Tweet: Step forward on “stressed assets” with RBI allowing banks to convert debt to equity & take control ~ lead to revival by new, able promoters.
RBI’s move to rein in defaulters: New norms for Strategic Debt Conversion (SDR) as proposed by RBI will allow banks to convert their loans into a majority equity stake if the borrower does not meet conditions under the restructuring package.
Tweet: Get your Act Together: Power Minister delivers hard message to debt-ridden Discoms ~ rules out any further central bailout package.
Power minister gets tough on discoms: With debts of discoms soaring to over Rs 2 lakh crore, the government is taking a tough stand. Even though most of the discoms have raised tariff, they have not been able to cut losses.
Tweet: Struggling: ET ~ “March 1 2015, 302 promoters with Rs 18.47 lac cr stuck projects queued up before PMG. June 5, was 404 projects worth Rs 19 lac cr”.
PMG to the rescue of stalled projects: The Project Monitoring Group has facilitated clearances for 42 stalled projects worth R1.15 lakh crore in three months since the Budget. There has been an uptick in the number of stuck projects as many projects delayed for years such as the Navi Mumbai airport have been put up to the PMG by ministries.
Tweet: Michael Pinto, ex Secy Shipping, argues in BS article for India NOT building new ports but concentrate on increasing efficiency of existing.
Ports policy—a cautionary note: As the government moves ahead with its plan to build multiple ports across the vast coastline, a cautionary note has been sounded by a former shipping bureaucrat. Pinto says that “the budget for building new ports is needed but not where the government is spending it.”
Tweet: Competitive federalism: frm BS: “Rajasthan elbows out Gujarat in max solar installed capacity, closely followed by MP, Maharashtra & TN.”
Solar capacity grows by leaps and bounds: According to a recent report, the country now boasts of 4,000 MW of installed solar power capacity. With 2.7 GW of expected capacity addition in 2015, India could overtake Germany and find a place in the global top five, for new-yearly capacity addition.
Tweet: Purchase, Not Acquisition: UP Expressway Auth moves on new model. For Agra-Lucknow Expressway, purchases land at 2 to 4 times circle rate.
UP expressway authority clears the land hurdle: Nearly 2,841 hectares of land has been purchased outright for the construction of the Rs 13,000 crore, 320-km, six-lane greenfield Agra-Lucknow Expressway. The Authority plans to adopt this model of land purchase for future projects too.
Tweet: Env clearance for Mumbai’s Rs 9,000 cr, 34 km Coastal Road timely. Now civil engnrng challenge of reclamation, tunneling, sea-link & stilts.
Green signal to coastal road project: The Union ministry of environment has approved the coastal road project which would go a long way in decongesting traffic in Mumbai. The three routes planned include Nariman Point to Eastern Freeway, Nariman Point to Kandivali and Gorai to Virar.
Tweet: Addition of Muzzaffarnagar in UP, & Karnal+Jind districts in Haryana, makes the Greater Delhi area the largest Nat Cap Region in the world.
Delhi’s big fat National Capital Region: Three new districts around Delhi have been added to the NCR. In 2013, Bhiwani and Mahendragarh in Haryana and Bharatpur in Rajasthan had been included.
—Vinayak Chatterjee is Chairman of Feedback Infra
His Twitter handle: @Infra_VinayakCh
A weekly selection of the author’s tweets—with a brief backgrounder—in the infra space, by Adite Banerjie
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