Infrastructure and Energy Sector

[Cutting Edge 2]

India plans Rs10,000 crore deep sea mission
India’s deep sea mission intends to harness the ocean’s resources in a responsible way and could be a major step towards prosperity, the government said

May 09 2017. 05 13 PM IST

Titagarh (West Bengal): India has embarked on an ambitious Rs10,000-crore deep sea mission, likely to commence by the year end, to explore and mine mineral wealth beneath the ocean floor, a top government official said on Tuesday.

Ministry of earth sciences secretary Madhavan Nair Rajeevan said on Tuesday that the Rs10,000-crore project was an interministerial and interdisciplinary project. “It is expected to begin from end of the year year,” Nair said. Speaking on the sidelines of a programme to mark the commencement of ship-building by Titagarh Wagons Ltd, he said that a cabinet note on the project was under preparation.

Rajeevan said India was open for technical tie-ups with several countries in this regard. He said that the mission intended to harness the ocean’s resources in a “responsible way” and could turn out to be a transformative step for the prosperity and security of the nation. The project would have a huge impact for the benefit of the country’s deep ocean energy, deep sea fishing and minerals among others, Rajeevan said. The sea water desalination project of Rs2,000 crore at the Chennai coast is also taken up under the mission that aims to eliminate the potable water problem for the city. The Exclusive Economic Zone allotted to India in the international waters will be covered under the deep ocean mission.

The oceans that surround the Indian peninsula have over 1,300 islands. They give India seven-and-a-half thousand kilometres of coastline and 2.4 million square kilometres of the Exclusive Economic Zone. They contain enormous opportunities in energy, food, medicine and a host of other natural resources. China is also working on deep sea mission for mining mineral deposits in the Indian and Pacific oceans.

http://www.livemint.com/Science/aBw...dia-plans-Rs10000-crore-deep-sea-mission.html

 

[charlie]

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[Cutting Edge 2]

India's longest bridge to be inaugurated near China border
May 14, 2017, 11.49 AM IST

DIBRUGARH: India's longest river bridge, capable of withstanding the weight of a 60-tonne battle tank, will be inaugurated in Assam close to the border with China on May 26 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

With the inauguration of the 9.15-km-long Dhola-Sadiya bridge over the Brahmaputra river, the prime minister will kick start the celebrations of the NDA government's three years in office from this eastern-most part of Assam.

The bridge is seen as an attempt by India to shore up its defence requirements along the Sino-Indian border particularly in the Northeast besides providing easy access to the people of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam with air and rail connectivity.

It is 3.55 km longer than the Bandra-Worli sea link in Mumbai, making it the longest bridge in India.

"The prime minister will dedicate the strategically important bridge to the nation on May 26. It will bolster the road connectivity in the Northeast as the bridge will be used by people of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh besides defence forces extensively," Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal told PTI.

The construction of the bridge began in 2011 at a project cost of Rs 950 crore. The design is such that the bridge can withstand the movement of military tanks.

"Assam and Arunachal Pradesh have huge strategic value to the country. Since the bridge is located close to our border with China, it will help quick movement of military troops and artillery in times of conflict," Sonowal said.

The bridge is located 540-km away from Assam capital Dispur and 300 km away from Arunachal Pradesh capital Itanagar. The aerial distance to the Chinese border is less than 100 km.

After Kaliabhomora bridge near Tezpur, there is no bridge over the Brahmaputra for the next 375 km upstream till Dhola, where the new bridge is constructed. Currently, all the transport between the two banks of the river are being carried out through water only.

The bridge, when opened for the public, will cut down the travel time between Assam and Arunachal Pradesh by as much as four hours.

As there is no civilian airport in Arunachal Pradesh, this bridge will help people of the state to reach the nearest rail head in Tinsukia and the airport in Dibrugarh easily.

Sonowal said the delayed works of the bridge was expedited after Modi assumed the charge in 2014. The bridge was originally scheduled to open in 2015.

The BJP government in Assam will complete one year in office on May 24.

The bridge is one of the key projects of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in the Northeast and is built in public-private partnership with a construction company.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...ed-near-china-border/articleshow/58666899.cms

Pictures of Dhola-Sadiya bridge

 

[bipin]

DIBRUGARH: India's longest river bridge, capable of withstanding the weight of a 60-tonne battle tank, will be inaugurated in Assam close to the border with China on May 26 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Just out of curiosity. So how many tanks can pass at a time or just one for entire bridge ?

 

[Chinmoy]

Just out of curiosity. So how many tanks can pass at a time or just one for entire bridge ?

It all depends on the resonant frequency of the bridge. As far as word goes, Tanks with a difference of 400 metres in between them could pass through it. But exact resonance frequency would be a closely guarded fact for this.

 

[Cutting Edge 2]

India Trumps US as World’s Most Attractive Renewable Energy Market
19:08 18.05.2017
India has replaced the US as the second most attractive renewable energy market, with China topping the list. The US lost due to a shift in domestic energy policy under President Donald Trump.

New Delhi (Sputnik) — China and India have been ranked first and second respectively in Ernst & Young's (EY) annual ranking of the world's top 40 markets for investing in renewable energy this year. The US has dropped one rank to third this year from the second the previous year in the EY renewable energy country attractiveness index (RECAI).

Both China and India have adopted sustained policy measures to diversify their energy mix and move towards cleaner sources, said the EY report. Not only are emerging economies like India and China moving away from hydrocarbons, a noteworthy trend in this year's ranking is that countries like Kazakhstan, Panama, and the Dominican Republic, which are taking pro-active efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, have entered the list.

In India's case, the country has taken strident steps to revive the renewable sector, in particular, with a focus on solar energy since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014. In fact, the Indian Cabinet on Wednesday cleared the proposal to construct 10 indigenous pressurized heavy water nuclear reactors with a total capacity of 7,000 MW.

“A combination of strong government support and increasingly attractive economics has helped to push India into second place in the latest issue of our renewable energy country attractiveness index,” EY said in its report.

The first-ever conference on renewable energy investment was held in 2015 with the private sector committing nearly $200 billion in funds. “This follows recent dramatic growth in renewable, with more than 10GW of solar capacity added in three years—from a low base of just 2.6 GW in 2014—and record new wind capacity installed in 2016–17 of 5.4 GW, according to official figures,” it said.

Over the years, India has steadily improved its ranking. From ninth in 2013, it reached the third spot in 2016. In terms of capacity, as of March 2017, the country has a combined renewable energy capacity of 57 GW and is aiming to raise it to 175GW in the next five years.

The competition from solar sector, which has seen a significant drop in tariff in recent months, affected pricing power of coal-based power plants.

“Movements in the index illustrate the influence of policy on renewable energy investment and development – both productive and detrimental. Supportive policy and a long-term vision are critical to achieving a clean energy future,” Ben Warren, chief editor, EY Global Power & Utilities Corporate Finance Leader, and Renewable energy country attractiveness index (RECAI), said in a statement

https://sputniknews.com/asia/201705181053749161-india-us-energy-market/

 

[Cutting Edge 2]

Highway projects worth Rs 5 lakh crore planned in 2 years
May 19, 2017, 10.02 AM IST

“We have planned several projects that would be very crucial for overall development of the country. The... highwaycontracts, totalling about 50,000 km, in the last two years of its tenure, surpassing the cumulative road length awarded for paying in the last five years.

Road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari told ET that the contracts will be for 44 economic corridors and 10 expressways, and would include the 'chardham' connectivity programme, northeast connectivity programme and the borders-linking projects. Over the last five years, the government could award only 40,000 km of fresh highway length for construction.

"We have planned several projects that would be very crucial for overall development of the country. These new highways would decongest the existing roads, bringing down logistics cost by 5-6%,” Gadkari told ET. "My ministry's vision is that a freight vehicle should move on highways without restrictions and should be able to do at least 400 km per day. It will have very positive impact on the logistics industry.”

At present, there are 10 expressway projects at various stages of implementation. Gadkari said his ministry would raise money through NHAI bonds, monetisation of highways and additional allocation in budgetary support. He said the Centre's first expressway, the Eastern peripheral expressway, would be ready in a few months.
Most of these projects would be undertaken on the hybrid annuity model, where the government shares the project risk with the private partner and bears 40% of the project cost upfront.

Of the 50,000 km of road length that will be awarded for construction, paving work for 30,000 km of highways will start in the last two years, the ministry has said.

This fiscal, the government is targeting construct of almost 15,000 km of highways, up 45% from what it achieved in FY17. Over the last three years, the ministry has awarded contracts for over 34,000 km of roads as compared with 15,000 km awarded by the UPA government in its last three years.Actual construction in the last three years has been about 22,000 km as compared with 6,000 km during the last three years of the UPA government.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...e-planned-in-2-years/articleshow/58745529.cms

 

[Cutting Edge 2]

UP government setting up 750 megawatt solar plant at Badhla

SRIKANT TRIPATHY
TNN | MAY 21, 2017, 09.51 PM IST

JAIPUR: With solar energy rates crashing below that of the coal-fired thermal power, states even with land constraints and lower irradiance are now warming up to the renewable energy. In a first in the country, the Uttar Pradesh government is setting up 750 megawatt solar plant at Badhla, near Jodhpur and draw the power in their state from the transmission network of Power Grid Corporation of India.

In a meeting last week in New Delhi, top officials from the ministry of new and renewable energy, Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), representatives from UP and Rajasthan government, laid out a roadmap to carry out the reverse auction and award the project by August 31 with a target to start generation from October 2018.

"Recent bids for solar projects have witnessed sharp decline in the tariffs at which the developers want to sell power. Central transmission unities charge no fees for wheeling out power from one state to another. In a recent auction for plants in Rajasthan, tariffs have come down to Rs 2.44 per unit. Whatever tariff is discovered through the auction, the UP government will get the power at the same rate in their state even though the plant is located in Rajasthan," said B K Doshi, managing
director of Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation.

The Centre mandates the states to mix certain portion renewable energy to their total consumption energy under renewable purchase obligation (RPO) but its implementation has been patchy. Solar requires lot of land and many states don't have large tracts of infertile land. Secondly, the number of sunny days and irradiance are also factors as the volume of power generation depends on them.

"Unavailability of infertile land is a big issue for states like Jharkhand, West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and UP. But, that is no more a hurdle. Under the open access system, they can put up plants anywhere and draw power in their states without any additional cost of transmission charges," added Joshi.

While experts in the sector feel that the current lower tariffs are not sustainable, there seems no lack of appetite from investors. "In the past one year, the prices of solar modules have fallen by 30%. Also, the cost of funds have come down substantially. For companies who look for economy of scale, the current tariffs are expected to meet the internal rate of return they expect from the projects," added Joshi.

Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...ofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

 

[Cutting Edge 2]

Indian cabinet approves US$366 million in bonds for schemes including solar parks and rooftop PV

• May 25, 2017 9:51 AM BST

India’s Union Cabinet has approved plans to raise bonds worth INR23.6 billion (US$366 million) for a large range of renewable energy initiatives.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) will raise the bonds through the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) during the FY2017-18.

The funding will go towards:

• Solar parks
• Green energy corridors
• Wind project incentives
• Public sector undertakings
• Defence PV projects
• Viability gap funding (VGF) for solar projects
• Rooftop PV
• Off-grid/grid-distributed and decentralized renewable power
• Investment in corporations and autonomous bodies

The government said that the investment would boost infrastructure in the renewable sector and help the country to reach its ambitious renewable energy targets (175GW by 2022).

IREDA has already raised INR16.4 billion out of the INR40 billion allocated by the government for it to raise bonds on behalf of MNRE in FY2016-17.

While the financial boost signals continued support from the Centre for India’s renewables industry, the solar sector is waiting apprehensively over whether the Goods and Services Tax (GST) allocated to cells and modules will be set at 5% or 18% after an initial announcement was followed by some confusion and an MNRE clarification procedure is ongoing.

https://www.pv-tech.org/news/indian...-million-in-bonds-for-schemes-including-solar

 

[Cutting Edge 2]

Dhola-Sadiya bridge, official name is The Bhupen Hazarika Setu, which became operational on 26 May 2017, is the longest bridge in India. It spans the Lohit River to connect the states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh and is 9.15 kilometres in length.

 

[Chinmoy]

Dhola-Sadiya bridge, official name is The Bhupen Hazarika Setu, which became operational on 26 May 2017, is the longest bridge in India. It spans the Lohit River to connect the states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh and is 9.15 kilometres in length.

As far as what I have heard, MBT could pass through it with a difference of mere 50 mtrs in between. Although tests had been done for 200 mtr approx.

 

[Kshatriya87]

As far as what I have heard, MBT could pass through it with a difference of mere 50 mtrs in between. Although tests had been done for 200 mtr approx.

Then the 50 m proximity must be after a breach of FOS (Factor of Safety) to a certain level.

 

[Chinmoy]

Then the 50 m proximity must be after a breach of FOS (Factor of Safety) to a certain level.

Think so. Seems engineers and SAIL is very confident regarding the strength and construction procedure of the bridge. Its been designed to withstand tremor of 7 in Richter scale (common in NE). Word is there that at the same time it could withstand the resonance of passing MBT too.

 

[Innocent]

Meghalaya-Myanmar Highway Project Likely To Start Next Month: Nitin Gadkari

India, Thailand and Myanmar are working on a 1,400 km long highway that would link the country with Southeast Asia by land, which would give a boost to trade, business, health, education and tourism among the countries.

All India | Press Trust of India | Updated: May 30, 2017 18:55 IST

The cost of the Meghalaya to Myanmar project is Rs. 5,000 crore, said Nitin Gadkari

Mumbai: Work on the highway from Meghalaya to Myanmar is likely to start next month as part of the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral pact, Road, Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said today.

"We will probably start work on Meghalaya to Myanmar project from next month. The cost of the project is Rs. 5,000 crore," Mr Gadkari told reporters today on the sidelines of a programme here.

India, Thailand and Myanmar are working on a 1,400 km long highway that would link the country with Southeast Asia by land, which would give a boost to trade, business, health, education and tourism among the countries.

Addressing a meet on 'the green ports and oil spill management" here, Mr Gadkari said the government is planning a waterway connectivity up to Myanmar via Bangladesh using Brahmaputra river.

"Waterways are more cost effective than roads and railways and so any goods required to be traded to Myanmar or Bangladesh could be done in a very cost effective manner. This will finish before 2018," he said.

With the Cabinet approving Rs. 2,000 crore from a central fund for development of water transport, operationalising at least 10 of the 111 national waterways by next year is on top of the government's agenda.

Massive work worth Rs. 5,000 crore is already underway on Ganga (1,620 km), with World Bank assistance, which is the National Waterway No 1.

The work includes development of three multi-modal hubs at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Haldia in West Bengal and Sahebganj in Bihar.

Pitching for environment-friendly initiatives, Mr Gadkari said that the country could be flooded with electric commercial and passenger vehicles by December as a move to curb dependence on crude oil and cut emissions.

He noted that India needs to encourage electric as well as bio-diesel and ethanol-fuelled vehicles.

On concerns on lack of infrastructure for charging electric vehicles, the minister said "the technology is there and if we have more vehicles we will get more charging stations."

Nagpur has earned the distinction of becoming the country's first city with a fleet of 200 electric vehicles, including taxis, buses, e-rickshaw and autos.

Mr Gadkari also suggested that shipping corporations should explore use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as an alternative source of fuel to save on costs.

The minister also said he would discuss lowering the goods and services tax (GST) rates on hybrid vehicles with the finance ministry.

Under the GST rates, hybrid cars, which are considered eco-friendly, are slated to attract a 15 per cent cess over and above peak rate of 28 per cent, same as those of large luxury cars and sports utility vehicles (SUVs).

 

[Kshatriya87]

Meghalaya-Myanmar Highway Project Likely To Start Next Month: Nitin Gadkari

India, Thailand and Myanmar are working on a 1,400 km long highway that would link the country with Southeast Asia by land, which would give a boost to trade, business, health, education and tourism among the countries.

All India | Press Trust of India | Updated: May 30, 2017 18:55 IST

The cost of the Meghalaya to Myanmar project is Rs. 5,000 crore, said Nitin Gadkari

Mumbai: Work on the highway from Meghalaya to Myanmar is likely to start next month as part of the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral pact, Road, Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said today.

"We will probably start work on Meghalaya to Myanmar project from next month. The cost of the project is Rs. 5,000 crore," Mr Gadkari told reporters today on the sidelines of a programme here.

India, Thailand and Myanmar are working on a 1,400 km long highway that would link the country with Southeast Asia by land, which would give a boost to trade, business, health, education and tourism among the countries.

Addressing a meet on 'the green ports and oil spill management" here, Mr Gadkari said the government is planning a waterway connectivity up to Myanmar via Bangladesh using Brahmaputra river.

"Waterways are more cost effective than roads and railways and so any goods required to be traded to Myanmar or Bangladesh could be done in a very cost effective manner. This will finish before 2018," he said.

With the Cabinet approving Rs. 2,000 crore from a central fund for development of water transport, operationalising at least 10 of the 111 national waterways by next year is on top of the government's agenda.

Massive work worth Rs. 5,000 crore is already underway on Ganga (1,620 km), with World Bank assistance, which is the National Waterway No 1.

The work includes development of three multi-modal hubs at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Haldia in West Bengal and Sahebganj in Bihar.

Pitching for environment-friendly initiatives, Mr Gadkari said that the country could be flooded with electric commercial and passenger vehicles by December as a move to curb dependence on crude oil and cut emissions.

He noted that India needs to encourage electric as well as bio-diesel and ethanol-fuelled vehicles.

On concerns on lack of infrastructure for charging electric vehicles, the minister said "the technology is there and if we have more vehicles we will get more charging stations."

Nagpur has earned the distinction of becoming the country's first city with a fleet of 200 electric vehicles, including taxis, buses, e-rickshaw and autos.

Mr Gadkari also suggested that shipping corporations should explore use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as an alternative source of fuel to save on costs.

The minister also said he would discuss lowering the goods and services tax (GST) rates on hybrid vehicles with the finance ministry.

Under the GST rates, hybrid cars, which are considered eco-friendly, are slated to attract a 15 per cent cess over and above peak rate of 28 per cent, same as those of large luxury cars and sports utility vehicles (SUVs).

Hope we are not giving the rohingya a good road to enter India.

 

[Butter Chicken]

Pedestrian facilities in Bengaluru-Before and After

 

[Kshatriya87]

Pedestrian facilities in Bengaluru-Before and After

Good job. But 1 thing I've noticed is that India's infrastructure is not handicapped friendly. For e.g. in the walkways above, a guy sitting in a wheelchair will not be able to pass.

Most of the buildings have stairs as entrances but no gradient/slope to allow the wheelchairs to roll on. Same goes with buses, trains etc.

 

[Chinmoy]

Meghalaya-Myanmar Highway Project Likely To Start Next Month: Nitin Gadkari

India, Thailand and Myanmar are working on a 1,400 km long highway that would link the country with Southeast Asia by land, which would give a boost to trade, business, health, education and tourism among the countries.

All India | Press Trust of India | Updated: May 30, 2017 18:55 IST

The cost of the Meghalaya to Myanmar project is Rs. 5,000 crore, said Nitin Gadkari

Mumbai: Work on the highway from Meghalaya to Myanmar is likely to start next month as part of the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral pact, Road, Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said today.

"We will probably start work on Meghalaya to Myanmar project from next month. The cost of the project is Rs. 5,000 crore," Mr Gadkari told reporters today on the sidelines of a programme here.

India, Thailand and Myanmar are working on a 1,400 km long highway that would link the country with Southeast Asia by land, which would give a boost to trade, business, health, education and tourism among the countries.

Addressing a meet on 'the green ports and oil spill management" here, Mr Gadkari said the government is planning a waterway connectivity up to Myanmar via Bangladesh using Brahmaputra river.

"Waterways are more cost effective than roads and railways and so any goods required to be traded to Myanmar or Bangladesh could be done in a very cost effective manner. This will finish before 2018," he said.

With the Cabinet approving Rs. 2,000 crore from a central fund for development of water transport, operationalising at least 10 of the 111 national waterways by next year is on top of the government's agenda.

Massive work worth Rs. 5,000 crore is already underway on Ganga (1,620 km), with World Bank assistance, which is the National Waterway No 1.

The work includes development of three multi-modal hubs at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, Haldia in West Bengal and Sahebganj in Bihar.

Pitching for environment-friendly initiatives, Mr Gadkari said that the country could be flooded with electric commercial and passenger vehicles by December as a move to curb dependence on crude oil and cut emissions.

He noted that India needs to encourage electric as well as bio-diesel and ethanol-fuelled vehicles.

On concerns on lack of infrastructure for charging electric vehicles, the minister said "the technology is there and if we have more vehicles we will get more charging stations."

Nagpur has earned the distinction of becoming the country's first city with a fleet of 200 electric vehicles, including taxis, buses, e-rickshaw and autos.

Mr Gadkari also suggested that shipping corporations should explore use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as an alternative source of fuel to save on costs.

The minister also said he would discuss lowering the goods and services tax (GST) rates on hybrid vehicles with the finance ministry.

Under the GST rates, hybrid cars, which are considered eco-friendly, are slated to attract a 15 per cent cess over and above peak rate of 28 per cent, same as those of large luxury cars and sports utility vehicles (SUVs).

Although a good move, but what is there on paper is a plan to connect Meghalaya with Myanmar via Nagaland and Manipur.

Now it means that already a four lane highway is there from Shillong till NH37 in Assam which gets connected to AH1 or East-West Corridor of India. Work is under way in Dimapur-Kohima sector in Nagaland. This proposed highway is part of existing road link from Meghalaya to Moreh in Manipur via Assam and Nagaland. Economically speaking this is a project which would need minimum investment and that's a good thing for us. But speaking of strategy, GoI should have planned an alternate route via Barack Valley in Assam connecting Manipur through Jiribam and then approaching Moreh through CCPur. That way we would have two ways of connecting Manipur and the Jiribam-Imphal road too have seen a massive upgradation and buildup.

Along with the inplace Silchar-Jiribam raillink and upcoming Jiribam-Imphal Raillink, these would have been one massive infrastructure project and the NE India's very own road of death would too have become secured.

 

[Chinmoy]

Assam refinery to process biofuel from Arunachal bamboo

https://yourstory.com/2017/06/assam-biofuel-bamboo/

A biofuel refinery, the first of its kind in India, set up at the Numaligarh Refinery (NRL) in Assam, will soon process biofuel from bamboo, abundantly found in Arunachal Pradesh, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said recently.

 

[Cutting Edge 2]

Russia’s Rosatom may acquire wind power projects in India
Russian firm Rosatom State Atomic Energy will increase its India investments with wind energy projects, may also set up small hydropower projects in the country

http://www.livemint.com/Industry/Tq...satom-may-acquire-wind-projects-in-India.html