Infratweets: Taking the high road

Tweet: Elevated Corridors flavour of season: After Kerala’s 600 km N-S vision, Delhi PWD Min announces 10 elevated stretches—single & 2 tier.

Elevated corridors for congested cities

The Kerala government’s vision is to develop a multimodal and integrated transport system for the state. With high population density and land acquisition posing serious challenges, the proposed elevated highway promises to be the way forward. This solution seems to be gaining traction across other congested cities too.

Tweet: Urban Min to set up independent Fare Regulator for all Metro Rail Corpns. Largely arose from Delhi Metro trying for 5 yrs to get fares revised.

Depoliticising fare revision

A decision to set up an independent fare regulator is under consideration, in response to the representatives of Metro Rail projects’ demand to delink fare revision from politics. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has seen an increase in its financial losses due to a rise in input costs coupled with a massive expansion plan, while fares have been at the same level for the last five years.

Tweet: Dholera, in Gujarat, set to become largest greenfield SmartCity. Comes under purview of Delhi Mum Industrial Corridor. EPC awarded to L&T.

Dholera shows the way

With the approval of the R1,734.04 crore EPC (Engineering Procurement Construction) contract for construction of roads and services by Larsen & Toubro, the largest greenfield smart city project has begun to roll. The ambitious project is being jointly promoted by the DMIC and Dholera Special Investment Regional Development Authority (DSIRDA).

Tweet: At 96,000 km Nat Highways r 2% of road network but carry 40% of traffic. Now proposed to increase NH to 200,000 kms. States will be happy!

Focus on highways

To address rising vehicular congestion, the government is looking at increasing the national highway coverage to 200,000 km. The minister for roads, Nitin Gadkari, has said that the development of four-lane, six-lane and expressways will be given priority.

Tweet: Safer Skies: US Tech Devpt Agency to fund upgradation of safety systems at India’s DGCA. Includes operations, airworthiness & licensing.

Technical collaboration in aviation sector

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the United States Technical Development Agency (USTDA) have signed an agreement to undertake the second phase of a project aimed at systemic improvements in overall aviation systems in India. The USTDA will be partially funding the assistance along with the Wicks Group.

Tweet: 2 more cities hit the Metro Rail trail. CM Madhya Pradesh announces that Bhopal and Indore will have metros with Japanese funding.

Indore and Bhopal to get metro rail

The urban development department of the Madhya Pradesh government is in the process of finalising plans to set up metro rail projects in Indore and Bhopal. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has agreed to finance R12,000 crore at nominal interest rates.

Tweet: Once GST done, power cos will have to pay GST on their inputs but will not get refunds as electricity is exempt from GST. Therefore….??

Taxing times for power consumers

The government’s decision to keep electricity out of the ambit of the proposed goods and services tax (GST) could hit consumers with a 6-18% increase in cost of power. The impact would be even more for solar and wind power companies as investment in equipment forms the bulk of their expenses.

—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