Infrastructure and Energy Sector

[ezsasa]

Why do we need loans from outside countries? Isn't it better to raise fiscal deficit than take loans? Unless, one of the intentions is to raise foreign exchange for India and the loan is merely a soft loan. If the loan has interest rates of 6-7%, it is better to raise fiscal deficit

Indian banks do not have capacity to fund all infrastructure projects because of old NPAs.

 

[Vijyes]

Indian banks do not have capacity to fund all infrastructure projects because of old NPAs.

As I said, bringing in FDI and printing money is same as printing money without bringing in FDI. Why bring forex when 50000 crore can be printed by government.

 

[IndianHawk]

Why do we need loans from outside countries? Isn't it better to raise fiscal deficit than take loans? Unless, one of the intentions is to raise foreign exchange for India and the loan is merely a soft loan. If the loan has interest rates of 6-7%, it is better to raise fiscal deficit

From the link in previous post which you obviously didn't bother to read

An agreement was signed between the two countries to draw $9 billion in concessional credit and $1 billion as official development assistance (ODA) from Seoul for infrastructure projects in India.

So 1 billion is free and 9 billion will be at 2-3 % max.

 

[Kshatriya87]

J&K : Good news for remote area people
U4UVoice
3 hours ago Top Stories


Rajouri: -Minister for Animal, Sheep Husbandry and Fisheries, Abdul Ghani Kohli today said that improving road connectivity to remote areas is priority of the Government, adding that connecting villages and remote areas holds key to socio-economic transformation of the State.
The Minister was speaking at meeting which he chaired to review the progress of road projects under National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in Kalakote Constituency of Rajouri district.
He directed the NABARD officers to accelerate the pace of work on all ongoing road projects in the Constituency.
Chief General Manager NABARD, Engineers of various wings of NABARD and concerned officers attended the meeting.
On the occasion, the Minister said that better roads would not only make travel and transportation easy but will also provide a boost to the agriculture and horticulture sectors and improve the living standards of the people of far-flung areas.
He said that the road projects taken in hand by NABARD in Kalakote, once completed, will also give a fillip to tourism activities in the area as many beautiful destinations of Rajouri district will be linked with the road network.
The Minister emphasized on improving the quality of life and economic well-being of people living in remote areas and exhorted upon the officers to ensure that the quality norms are strictly adhered to and timelines are met so that there is no cost escalation and the projects are completed well in time.
He hailed the efforts of the NABARD for completing various projects in a time bound manner and asked them to work with utmost dedication and zeal.
Later, several deputations called on the Minister and apprised him about their problems and issues. The Minister gave them a patient hearing and assured them that their problems would be redressed in a phased manner.

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[Kshatriya87]

PM Modi pushes electricity for all with Rs 16,000 cr Saubhagya Scheme
Zee News
4 hours ago Top Stories
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to launch a group of schemes that would bring free electricity for five years for BPL cardholders. This is part of an ambitious Saubhagya Yojna. The major objective is to provide last-mile connectivity to ensure electricity reaches far-flung areas of the country.

This is being seen as a major push towards fulfilling his electoral promises after demonetisation on November 8, 2016, and the rollout of GST from July 1.

Some of the major highlights of the Saubhagya scheme are:

* BPL cardholders to get free electricity
* Those above the poverty line can pay for electricity in EMIs
* Government sets deadline of March 29, 2019 to bring electricity to all households
* 18,000 villages – 3 crore rural households - without electricity currently to benefit from the schemes
* Rs 16,320 crore outlay for the power scheme, a part of which will be borne by state governments
* Special focus on health and education for middle and low-income groups

Also on the menu are measures to encourage domestic investments and provide more money for rural infrastructure and affordable housing.

Putting more money into the hands of consumers this festive season, easier loans to SMEs and expediting disinvestment are among the steps being considered as part of a stimulus package.

Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian was tasked with preparing details of the pressure points facing the economy and the probable remedies.




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[sorcerer]

NHAI all set to become world's third largest highways network, expands operations

The NHAI has constructed nearly 30,000 km world class national highways and has another 20,000 km scheduled for completion in the next couple of years.

With the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) all set to become world's third largest highways network, it has created a new Highway Operations Division.

The NHAI has constructed nearly 30,000 km world class national highways and has another 20,000 km scheduled for completion in the next couple of years.

According to an official statement, the sustained growth will ensure that Indian national highway network will measure approximately 50,000 Km of highways in the next two years, which will be third largest highways network in the world.

"However, this achievement also signals the need of focusing on the highway operations for rendering world class services to the highway users. Thus, the NHAI has created a new Highway Operations Division," the statement said.

This division will focus on all non-commercial highway operational activities for efficient network utilisation and providing hassle-free services.

The Highway Operations Division at NHAI will be headed by member (admin) and assisted by CGM (IT and HO) and a team of experienced officers.

The Highway Operation Division will be in charge of the electronic tolling, wayside amenities, road safety and security, incident management-helpline, tracking of ambulance, cranes on highways, highway traffic management system, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, highway plantation, road lighting, wi-fi and other modern amenities on the national highways


http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/...ision-highway-network-division/1/1057256.html

 

[sorcerer]

Indian power majors embrace renewables
The world's third largest carbonemitter targets 40% of power from clean sources by 2030

Energy firms in India are increasingly diversifying to generate revenues from renewables in a effort to keep pace with the country’s push towards green energy.

“As we go ahead, if we look at the energy mix, the renewables energy percentage is going to increase, so if these companies do not keep up, they’ll be left behind,” says Rohit Kumar, the head of REC in India, a Norwegian solar energy firm. “It’s [adoption of renewables] gathering momentum now.”

Indian companies that are actively trying to expand their presence in the renewable sector include Reliance Industries – an oil-focused conglomerate controlled by India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani. He in July said Reliance “will invest in new sources of energy, aiming for leading positions in renewables”.



_______________________

Bharat Petroleum, an Indian oil refining, exploration and marketing conglomerate, is trying to increase its revenues from renewable sources. It has a policy on renewable energy that focuses on increased use of solar and wind power.

Meanwhile, companies including Hindustan Petroleum and Tata are also working on bolstering their presence in the renewable energy sector.

Prime minister Narendra Modi’s government has ambitious plans when it comes to renewables – aiming for the country to generate 40 per cent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030 – to meet the growing demand and achieve energy security, as well as to help tackle climate change.

India is the third-largest carbon emitter after the United States and China, according to the most recent data from the Global Carbon Project, an international organisation that seeks to quantify global carbon emissions and their causes.

Most of India’s energy needs today are met by coal-fuelled power plants. The country has set a target of generating 175 gigawatts (GW) by 2022, with solar power making up the majority of this production.

A country with a population of about 1.3 billion, India’s energy needs are rapidly rising as the economy expands, urbanisation progresses and as it focuses on advancing its manufacturing.

Currently, there are about 300 million people in India who do not have access to electricity, according to the World Bank.

“The oil and gas sector world is undergoing a transition,” Bharat Petroleum says in it latest annual report. “While an increased world growth and improving prosperity would imply growth in energy demand, technological advancements and environmental concerns have contained energy consumption and are causing a shift towards cleaner fuels. Although oil and gas, together with coal, continue to dominate the energy mix, there are clear indications of an impending change in the energy mix, in favour of renewable energy.”

The company notes that the rise of non-fossil fuels poses “both an opportunity as well as a threat”.

Renewable energy is “an opportunity, since it provides a platform to migrate towards cleaner and more efficient forms of energy and a threat as it risks the obsolescence of huge investments in conventional forms of energy”, the report adds.

Hindustan Petroleum, meanwhile, runs wind farms in the states of Maharashtra and Rajasthan with a capacity totalling more than 100 megawatts.

“A shift to renewable energy is required and several companies are moving in that direction,” says Suhail Nathani, the managing partner at Economic Laws Practice, based in Mumbai. “Traditional energy will always have a role to play, but a partially running traditional power plant is not economically viable and therefore will always face pricing challenges. As technologies develop, I envisage traditional power players establishing hybrid plants or integrating renewable energy power plants and seamlessly offering both renewable and traditional energy.”

There is some scepticism around whether Mr Modi will achieve his renewable energy targets. Figures from India’s ministry of new and renewable energy show that the country’s total renewable power capacity as of the end of August was below 60GW. But there are serious efforts underway to boost renewables.

“With advancements in technology, and with the price of solar and wind reducing, we are not only sure but confident that we will not only achieve the target, but exceed it,” said Anand Kumar, the secretary of new and renewable energy ministry, speaking at the Renewable Energy India Expo held in Delhi recently, which attracted more than 750 exhibitors.

Mr Kumar sees scope in improving renewables manufacturing, particularly solar manufacturing, in which he said India’s capabilities were “modest”. “We should set up manufacturing bases for batteries in India,” Mr Kumar said. “Once we overcome the obstacle of storage, then the ideal of 24-hour free energy for the people can be realised.”

He added that the ministry in recent meetings had “begun to take more seriously the potential of India’s offshore wind and hydropower capacities”, and hinted that “these technologies will be brought under the renewable energy target”.

From the perspective of the government’s finances, moving away from reliance on oil is highly desirable, given the fact that India is heavily dependent on oil imports which weigh on its trade deficit.

“I think Indian companies have started looking at renewables,” says Pritam Doshi, the director at PAE Renewables, a solar company based in Mumbai. “But I don’t think that any of the big oil giants have done a lot of quick scaling up. I think we will start seeing some of these companies do a lot more as the dependence on oil starts reducing.”

The discussion on renewables comes against a backdrop of India’s falling economic growth, which in the quarter between April and June slowed to a three-year low of 5.7 per cent compared with 7.9 per cent for the same period last year, according to official data.

“Going ahead, energy is going to be one of the most critical aspects for our development of the country and all-round growth,” said Mr Kumar.

“One of the best things that can happen is to capture this additional energy requirement from renewables.”

Falling costs mean setting up solar energy solutions has become “commercially viable” now for companies, he added. Additionally, Mr Kumar said sluggish oil prices have made oil investment and exploration less attractive and this could also be a factor in traditional energy companies looking beyond dependence on fossil fuels at this point

in time.

All this means there are opportunities to invest in renewables in India, industry insiders say.

But there are significant challenges when it comes to moving into the renewables space.

“The cost is built into the installation,” says Mr Doshi. “You need money upfront to put up a large power plant and a manufacturing facility. Also, if you want to be huge in scale, you need a lot of land and therefore you need a lot of muscle in terms of the right network to acquire that land, whether it’s government permissions, whether it’s local accumulation of land.”

But the stakes are high.

With a continued move by traditional energy firms towards renewable sources in India, they can potentially help secure the future of their own businesses and play a role in achieving the country’s energy security.

https://www.thenational.ae/business/energy/indian-power-majors-embrace-renewables-1.662913

 

[Prashant12]

Work on Jammu-Kashmir mega hydel project to start in 2 months: Official

Work on the Rs 4,640.88-crore Kiru hydroelectric project on the Chenab river, which flows into Pakistan, would start within two months, a senior government official said.

Work on the Rs 4,640.88-crore Kiru hydroelectric project on the Chenab river, which flows into Pakistan, would start within two months, a senior government official said. District Development Commissioner (Kishtwar) Angrez Singh Rana and General Manager of Kiru project, Varinder Salman, visited the 624-megawatt Kiru and 540-MW Kwar hydroelectric project sites yesterday. “Various bottlenecks causing hindrances in the execution of the projects were discussed at length and immediate directions were issued for its resolution at the earliest,” Rana told PTI.

He said the major work of the “run-of-the-river” Kiru project, near Patharnakki village in Kishtwar district, will start within a period of two months. A run-of-the-river project is a type of hydroelectric plant, where a river’s water is not held back in a reservoir, but flows back into the river after generating electricity.

The project proposed on the Chenab river, a tributary of the Indus, envisages construction of a 123-metre high dam with an underground powerhouse consisting four units of 156-MW each. Rana said the affected families said they had not received compensation for their land, structures and fruit trees which were acquired for the projects.

Salman said non-payment of compensation was one of the reasons behind the delay in the execution of infrastructure work. He directed revenue officials to identify a chunk of state land for the rehabilitation of affected families, who were assured by him of timely compensation. Rana said the families would get proper training,so that they get jobs when the work on the project starts.

The Union environment ministry had given its nod to the Kiru and Kwar hydroelectric projects in July last year and April this year respectively. Both the projects are expected to be completed in 54 months each. The projects would be developed by the Chenab Valley Power Projects (CVPP)–a joint venture among National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), state power body JKSPDC and Power Trading Corporation (India).

http://www.financialexpress.com/ind...project-to-start-in-2-months-official/877796/

 

[sorcerer]

Government to invest Rs 15,000 crore in 'strategically important' Andaman and Nicobar Islands

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

 

[Adioz]

Indian-American entrepreneur offers fast track mini nuclear reactors to India

Salient points:-

• Mini reactors (160MW) safer and use light water tech.
• Air cooled, so can be set up even in deserts (w/o water supply).
• In talks with middle eastern countries as well, if India agrees, then reactors will be made in India and exported as well as set up in the country.
• Reactor can be built within two years.
• Each reactor costs $1 billion. Will cost lesser if manufactured in India.
• New $100 million facility already built in Gujarat for making small parts for these reactors.
• Backlog orders of $6 billion. Will export parts worth $470 million from Gujarat next year.

This guy is a genius. 70 patents to his name.

 

[Vijyes]

Indian-American entrepreneur offers fast track mini nuclear reactors to India

Salient points:-

• Mini reactors (160MW) safer and use light water tech.
• Air cooled, so can be set up even in deserts (w/o water supply).
• In talks with middle eastern countries as well, if India agrees, then reactors will be made in India and exported as well as set up in the country.
• Reactor can be built within two years.
• Each reactor costs $1 billion. Will cost lesser if manufactured in India.
• New $100 million facility already built in Gujarat for making small parts for these reactors.
• Backlog orders of $6 billion. Will export parts worth $470 million from Gujarat next year.

This guy is a genius. 70 patents to his name.

We have 90MW reactors in our submarine. Can't we just upgrade that to 160MW? We also have 220MW PHWR reactors. Why do we need LWR reactor? PHWR reactors can be used to make weapons grade plutonium. That is why it is more important than LWR reactors

 

[sorcerer]

Cutting dependence on the Chicken's Neck corridor - Modi's grand plan to connect to the North-East

Pronab Payeng from Majuli is a navigator of SL Lohit, one of the five survey vessels stationed in the Brahmaputra. For the last 27 years — since he has been associated with Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) — Payeng has spent more nights on the river than on its bank. He understands the pulse of the river, which singer Bhupen Hazarika once termed Mahabahu (the mighty); the Assam stretch of the river from Sadiya to Dhubri, for example, is 891 km long and 15 km wide near Dhubri, according to satellite images procured by the state’s water resources department. For hydrographic surveyors measuring the depth of the river through the thalweg survey, Payeng is an asset beyond his navigational skills. He can tell them with precision the locations where the river has turned shallow — Subansiri Mukh (Subansiri is the largest tributary of the Brahmaputra), Borgang Mukh, Bhekeli in Majuli, Orang et al. The thalweg survey duly confirmed what Payeng’s intuitive intelligence would only reinstate — a thalweg is the line of lowest elevation in a watercourse — necessitating interventions like dredging.

The government of India in July sanctioned Rs 400 crore to dredge the Brahmaputra. Four dredgers have already been deployed and two more are being procured. Each dredger — including a cutter suction dredger (CSD), a tug (which pushes or tows the CSD) and houseboat (for night accommodation) — costs between Rs 35 and 40 crore.

Then, New Delhi has tied up with the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (Biwta) to dredge two river stretches — from Sirajganj to Daikhawa (175 km) in the Jamuna in Bangladesh (which is the Brahmaputra in India) and from Ashuganj to Zakiganj (295 km) in the Kushiyara, a distributary river across Bangladesh and Assam and a branch of the Barak river of south Assam. India has committed 80% of Rs 305 crore required for these two stretches; the remaining will come from Bangladesh. The contracts are likely to be awarded by the end of this year; Indian and Bangladesh dredging companies or their consortia will be eligible to bid, according to a senior IWAI official privy to the matter. The dredging in the Bangladesh stretches will begin by February-March 2018, with the contractors getting two years to dredge 2.5 to 3 metres of LAD (least available depth) in a 45-m-wide channel, with a binding clause of five years of maintenance.


The Alternate Route ::

If the two neighbours have their way, by mid-2020 India will cease to depend only on the Chicken’s Neck, the 22-km corridor near Siliguri in West Bengal that connects the Northeast with the rest of the country. Once the dredging in Bangladesh is complete, large vessels can move from Varanasi in National Waterway 1 (NW-1, the Ganga) to NW-2 (Brahmaputra) and NW-16 (Barak) via Bangladesh river channels, thereby reducing the over-dependence on the narrow stretch.

“Dredging in Bangladesh will help reducing congestion in the Northeast,” said Nitin Gadkari, minister of road transport, highways and shipping in a detailed written reply to ET Magazine’s questions on the rationale behind India’s largesse to dredge channels in Bangladesh. The minister may not be mandated to talk in detail about the strategic importance of the alternative route, but India’s quest to build an alternative route, that too expeditiously, is only logical considering the recent Chinese military buildup at Doklam, to the north of the strategically-vulnerable Chicken’s Neck, on the pretext of expanding its road connectivity.

Though there was an official “disengagement” in the area since August 28, recent reports suggest that about 1,000 personnel belonging to People’s Liberation Army are still stationed in Chumbi Valley near the Siliguri corridor.

The river route will have economic spinoffs as well. “Britishers used cargo steamers for carrying petroleum, timber and coal products from Assam to the seaports through the rivers. But that route became redundant. Now, dredging in Bangladesh will once again make the river channels navigable throughout the year. Landlocked Northeast will then have access to the seaports,” says Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. Siliguri corridor and will also provide an alternative route to the There will be dividends in terms of fuel and environmental costs, as one vessel with a capacity of 2,000 metric tonnes of cargo will keep as many as 200 trucks off the road. According to IWAI estimates, cost of water transport is the cheapest compared to road and rail (see How Waterways are the Most Economical). What is more, the luxury tourist vessels currently cruising from Varanasi to Haldia in the Ganga and from Pandu (Guwahati) to Neemati Ghat (near Jorhat) in the Brahmaputra could find new routes to sail.

The existing Indo-Bangladesh Protocol route (1,647 km) connects Kolkata with Silghat (near Nagaon in Assam) and then Kolkata with Karimganj (south Assam). Under this protocol, the dos and don’ts of inland water transit and trade including customs checks, documentation, opening of branch offices, appointments of agents by vessel operators, transactions in the port of calls and the like are clearly defined. Under this route, ships are allowed to stop on a voyage only in key ports — Narayaganj, Khulna, Mongla, Sirajganj and Ashuganj in Bangladesh; and Kolkata, Haldia, Karimganj, Pandu (Guwahati) and Silghat in India.

And it’s not that cargo vessels cannot pass through Bangladesh waters. Only four months ago, a vessel carrying iron rods from Kolkata sailed via Bangladesh to Tripura. There was plenty of excitement at Ashuganj port in Bangladesh, with none other than the shipping minister receiving the vessel.


The Annual Deluge ::

The problem, though, arises when water levels recede after the monsoons, making the river unsuitable for large vessels to navigate. That’s where the dredging is expected to play a pivotal role. The companies involved in dredging and building of river ports may find a new lease of life, as the NDA government is clearly betting on developing waterways as an alternative and cost-effective way of transporting cargo. The National Waterways Act declared as many as 111 national waterways encompassing 24 states in India, up from mere five waterways prior to April 2016 when the legislation came into effect.

A Rs 5,369 crore-project to develop NW-1 from Haldia to Varanasi is currently underway in a 50:50 partnership between the Centre and the World Bank. The project, which will enable the movement of large vessels of 1,500-2,000 tonnes capacity, is scheduled to be completed by 2022-23. Similar projects are on the drawing board to develop the Cumberjua canal, and Mandovi and Zuari rivers in Goa (Rs 23 crore), canals in Kerala (Rs 1.6 crore), Gandak river in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar (Rs 12.91 crore), and the Rupnarayan river (Rs 24 crore) and Sunderbans Waterways (Rs 18.1 crore) in West Bengal; dredging will be a major component of all these projects.

Harshvardhan Bhatnagar, president of Ardeshir B Cursetjee and Sons Ltd, a company established way back in 1810 that specialises in maritime activities including dredging, says that the company has been in talks with European and US dredger manufacturers to buy new-age machines. The company currently owns five dredgers. “We foresee opportunities for large and longterm contracts for dredging. They will offer a high occupancy rate of dredgers.” Bhatnagar adds that the company will compete for the work in Bangladesh only after understanding the terms and conditions.

Can the dredging be a flood mitigating mechanism too, considering that an unstable Brahmaputra is one of the reasons for annual floods in Assam? Bhatnagar isn’t too upbeat. “Dredging in general is not a tool to control floods. The merits of dredging for flood mitigation will, however, depend on case to case.”

Assam has witnessed four rounds of floods this year that killed over 150 people, and the CM is counting on dredging to alleviate flooding woes. “Dredging will reduce floods as the water-carrying capacity of the Brahmaputra will increase,” reckons Sonowal, echoing what he had said to this writer in an interview in July when the Assam flood was at its peak, and the towns like North Lakhimpur were almost submerged.


The Sed ment Element ::

In Dhubri where the Brahmaputra is currently the widest at 15 km, before it enters Bangladesh and changes its name to Jamuna, dredging was undertaken for a month last winter to facilitate a RO-RO (roll on, roll off ) service to ferry goods and passengers between Dhubri and Hatsingmari (the southern path of the Brahmaputra), a distance of 32 km; this made a circuitous road route of 220-km via Jogighopa redundant. The key part of the dredger — CSD-Mandovi — excavated sand and deposited it on a nearby existing sand shore with 200-m-long pipeline. But a 45-m channel being dug in a river that’s as wide as 15 km may be a totally different ballgame. Gadkari has talked about using the sand to build highways, but how feasible is that?

Experts who ET Magazine spoke in Dhubri clearly say that there’s no way that the excavated sand could be thrown onto the side of the river. Also, while throwing away the sand, the pipeline contains 30% water along with 70% sand. This means that if the pipes are directed at the riverbank, they’re likely to create havoc for those living by the riverside. Chandan Mahanta, professor of civil engineering department at IIT-Guwahati, suggests that there should first be a pilot to judge efficiency of dredging before more dredgers are deployed. “To quantitatively measure the efficiency of dredging in the Brahmaputra, carrying out a pilot project in and around dynamic places like Majuli may be useful, if it’s accompanied by bank stabilisation. However, considering the enormous and continuous inflow of non-cohesive sediments, a comprehensive approach will be essential to make even localised dredging somewhat effective,” says Mahanta.

The highways — and the sand for them — can clearly wait. The first priority is a waterway that connects the northeast to the rest of the country.


Three men in a boat ::

ET Magazine travels 1.5 km on a survey vessel down the river Brahmaputra

SL Lohit is one of the five survey vessels presently stationed in the river Brahmaputra. The others are SL Subansiri, SL Barak, SL Dibang and SL Burhidihing, all named after Assam’s rivers or tributaries. Early this week, it began a seven-day-long journey upstream from Pandu port (near Guwahati) to Neemati Ghat (near Jorhat). It has two mandates. One, the hydrographic surveyors undertake a thalweg survey mainly to measure the depth of the river and spot the areas where the LAD (least available depth) is below the permissible level of 2.5 metres. Two, it escorts a two-storied river cruise vessel MV Mahabaahu that ferries foreign tourists from Guwahati to Jorhat, which touches the Kaziranga National Park, a sanctuary known for its one-horned rhinoceros.

As Sandeep Kumar and Sonu Singhal, both hydrographic surveyors with a civil engineering background, switch on the machine in the airconditioned cabin of SL Lohit, they can read and record the depth of the river, the vessel’s location and speed, and also the route it’s taking. Near Guwahati, they find the depth of the river as high as 29 feet (8.8 metres). “The riverbed near rocky hills gets eroded over time, which explains the fabulous depth here”, the surveyors discuss.

But the Brahmaputra has many locations with shallow depth, something that forces the government to contemplate the deployment of dredgers — six to begin with. For example, the surveyors of SL Lohit found many shallow areas in a survey undertaken only last month. Here are five locations with the least depth:

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com...rivers-in-bangladesh/articleshow/60987695.cms

 

[charlie]

US oil shipment $2 cheaper then OPEC oil.

 

[Kshatriya87]

Sent from my Redmi 4A using Tapatalk

 

[sorcerer]

Sturdier, safer, cheaper: India urged to build more roads with plastic waste

MUMBAI: India should use its biggest investment in road construction to make its roads safer and build them cheaper with a home-grown technology that salvages plastic waste, analysts said.

India has the world's second-largest road network and one of the highest numbers of road accidents globally. Official data recorded more than 150,000 deaths from about 500,000 accidents last year.

Nearly a tenth of those deaths were caused by accidents involving potholes, which are a common feature of Indian roads.

On Tuesday, the government announced an investment of 6.9 trillion rupees ($11 billion) to build 83,677 km (52,000 miles) of roads over the next five years.

Analysts called for them to be built with a tested technology using plastic waste, which reduces costs and makes roads more durable and thus safer.

"Plastic roads will not only withstand future monsoon damage but will also solve the problem of disposing of non-recyclable plastic," said Isher Judge Ahluwalia, former head of a government committee on urban infrastructure.


Each kilometre of a single-lane tar road can consume one tonne of plastic waste, and the plastic can double or even triple the life of the road, said the economist in a paper published on Wednesday with Almitra Patel, a solid waste management expert.

India produces about 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste daily, of which about 9,000 tonnes is recycled. The remainder clutters landfills and clogs drains, and is blamed for urban flooding.

A technology developed by Rajagopalan Vasudevan, a chemistry professor at Thiagarajar College of Engineering in the southern city of Madurai, uses finely shredded plastic waste that is added to heated bitumen. This mix is poured over stones.

The plastic waste can include anything from sweet wrappers to shopping bags. The mix cuts the quantity of bitumen required by 10 percent, Vasudevan said.

He developed the technology in 2002 and first built a plastic road in his college before approaching state officials.

"We spend so much on building roads that develop potholes and need rebuilding in no time," Vasudevan told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"The road I built is still intact - there are no potholes, no cracks. That is proof of its strength and durability, plus it uses waste plastic that otherwise litters streets and rivers."

At least 11 states, including Vasudevan's home state of Tamil Nadu, have used the technology to build more than 100,000 km of roads, he said.

One student took the technology back to Bhutan.

In 2015, the Indian government made it mandatory to use waste plastic in building most highways. But some states have been slow to embrace the technology, citing difficulties in segregating the plastic and bringing contractors on board.

The new infrastructure commitment gives fresh impetus, Vasudevan said.

"We are going to be generating waste plastic, and we are going to be building roads for the foreseeable future," he said. "Why not use the method that does away with the plastic waste and makes the roads cheaper, durable and safer?"

Read more at:
//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/61227118.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

 

[Butter Chicken]

BRO builds world's highest motorable road in Ladakh

SRINAGAR: In a major feat, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has constructed the world's highest motorable road in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, passing through Umlingla Top at a height of over 19,300 feet.

The feat was achieved under 'Project Himank' of the organisation.

Being close to Hanle, the 86km long strategic road connects Chisumle and Demchok villages, located 230 km from Leh. These villages are stone's throw away from the India-China border in eastern sector, a spokesman of BRO said.

Felicitating the BRO personnel for completing the herculean task, chief engineer, Project Himank, Brigadier DM Purvimath, said constructing the road at the altitude of over 19,300 feet was filled with life-threatening challenges.

He said the climate at the location is always adverse for construction activities.

"During peak summers, temperature hovers around minus 10-20 degrees Celsius, and in winters, it dips to minus 40 degrees. Oxygen level at the altitude is 50 per cent less than at normal places," Purvimath said.

"Efficiency of machines and manpower declines by 50 per cent due to harsh climate and less oxygen level. Also, machine operators have to come down every 10 minutes for oxygen," he said.

The brigadier said logistics was another major challenge at such an altitude.

"Taking equipment at such a height, repairing and maintaining it is a major task since equipment face a lot of breakdowns," he said.

Purvimath said because of this gradation, the personnel faced serious health problems like loss of memory, eyesight and high blood pressure.

"Such a construction does not come without a cost, but given the national and strategic importance of the road, our men and machinery worked overnight to meet the targets set out by Director General, Border Roads," he said.

Pardeep Raj, Commander 753 BRTF, who looks after road construction of this sector, said the BRO personnel were acclimatised through a tedious process and lot of training before being assigned the job.

"Acclimatisation of men is done at three stages — Leh, Shakti and Numa — before being inducted into the sector. Physical and mental fitness of men is emphasised upon for working in the area as the working season is limited in the region," he said.

The Project Himank has already constructed roads like Khardangu La at an altitude of 17,900 ft and Changla Pass at 17,695 ft in Leh by connecting Nobra valley and Durbuk valley in the cold desert.

 

[aditya10r]

BRO builds world's highest motorable road in Ladakh

SRINAGAR: In a major feat, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has constructed the world's highest motorable road in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, passing through Umlingla Top at a height of over 19,300 feet.

The feat was achieved under 'Project Himank' of the organisation.

Being close to Hanle, the 86km long strategic road connects Chisumle and Demchok villages, located 230 km from Leh. These villages are stone's throw away from the India-China border in eastern sector, a spokesman of BRO said.

Felicitating the BRO personnel for completing the herculean task, chief engineer, Project Himank, Brigadier DM Purvimath, said constructing the road at the altitude of over 19,300 feet was filled with life-threatening challenges.

He said the climate at the location is always adverse for construction activities.

"During peak summers, temperature hovers around minus 10-20 degrees Celsius, and in winters, it dips to minus 40 degrees. Oxygen level at the altitude is 50 per cent less than at normal places," Purvimath said.

"Efficiency of machines and manpower declines by 50 per cent due to harsh climate and less oxygen level. Also, machine operators have to come down every 10 minutes for oxygen," he said.

The brigadier said logistics was another major challenge at such an altitude.

"Taking equipment at such a height, repairing and maintaining it is a major task since equipment face a lot of breakdowns," he said.

Purvimath said because of this gradation, the personnel faced serious health problems like loss of memory, eyesight and high blood pressure.

"Such a construction does not come without a cost, but given the national and strategic importance of the road, our men and machinery worked overnight to meet the targets set out by Director General, Border Roads," he said.

Pardeep Raj, Commander 753 BRTF, who looks after road construction of this sector, said the BRO personnel were acclimatised through a tedious process and lot of training before being assigned the job.

"Acclimatisation of men is done at three stages — Leh, Shakti and Numa — before being inducted into the sector. Physical and mental fitness of men is emphasised upon for working in the area as the working season is limited in the region," he said.

The Project Himank has already constructed roads like Khardangu La at an altitude of 17,900 ft and Changla Pass at 17,695 ft in Leh by connecting Nobra valley and Durbuk valley in the cold desert.

I am coming.

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[sorcerer]

ONGC ready for big leap in oil, gas production

Highlights

• For ONGC, the new projects will revive the company’s fortunes by doubling gas production and pushing up oil output by 22-23%.
• The increased output will also signal a reversal of the declining trend in the last several years as a growing number of ageing fields dominated the company’s portfolio.

NEW DELHI: At a time when explorers around the world were pulling back investments as oil prices started tumbling towards the end of 2014, India's ONGC and Rosneft of Russia - both state-owned entities - were among a few companies that continued to invest heavily into new discoveries and rejuvenating ageing fields.

Those investments are about to pay off for both companies as new projects come into production in the next few years, well in time to tap higher oil and gas prices. Oil prices are already showing signs of hardening oil prices in the international market.

For ONGC, the new projects will revive the company's fortunes by doubling gas production and pushing up oil output by 22-23%. More than getting higher returns, the increased output will signal a reversal of the declining trend in the last several years as a growing number of ageing fields dominated the company's portfolio.

"We have almost 70% of oil production coming from mature fields. My primary challenge is to step up production... The challenges facing ONGC, as I see, include finding out ways to increase domestic production, delivering projects under implementation on time and attrition," company chairman Shashi Shanker, who took over the reins last month, said.

The International Energy Agency in September 2016 had said investment in the world's oil and gas fields tumbled in 2015 and 2016, marking the longest period of retrenchment in energy spending in almost half a century. Spendings fell by a quarter in 2015 to $583 billion and declined further in 2016 to about $450 billion.

As oilfield services companies also dropped their rates, ONGC furiously went to work to take advantage of the cheaper services. It drew up 35 plans to develop deepwater gas discoveries in the east coast, new clusters in the west coast and rejuvenate ageing fields. All these projects envisage an investment of Rs 92,000 crore. Fourteen of these projects are for bringing new finds into production and six to improve recovery from ageing fields.

Shanker said these plans will raise crude oil production from 22.25 MT (million tonnes) in 2016-17 to 27 MT, about a quarter of India's current oil consumption, and push up gas output from 22 billion cubic meters (60 million cubic meters per day) to 42 bcm (115 mscmd) by 2022.

But there are yet other challenges. For example, the government's gas price. The current rate of $2.89 per unit is way below $4.5 needed to cover costs and get a reasonable return. "We have made representations to the government (on the issue). We are optimistic something will happen on this front," Shanker said.

ONGC's oil production will rise to 23 MT in the current fiscal and to 23.6 MT in 2018-19, 24.3 MT in 2019-20, 26.4 MT in 2020-21 and 27 MT in 2021-22. The output from the currently producing fields is projected to fall from 18.5 MT in the current fiscal to 12.66 MT in 2021-22. Gas output is projected to drop from 19.73 billion cubic meters from current fields to 11.9 bcm in 2021-22. The situation will be reversed with new fields that will contribute 29.65 bcm in 2021-22. Oil production is to be supplemented by about 5.3 MT production from fields where investment approval has already been given and another 8.45 MT from the fields that are under conceptualisation stage or investment approval is under process.

Production from the east coast discovery is expected to start in 2020 with peak oil output seen at 78,069 barrels per day and 16.6 mcmd of gas. As on October 1, 2016, ONGC had 577 hydrocarbon discoveries. Most of them were either in production or action had been initiated to monetise them.

ONGC's roadmap to raise output comes two years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi set the target for reducing oil import dependence by 10%, from 77% in 2013-14. Today, India imports nearly 82% of its oil needs.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...n-oil-gas-production/articleshow/61471388.cms

 

[Chinmoy]

I am coming.

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Post some cool pics and videos after that.....

 

[sorcerer]

NHAI slaps notice on infra biggies, threatens 3-year ban

NEW DELHI: NationalHighways Authority of IndiaNHAI) has issued show cause notice to over a dozen infrastructure companies, including L&T,Soma Enterprises Essel Infrastructure
,

Gammon India
,

MBL Infrastructure
,

Ashoka Buildcon
, HCC and Supreme Infrastructure, asking why they should not be barred from bidding for highway projects for 2-3 years. 20 highway projects executed by these companies were terminated for builders' 'default'.

The companies have been asked to submit their responses by Monday.

NHAI, which had uploaded the list of companies and the projects that were terminated, pulled it down on Friday after highway developers criticised this move. Sources said the list of companies were prepared based on the number of projects that were terminated from April 2014 and July this year. These companies had bagged the projects.


A top NHAI official said the notices have been sent as a part of of the process and there are provisions that the authority can debar such contractors for three years in case of public-private partnership projects and three years for government funded works or known as EPC. "We have issued letters asking them to explain what steps can be taken? This includes whether we can debar them," the official added.


Sources said the decision to upload the list was taken a meeting of senior NHAI officials. "The authority should have sought companies' response since many have failed to deliver. But making their names public could have been avoided," a highways ministry official added.


NHBF, the umbrella body on NH builders, has lodged protest against the NHAI move and has even written to PMO. "How could the authority put the names in public domain before giving them an opportunity to explain. In a couple of cases, contracts were terminated by NHAI for their own default. How can they put everyone in one basket? These companies are at risk of not getting work from other agencies after their names as 'defaulters' is made public." asked P C Grover, secretary general of NHBF.


Officials admitted this step was extreme, they added the government should come out with a mechanism to ensure that such companies don't get fresh project until they finish ongoing projects.


https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com...threatens-3-year-ban/articleshow/61500695.cms


Bold ..Really bold moves by GoI