Star Wars
BANNED
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2013
- Messages
- 12,446
- Reaction score
- -14
- Country
- Location
Highway projects worth Rs 40,000 cr get roadmin nod - Financial Express
In a boost to the infrastructure sector, the ministry of road transport and highways has approved highway projects worth over Rs 40,000 crore.
These projects, to be implemented in the next couple of years, are in Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and the Northeastern region.
“We have approved projects worth R20,000 crore for Jammu & Kashmir. They include 2-laning and 4-laning of National Highways in the state some roads projects in Leh and Ladakh and we will co-ordinate with the PWD (public works department) of the state for these projects,” minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said.
He said these projects will be complete in the coming two-and-a-half years and will encourage tourism in the state. The road ministry has also announced projects worth R15,000 crore in the north-eastern region comprising Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Tripura. “Within three months, we will start work on those projects and preparation of DPRs (detailed project reports) has already started,” Gadkari said.
In Uttarakhand, which faced massive floods last year, the government has announced it would build a brand new road network. “We will set up a new highway network in the state and will invest R6,000 crore for that,” he said.
The government proposes to construct one-way roads in Himachal Pradesh.
“It is difficult to widen the existing roads, specifically between Kullu and Manali. Therefore, we have suggested that there will be one-way roads in the area,” he added.
On higher allocation for road projects in the Budget, Gadkari said: “We would seek more funds from the the finance minister.” However, he declined to share further details.
The minister, who reviewed over 250 road projects worth about R60,000 crore, said these highways are stuck, mainly due to reasons such as land acquisition and environment and forest clearance issues. These stalled projects would be up and running in the next three months. The ministry is trying to get faster clearances, Gadkari said.
Railways to power its network with 2,000-km track electrification plan | The Indian Express
Acting on the recommendations of the Rakesh Mohan panel on the transport sector, the railways is likely to carry out electrification of around 2,000 km of its tracks this fiscal. Most of this will be done on the never-tried-before annuity model. An announcement is likely to be expected in the rail Budget on July 8.
At present, the railways has almost 38% (24,800 km) of its network electrified that carries almost 67% of the freight traffic and 51% of the passenger traffic. The power bill of the railways at present is Rs 10,880 crore whereas its diesel bill is around Rs 22,000 crore. This shows how important is faster electrification in reducing the national transporter’s expenses on energy and also cutting the country’s oil import bill.
The cost of electrification is around Rs 1.5 crore per kilometer.
The Rakesh Mohan committee had suggested that the railways take up electrification on a priority basis and said it should be seen as a means of cutting use of fossil fuel energy for rail transport.
“Route electrification could be the most successful of the public-private partnership (PPP) projects being undertaken by railways. At present, running on diesel is more than two times costlier than the electric route. So, whatever the railways save on the fuel can be paid to contractors annually. We understand that such projects have good traction and returns on investments are faster which will interest foreign technology giants,” a railway board official said.
The cash-strapped railways will carry out a part of this electrification drive on the annuity-based PPP model. As a pilot project, the railways has proposed four routes to be electrified under this model. Under the annuity model, the railways will pay contractors in annual installments. In the 12th Plan, the railways has set a target of electrification of 6,500-km route and it hopes to exceed the target with the annuity-based PPP route.
Railways is expecting private companies such as Alstom, Siemens, KEC and its own PSUs such as Ircon and Rites to invest in the electrification projects.
In a boost to the infrastructure sector, the ministry of road transport and highways has approved highway projects worth over Rs 40,000 crore.
These projects, to be implemented in the next couple of years, are in Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and the Northeastern region.
“We have approved projects worth R20,000 crore for Jammu & Kashmir. They include 2-laning and 4-laning of National Highways in the state some roads projects in Leh and Ladakh and we will co-ordinate with the PWD (public works department) of the state for these projects,” minister of road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said.
He said these projects will be complete in the coming two-and-a-half years and will encourage tourism in the state. The road ministry has also announced projects worth R15,000 crore in the north-eastern region comprising Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Tripura. “Within three months, we will start work on those projects and preparation of DPRs (detailed project reports) has already started,” Gadkari said.
In Uttarakhand, which faced massive floods last year, the government has announced it would build a brand new road network. “We will set up a new highway network in the state and will invest R6,000 crore for that,” he said.
The government proposes to construct one-way roads in Himachal Pradesh.
“It is difficult to widen the existing roads, specifically between Kullu and Manali. Therefore, we have suggested that there will be one-way roads in the area,” he added.
On higher allocation for road projects in the Budget, Gadkari said: “We would seek more funds from the the finance minister.” However, he declined to share further details.
The minister, who reviewed over 250 road projects worth about R60,000 crore, said these highways are stuck, mainly due to reasons such as land acquisition and environment and forest clearance issues. These stalled projects would be up and running in the next three months. The ministry is trying to get faster clearances, Gadkari said.
Railways to power its network with 2,000-km track electrification plan | The Indian Express
Acting on the recommendations of the Rakesh Mohan panel on the transport sector, the railways is likely to carry out electrification of around 2,000 km of its tracks this fiscal. Most of this will be done on the never-tried-before annuity model. An announcement is likely to be expected in the rail Budget on July 8.
At present, the railways has almost 38% (24,800 km) of its network electrified that carries almost 67% of the freight traffic and 51% of the passenger traffic. The power bill of the railways at present is Rs 10,880 crore whereas its diesel bill is around Rs 22,000 crore. This shows how important is faster electrification in reducing the national transporter’s expenses on energy and also cutting the country’s oil import bill.
The cost of electrification is around Rs 1.5 crore per kilometer.
The Rakesh Mohan committee had suggested that the railways take up electrification on a priority basis and said it should be seen as a means of cutting use of fossil fuel energy for rail transport.
“Route electrification could be the most successful of the public-private partnership (PPP) projects being undertaken by railways. At present, running on diesel is more than two times costlier than the electric route. So, whatever the railways save on the fuel can be paid to contractors annually. We understand that such projects have good traction and returns on investments are faster which will interest foreign technology giants,” a railway board official said.
The cash-strapped railways will carry out a part of this electrification drive on the annuity-based PPP model. As a pilot project, the railways has proposed four routes to be electrified under this model. Under the annuity model, the railways will pay contractors in annual installments. In the 12th Plan, the railways has set a target of electrification of 6,500-km route and it hopes to exceed the target with the annuity-based PPP route.
Railways is expecting private companies such as Alstom, Siemens, KEC and its own PSUs such as Ircon and Rites to invest in the electrification projects.