled by north eastern airports touched 23.37 lakh in 2007-08, up 25 per cent from 18.61 lakh in the previous year.

Source: http://www.projectsmonitor.com/detai...17274&secid=18

[Rasnaboy]

As part of their plan to boost tourism in the state, Tripura Tourism Department has identified two Tourism Circuits along with few destinations including four for Rural Tourism for development. The two circuits that have been identified are Dhalai North Circuit and West South Circuit. Amarpur and Khowai have been identified for destination development, whereas Baghbari, Baramura, Sarashima have been selected for Rural Tourism. The Tourism Department has submitted a feasibility report to the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) and has also proposed for funds, which is under consideration by MoT.

According to the proposal submitted to MoT, the Tripura government is expecting Rs eight crore for Circuit Development, Rs five crore for destination development and Rs 50 lakh for development of each destination for Rural Tourism. Rakhal Sarkar, Deputy Director, Tripura Tourism said, “This is probably the first time we are initiating development in such a planned manner and have submitted our proposals to MoT. Although the state government will provide funds for development of the circuits and destinations, a large chunk of funding will come from MoT. We will be initiating Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects according to the Government of India (GoI) guidelines for the development.”

Highlighting Ecotourism as the focus of the state, Sarkar explained the components of both the circuits selected for circuit development by saying, “As part of the development of Dhalai Circuit, we plan to construct amenities on the highway, resort between Ambassa and Monu, undertake beautification and landscaping, restoration of heritage sites, set up cottages at Unokuti and Kailasahar and a hill resort at Jampui Hill.” The Tourism Department plans to construct an amusement park near Agartala, water resort at Horijala and Udaipur, Jetty at Horijala and also procure water sports equipment. It will also create an ethnic tribal cultural heritage village at Dashami Riangpara and Shantibazar, set up resorts and Bed and Breakfast facility along with a museum at Pilak as part of the development plan for West South Circuit.

“We also plan to develop various Ecotourism, Buddhist and archeological site under this circuit. We are also developing Bakafa Eco Park at the border area under Belonia sub-division,” added Sarkar. Under the Destination Development, the Tourism Department plans to develop two destinations, Amarpur and Khowai. The department plans to develop the Mangalachandi Temple complex and amenities along with adding amusement parks, view points and cultural centres at places like Amarpur, Kalajhari, Kalyanpur, Khowai and Banobithi. With regards to development of Rural Tourism destinations, Sarkar informed, “We are re-doing the landscaping of most destinations and are also adding facilities like eco cottages, viewpoints and other amusement activities.

Source: http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/d...aid=2530&sid=1

[Rasnaboy]

Gangtok, Nov. 7 The construction of the greenfield airport at Pakyong in East Sikkim will finally commence next month.

Senior officials from the Union Civil Aviation and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) have come here to hold consultations and a final review meeting on the airport with the Union Cabinet Secretary, Mr K.M. Chandrasekhar, who is on a visit to the city today.

Speaking to presspersons, Mr V.P. Agarwal, Member (Planning) of AAI, said that the airport would cost Rs 350 crore. Last month, the Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had given its sanction for the construction of the airport for ATR planes.

The AAI team credited the Chief Minister, Mr Pawan Chamling, for the new air link. “It is only through the vision and hard work of Chief Minster of Sikkim that the construction of the new airport will commence soon,” Mr Sudhir Raheja, AAI Executive Director, said.

The new airport will have a 1,800-m long runway with two parking bays. The terminal will have a capacity to handle 100 passengers (50 arriving and 50 departing) at a time and will be completed within three years.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...0850921900.htm

[SarafIndian]

Next month?? Thats cool man..

[SarafIndian]

Centre modifies Kaziranga highway bypass

NEW DELHI, Nov 20 – In a major initiative to prevent accidental death of rhinos and other endangered spices in road mishaps, the Centre has modified its earlier proposal clearing a four-lane Kaziranga National Highway bypass. Briefing newsmen after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, Prthviraj Chavan said the Government has cleared an alternate alignment of Four-Lane NH-37 to bypass the National Park, in modification of the already approved proposal of Four-Lanning of 315 Km from Nagaon to Dibrugarh.

Chavan said that with the realignment to bypass Kaziranga, bottleneck in implementation of four-lanning from Nagaon to Dibrugarh would be removed.

However, the Cabinet modified its earlier proposal of construction of a four-lane Dibrugarh bypass, sanctioning instead a two-lane connecting Nagaon and Dibrugarh. Additional Gross Budgetary Support of Rs 100 crore is projected.

The decision were part of the CCEA move to modify the projects cleared under Phase A Special Accelerated Road Development Programme in the North East (SARDP-NE) to provide road linkages.

The projects include setting up road linkages to Sittwe Port in Myanmar being developed as part of the Kaladan Multi-modal Transit Transport Project in the neighbouring country.

With fresh Gross Budgetary Support of Rs 1050 crore, the SARDP –NE project cost has touched Rs 5873 crore. Chavan said the highway support to Kaladan Multi-Modal Transport would facilitate an alternate water-route to serve the North Eastern Region (NER), giving boost to trade.

Today’s clearances also included alternate highway route between Siliguri and Gangtok in lieu of the proposal for improvement of 80 Km stretch of NH 31 A from Savoke to Ranipul to two-lane with paved shoulder under Phase A of the SARDP-NE on BOT basis.. An alternate highway from Melli to Singtham includes in Phase B of the SARDP –NE is also proposed.

The CCEA also sanctioned Rs 236 crore for preparation of Detailed Project Report and pre-construction activities for four-Lanning of 330 Km of NH – 44 in Tripura. An expenditure of Rs 64 crore for preparation of DPRs of Phase B of SARDP-NE has also been cleared.

[Rasnaboy]

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the extension of the 27-km broad gauge rail line from Jiribam to Imphal Road (Tupul) in Manipur. The proposal was submitted to the Centre by the Manipur government to provide direct rail connectivity to Imphal, the state capital, with the rest of the country. The total length of the line from Jiribam to Imphal will be 125 km.

A second survey of the project noted that the alignment on the extended rail length from Tupul to Imphal had to negotiate a hill range having a reduced level (RL) of about 1,200 metres. However, construction of this line has been deemed feasible by raising the level of Tupul station, providing an 8.11-km long tunnel and changing the ruling gradient to 1 in 60 from Tupul to Imphal.

The revised cost of this national project, including the extension, is around Rs 2,650 crore, up from Rs 727.27 crore estimated in the 2004-05 budget.

Agartala, the capital of Tripura, became only the second capital in the northeast, after Guwahati, Assam, to have a railway line that connects the rest of the country. Survey work for construction of the 25-km long rail line from Dimapur to Kohima, capital of Nagaland, is under way.

Source: http://www.projectsmonitor.com/detai...17513&secid=41

[lapusya08]

Russian bride, dating foreign single woman!
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[jumoni]

Originally Posted by SarafIndian

Photo cc Sanjay P. K. on Picasa

The Siang bridge ( under construction) , Pasighat, Over Brahmaputra

Ain't the scenary really breath-taking.... . Oh my, I really miss my home state.
Sad, what we have made of it now, gone are the forest, the floras, the animals, the rivulets, ponds, lakes...nothing exist now. The imigrants from B'desh have ruined every beautiful things we had like parasites. Don't blame them thoughcoz' we did nothing on our front to prevent our own destruction ....but IMO, after JK and Uttaranchal, Assam must be having the most woderfull and scenic beauty in our country

[Rasnaboy]

The 121-km long Bhanga-Lakhipur stretch of the Barak river in the lower reaches of Assam is to be declared National Waterway Number 6 shortly. A Bill on this has been placed before Parliament. Once the Bill is passed and the Union Government has made the necessary notifications, the work will start. The work will presuppose, among others, dredging and construction of terminals. But dredging poses a problem. The river also passes through Bangladesh, and the Karimganj termin al on the Indian side of the river is virtually on the Bangladesh border.

On one side of the river is Bangladesh with India on the other. The Union Government, therefore, plans to take up the issue of dredging jointly with Bangladesh as it will benefit both countries. There are four points along the river — Karimganj, Badarpur, Silchar and Lakhipur — where terminals can be constructed. The Central Inland Water Transport Corporation (CIWTC) has constructed terminals at Karimganj and Badarpur. CIWTC, it is learnt, is also prepared to construct the other terminals provided funds are made available. CIWTC introduced the Kolkata-Karimganj river service in 2006 after a gap of more than 30 years and has handled in three years 15,000 tonnes of cargo on the route.

Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/...0550190601.htm

[Rasnaboy]

NEW DELHI: Punj Lloyd Group will be developing a greenfield airport at Pakyong in Sikkim which will be completed within the next two years. The Airports Authority of India has given the Rs. 264-crore contract to the diversified engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) conglomerate to build the airport.

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/07/stor...0754391900.htm