In the Budget for 2010-11, the sector will claim as much as 46 per cent of Rs 3.73 lakh crore of the total plan outlay.

"I propose to maintain the thrust for upgrading infrastructure in both rural and urban areas," Mukherjee said in his Budget speech.

Of the total allocations for the infrastructure sector, those for roads and railways account for Rs 36,646 crore, an increase of about Rs 3,500 crore.

Mukherjee said in order to make a visible impact on the road sector, the government has made changes in the policy framework for public-private-partnership (PPP) projects and has targeted construction of national highways (NHs) at the pace of 20 km per day.

He said allocation for road transport sector has been increased by 13 per cent. "For the year 2010-11, I propose to raise the allocation of road transport by over 13 per cent from Rs 17,520 crore to Rs 19,894 crore," he added.

He proposed to raise the allocation for railways by Rs 950 crore in 2010-11 compared with Rs 16,752 crore last year to help it expand its network.

Source: beta.profit.ndtv.com Government provides Rs 1.73 lakh crore to boost infra sector in FY 2010-11

Experts are of the view that for sustained infrastructure development which is essential for accelerated economic growth, it is important that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is expected to provide decisive steps to cut down fiscal deficit, would also give top priority to policy decisions and initiatives in the infrastructure development.

According to government estimates, around $500-billion of investments is required in infrastructure development over the next few years.

The country clearly lacks adequate sources of long-term funds that can flow to the infrastructure sector. The chief executives of top banks have already told the Reserve Bank of India that they would have issues in providing long term funding for infrastructure development as they do not have access to resources of matching periods.

The industry is of the view that the government should make investments in long-term bonds issued by banks free of tax. Similarly, the RBI should exempt such funds from the requirements of having to set aside 5.5 per cent as cash reserves and invest another 25 per cent of the funds in government bonds. Banks are expected to lend about Rs.1, 00, 000 crore every year to infrastructure projects over the next few years for the country to be able to meet its infrastructure investment needs.

* Housing and real estate

Source: The Hindu By Sujay Mehdudia Budget must give thrust to infrastructure development

The fund will lend to infrastructure projects that have begun commercial operations and is intended to take over commercial bank lending to these projects.

A senior government official said the fund was proposed by the Planning Commission and will be considered by the standing committee on infrastructure financing headed by Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla, shortly.

The fund is intended to address a critical need of infrastructure companies in India, which currently lack access to 10- and 20-year funds for long-gestation projects like airports or roads. Most commercial banks lend for less than 10 years. The government-promoted India Infrastructure Finance Company (IIFCL), which was set up to facilitate lending for infrastructure projects, lends funds for roughly the same time period, since it works in consortium with banks.

Government estimates put the debt requirement for infrastructure sector at Rs 988,035 crore during the eleventh plan. Though IIFCL could set up the fund, the government-owned company's role could be limited to that of a general partner.

The fund in itself can be an independent legal entity, said the official. IIFCL could put in Rs 5,000 crore as its contribution.

High public expenditure in 2008-09 had contributed to the GDP expanding by 6.7% despite the global economic recession. Encouraged, the government was looking to repeat its performance in 2009-10 with at least Rs 6 lakh crore riding on more than 950 central infrastructure projects above Rs 20 crore.

However, an appraisal made by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation indicated that at least 470 of the 950 projects were delayed and could lead to a cost overrun of more than 14% or anything above Rs 40,000 crore.

Many of these projects are stuck for various reasons including land acquisition, pending environmental clearances and in some cases due to cancellation of the contract itself. The total cost of the delayed projects could be anywhere above Rs 3 lakh crore, according to an estimate.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, in his mid-year economic review, had estimated that GDP would grow by at least 7.75% in the 2009-10 fiscal. His optimism of higher growth was based on the government's enhanced spending on infrastructure and social sector schemes, coupled with better performance of the industry.

Source: Times Of India `50% central infra projects delayed'

The project is an attempt to map the over-ground and under-ground utilities of the city in digital form. What this means is that utilities like water, sewer, telephone and power lines are now mapped and available on the portal, enabling the departments concerned to undertake preventive maintenance works as well as locate faults in the underground utilities with precision. More importantly, the digital mapping on a scale of 1:2000 of the physical structures over-ground like residential and commercial buildings, community centres, educational structures, etc.

will help government agencies to have a clear vision for urban planning as well as easy monitoring of ownership of properties, tenancy and land use apart from providing greater preparedness for disaster management.

Speaking at the launch, chief minister Sheila Dikshit said: ``Delhi will be the first region in India to boast of a comprehensive and up-to-date Land Information System (LIS) that houses land records and property GIS up to the level of individual building units. This would impact accurate information on ownership, rights, restrictions and responsibilities linked to the land and aid in decongesting the city and in redeploying the physical infrastructure for maximum benefits.''

Source: Times Of India New website to help urban planning, build better city

Access to the staircase and balconies of the historic monument was, however, blocked after many lives were lost in a stampede in the early ’ 80s.

Delhi as a city has come a long way, expanding at breakneck speed and now nearly contiguous with neighbouring Noida and Gurgaon. But a perch with a Capital view is conspicuous by its absence.

Not anymore. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi ( MCD) will throw open the roof of its upcoming 101- metre headquarters — Civic Centre.

For a princely sum of Rs 50, Delhiites and visitors can take in splendid views of the Yamuna snaking its way through the Capital, the hurly- burly of the Walled City nearby and, possibly, on a balmy day and through the thick smog, the distant Qutub itself.

What’s more, Bollywood producers are already queueing up to shoot their climactic sequences with shimmering Red Fort sandstone in the backdrop.

“ We went to the roof of the Civic Centre on a routine inspection.

Source: Mail Today A Capital view from Delhi’s tallest building

The first thing that the staff point to is the absence of ventilation in the building. " If the airconditioners don't work -- and, mind you, the power supply often snaps here -- it is so suffocating that it becomes difficult to sit inside our rooms," they protest in unison. " There is absolutely no way we can get fresh air as all the windows and the glass are permanently fixed.

This is unlike all modern buildings that have the facility to open the windows when there is no electricity supply. Surely, the architect of this building deserves an award for his insensitivity!" The officials' biggest complaint however, is about the acute scarcity of water for drinking and its limited supply in toilets. In the absence of a water cooler for the general staff, the SAI buys mineral water but its quality cannot be vouched for. " There is not a single drinking water point in the entire building, leave alone water coolers; only some top bosses have refrigerators in their rooms. SAI buys mineral water, but that too is substandard.

Source: Mail Today SAI's new office a nightmare for its staff

"The guidelines have been considered by a committee of secretaries and approved by the finance minister and deputy chairman of Planning Commission. It would now apply to all central ministries and departments, statutory entities and central public sector undertakings," said the official, requesting anonymity.

The bar on equal partnerships between private and public entities and also public and public entities in the infrastructure space aims to prevent a deadlock on matters of public interest by fixing responsibility of the project with the majority owner.

The move impacts a number of existing ventures in the power and transport sectors, including Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, a 50:50 joint venture between the central government and Delhi government.

Source: Economic Times No More 50:50 JVs In PPP Core Projects, New Rules Fix Responsibility On Main Partner

Dikshit, however, made it clear that there would be no tolerance for sub-standard works as the government wants to ensure highest standard of quality. "Those engineers would be suitably honoured with cash award and citation who will render outstanding contribution in completing Commonwealth Games related projects," she said addressing a function organised by the PWD here. Exhorting the engineers to work with "full involvement" and "commitment", she said "a little casual approach may bring bad name not only to PWD and the city government but also to our nation, which has accepted a challenge of hosting an international sports event". Dikshit also called upon engineers to take special care while undertaking street-scaping, beautification and street-lighting projects. "With hosting of the Commonwealth Games, the city has been gifted with an opportunity to accelerate the pace of development as infrastructure developed for the Games would remain in use for many decades to come," she said.

" Ministry of Urban Development has sent a proposal to Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance to seek external assistance of USD 5.3 billion from World Bank for development of urban infrastructure including water, transport and sanitation," Union minister of state for urban development Saugata Roy stated in a written reply to a question.

The minister was asked whether World Bank has assured India of providing a loan amounting to Rs 25,000 crore for urban development.

To another question whether state governments have been asked to submit their plans for urban development, Roy replied in negative.

The proposed JNNURM-II may run over a period of seven years in order to cater to cities with a population of five lakhs, an official in the urban development ministry said.

The proposal on the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission-II has already been forwarded by the urban development ministry to the finance ministry for consideration in 2009-10 Union Budget. If accepted, the new scheme might replace the existing one that is scheduled to lapse in 2012. The shortage of funds and more investment requirement to reach the targeted levels of infrastructural growth are seen as primary reasons for the renewed launch of the scheme.

"We have proposed to advance the launch of JNNRUM-II to current year as the existing schemes' seven-year allocation in respect to more states and cities is already exhausted. More investment is required to carry forward the targeted infrastructure growth under the scheme. Fresh allocation will help in running this scheme," the official said on the condition of anonymity.

Under the new proposed scheme, the ministry of urban development may include a new funding pattern with less central assistance. The projects will have a tighter monitoring and central assistance will depend on financial closure of projects.

Water supply, underground wastage, solid waste management and storm water drains would be proposed in new Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission scheme under the public-private partnership (PPP) model with the government having the controlling stake.

Under phase-I of the initiative, 63 mission cities were funded. The ministry has sanctioned 463 projects worth Rs 49,743.46 crore and central assistance of Rs 8,253 crore had been released to shape up the urban infrastructure development programme.

Addressing the joint session of Parliament after constitution of the 15th Lok Sabha, President Pratibha Patil said: "A large number of PPP projects in different areas currently awaiting government approval would be cleared expeditiously."    

The speech, which broadly outlined the policies and programmes of the government for the next five years, also mentioned that the regulatory and legal framework for PPP projects would be made more investment friendly.    

Patil said bottlenecks and delays in implementation of infrastructure projects because of policies and procedures, especially in railways, power, highways, ports, airports and rural telecom, will be systematically removed. She added PPP projects are a key element of the strategy.    

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) failed last year to attract bidders for most of its 60 highways projects worth Rs 70,000 crore under PPP in various phases of National Highways Development Project.

Source: Business-standard Govt to soon clear PPP projects in infrastructure

With a near majority in the new House, the United Progressive Alliance government led by Manmohan Singh is expected to announce big-budget projects in the infrastructure sector, including shipping, roads, railways and building construction.

The planning commission is reported to have already prepared the blueprint for four new rail freight corridors, in addition to the Ludhiana-Kolkata (eastern corridor) and Delhi-Mumbai (western corridor) projects already being implemented.

The plan panel has now prepared blueprints for dedicated freight corridors in the Kolkata-Mumbai, Delhi-Chennai, Kharagpur-Vijayawada and Chennai-Goa sectors, Anwarul Hoda, member of the outgoing planning commission, said.

"The commission is ready with the plan for four dedicated freight corridors Kolkata-Mumbai, Delhi-Chennai, Kharagpur-Vijayawada and Chennai-Goa," he said.

The eastern and western rail freight corridor projects are currently being implemented by state-run Dedicated Railway Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited.

Source: domain-b.com New government expected to boost infrastructure spending news

Banks have been slow to reduce lending rates even as there is no discernible improvement in the clients' ability to pay on time. For these players, therefore, it's a double whammy.

Indeed, though repeated action by the Reserve Bank of India in terms of policy rate cuts and constant urgings have compelled them somewhat to lower rates, the reductions are yet to reflect in the working capital cycle, which began expanding about six months back.

In fact, say the contractors, the cycle has stretched further in some cases.

For a contractor, working capital cycle is the period intervening the date it takes a loan from a bank to do some work for a client, and the date it gets paid by the client.

When the client defers payment, the contractor will not only find it difficult to repay the loan on time, but also need another loan to keep work going, leading to expansion of the cycle.

Real estate accounts for much of the troubles.

According to Arun Sahai, chief executive officer of New Delhi-based Ahluwalia Contracts, which is a contractor for real estate developers, things are going from bad to worse. "The lending for the real estate sector has been further squeezed."

Among others, Emaar MGF, which is developing the 2010 Commonwealth Games village in New Delhi, owes the company Rs 95 crore, says Sahai.

Notably, the squeeze had led to the working capital cycle expanding from 90 days to 120-140 days a few months ago, which hurt the contractors working for real estate developers the most.

Source: dnaindia.com Infra players are still stretched for working capital

The new rules have suggested increasing the number of shortlisted bidders, amending guidelines relating to conflict of interest for bidding entities and raising the bar on technical capacity of bidders.

These modifications -- finalised by a five-member task force headed by B K Chaturvedi, member, Planning Commission -- will be issued shortly, quoted an official in the shipping ministry in the report.

The revised rules would allow for seven shortlisted bidders (except for national highway projects) from the present six for projects costing more than Rs 500 crore. For projects costing less, eight bidders would be shortlisted.

In the case of national highway projects, all firms that qualify technically will be allowed to submit price quotations, the ministry official said.

Several firms that had qualified on technical and financial parameters but were excluded from auctions of many highway and port projects have challenged in courts the limit imposed on the number of shortlisted firms.

Source: Realty Plus Eligibility rules changed for infrastructure projects