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Krishnapatnam deep-water port announces financial closure for phase II

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Source : The Business Line Date : 19.03.2009

Krishnapatnam deep-water port announces financial closure for phase II

Our Bureau

Hyderabad, March 18

Krishnapatnam deep-water port in Nellore district has announced completion of financial closure for the Rs 4,000-crore second phase. Of this, a consortium of 16 banks, with State Bank of India as lead bank, contributed Rs 3,500 crore.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Mr C.V. Rao, Chairman and Managing Director of the Navayuga group, said the phase-II would be commissioned by January 2012.

While the promoters invested Rs 1,400 crore in the company, 3i invested Rs 800 crore to pick an undisclosed equity stake.

The company had won the mandate to build, operate, share and transfer (BOST) the port for a concessional period of 30 years.

Stating that there would be no further dilution of equity, Mr Rao said the funds raised and invested would do for taking up the phase-III as well. “All the further expansion could be taken care by internal accruals,” he said.

Revenue growth

The port, which started off with a capacity of 25 million tonnes a year from five berths, registered revenues of Rs 350 crore in the first year of operations. “We are looking at Rs 600 crore in the next financial year. We hope to reach a turnover of Rs 2,500 crore by 2013,” he said.

Mr Rao said the port would have a captive coal import potential of 37 mt by 2013, with several power plants with a total capacity of 10,000 MW coming up around the port area. This included a 1,300 MW plant by the group itself.

Mr Rao said the port would have a capacity of 50 mt by 2012 and 100 mt by 2025 when all the phases were completed. He said that the port company would break even after four years.

Slowdown impact

Asked whether the slowdown would have any impact on the capacity targets, he said this, in fact, would make the port an attractive proposition for exporters and importers as it offered lesser turnaround time for loading and unloading

Last Updated on Wednesday, 10 June 2009 04:26
 

'Polavaram Project wil be completed in 3 years'

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Source : The Business Line Date : 02.06.2009

‘Polavaram project will be complete in 3 yrs’


Project perks

Would irrigate 7.2 lakh acres utilising 273 TMC

Would ensure drinking water to 540 villages benefiting 28.5 lakh people, besides providing 23.5 TMC for industry

Would provide for diversion of 80 TMC to the Krishna Delta


Our Bureau

Hyderabad, March 1 The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has said the Government’s sheer will power had led to taking up of the Indira Sagar (Polavaram) multipurpose irrigation project, despite many hurdles.

“This is a one-of-a-kind project in the country and unique in many ways — be it the vast areas it will bring under cultivation or the quantum of water brought into utilisation. The project, a long cherished dream of Andhra Pradesh, has been taken up as a challenge and only we can complete it in a fixed timeframe,” a release from the Chief Minister’s Office on Sunday said.

It added that Dr Reddy made the remarks when a group of leaders from the Coastal Andhra, accompanied by the Major Irrigation Minister, Mr P. Lakshmaiah, called on him.

He also said the project, which nobody else dared to lay hands upon, will be completed within three years.

“The clearances secured in the shortest possible time speak volumes about our commitment. The project serves the larger interests of crores of people in the three regions,” Dr Reddy said.

He also expressed happiness over getting all clearances for the project, which would irrigate 7.2 lakh acres utilising 273 TMC. It ensures drinking water to 540 villages benefiting 28.5 lakh people, besides providing 23.5 TMC for industry.

It provides for diversion of 80 TMC to the Krishna Delta, in a first-of-its-kind irrigation initiative of linking two major rivers. Under the project, hydel power generation will be 960 MW. The project cost works out to Rs 10,151.04 crore, including land compensation, resettlement and rehabilitation

Last Updated on Wednesday, 03 June 2009 07:25
 

Panel suggests simpler eco clearance norms for infrastructure projects

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Source : The Business Line Date : 03.06.2009

Panel suggests simpler eco clearance norms for infrastructure projects


Clearances under numerous rules can take years to come


Our Bureau

New Delhi, June 2 A high-power Finance Ministry panel has recommended that infrastructure projects should be subjected to much simpler environmental clearance rules.

Currently, apart from the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, projects need to get numerous clearances from rules under Sections 3, 6 and 25 of the Environment (Protection) Act 1986. The process can take several years sometimes.

The panel suggested that industrial/infrastructure projects should be allowed to bypass these rules and that the EIA Notification should be comprehensive enough to cover all the other rules.

The report was submitted to the Prime Minister before the election. Mr Jairam Ramesh is entrusted with the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF).

The panel says that the Ministry does not grant the required clearances within the prescribed timeframe. To speed up things, it has come out with a large number of recommendations.

Thus, it has called for bringing in Standardised Terms of Reference (ToR) to minimise the time taken at the ‘scoping’ stage for repetitive projects.

This would apply to construction of berths and jetties, widening of national highways and construction of thermal power plants of capacity less than 1,000 MW.

Another recommendation is that all expansion of roads and highways should be exempted from public hearings.

Similarly, the expansion projects of major ports, which do not require additional land acquisition, should be exempted.

The panel suggested that data requirements should be relevant to the location of the project. Also, these should be identified and the onus of proof of correctness of the information should be placed upon the applicant.

It suggested a penalty, of cancellation of the project, if the information submitted is incorrect. This, it is expected, will reduce the scope for wrong information being filed.

In what may just be a coincidence, India eased import restrictions on scrap metals this week.

A few thousand tonnes were held up with the Customs, awaiting environmental clearance after they were found to be mildly radioactive.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 03 June 2009 07:39
 


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