Unprecedented rainfall and floods in Mumbai

On the July 26, 2005, Mumbai was lashed by 944 mm of rainfall in 24 hours. This was the maximum rainfall by far recorded in the city in the past 100 years. There are only seven other instances of heavier rainfall in 24 hours all having taken place at Cherrapunji.

The present drainage system in Mumbai has been designed for rainfall of 25 mm per hour. This system was adequate and was designed for single storey houses 100 years ago. Therefore, the July 26 rains resulted in unprecedented flooding in various areas of Mumbai and suburbs which brought all modes of transport to a standstill. The road and rail transport service came to a grinding halt leaving thousands of passengers stranded and a large number of houses have been damaged.

At many places, the level of flooding was of the order of 3 m during high tide. Though, the waters receded by the evening on the second day, the damage from the flooding was estimated to be over Rs 50,000 million excluding the mandays lost. The All India Association of Industries has estimated losses for small scale sector at Rs 10,000 million, small businesses effected to the extent of Rs 1,000 million. pharmaceutical and chemical industry is more than Rs 2000 million, textiles about Rs 4000 million and engineering and allied industries around Rs 2000 million.

In addition to the financial losses, the lives of about a 1000 people were lost and about 1000 cattle perished. Large parts of Maharashtra including Thane, Raigad, Pune, Ratnagiri, etc were also badly affected by the rains.

- Based on various newspaper reports

ACC Limited (ACC) has made arrangements to distribute packets of essential items such as dry food provisions, utensils and bed sheets to victims of the rains and floods in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra. In Mumbai and Greater Mumbai regions, the company will focus on assisting those affected in Dahisar, Thane and Kalamboli. Teams of employees from ACC will identify needy and affected families in these localities and distribute these relief packets to them.

The company has already arranged distribution of foodgrains in some parts of Chiplun, Khed and Raigarh region. This was done through ACC's Regional Marketing Office in Pune and other members of its marketing network comprising sales officers as well as the Company's authorised dealers, many of whom have also been affected. The aid so far committed will help about 25,000 persons. The company plans to identify other ways in which assistance can be rendered to victims of the rains and floods in Mumbai and Maharashtra.

- ACC press release

The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) has revised its forecast for the industrial growth in 2005-2006 to 7.65 percent from earlier projection of 7.5 percent following a recovery in the rainfall in July.

The manufacturing sector was likely to register 8.2 percent growth as against previous estimate of 8 percent, the economic think-tank said.

Cement consumption rose by 11.6 percent to 33.05 lakh tonne in April - June quarter. The demand for cement generally peaks in the quarter ending March and tends to drop in the April-June period due to onset of monsoon across the country. However, during the current monsoon, the industry was witnessing a sharp rise in demand, it said.

In fact, cement consumption in the northern, southern and eastern regions during June quarter was the highest recorded in any quarter so far, it added.

- Financial Express


SC directive on river linking

Perturbed over non-implementation of its orders on the ambitious Rs 5,000 billion river interlinking project, the Supreme Court directed the centre to put on the official website all "feasibility reports" without referring it to any state government or authority.

The order to this effect was delivered by a bench comprising Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Justice G.P. Mathur, after it was informed that the Gujarat government had not agreed to put the feasibility report on the website and response from other states on interlinking of the peninsular rivers was awaited.

"We fail to understand where was the necessity for consulting the state governments or ask any authority for its agreement for placing the feasibility report on the website when specific order has been passed by this court. If the centre or any state have difficulty in the implementation of the direction of placing the feasibility report, it can approach this court and seek direction," the bench said.

- The Times of India


Cost overrun of 64 percent in infrastructure projects

There has been a cost overrun of 64.1 percent with respect to original approved cost of infrastructure projects in March 2005. As per the latest status report of the infrastructure and project monitoring division of the ministry of statistics and programme implementation, the number of projects reporting time delays totalled 263 in March 2005 as compared to 209 in March 2004. Also, 210 projects showed a cost overrun with respect to original approved cost.

- Financial Express

Government plans Rs 600-billion port project

A massive national maritime development programme is all set to be launched to rejuvenate the port sector in the country and strengthen it in the face of ever increasing traffic. The programme will be based on public-private partnership (PPP). The programme will have an estimated investment of Rs 603.38 billion. Port traffic in the country registered a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of above 9.5 percent for the first three years of this decade, reaching 9.97 percent in 2003-2004. Port traffic is expected to touch a growth rate of 10.8 percent in 2004-2005.

The programme would involve construction of jetties and berths, procurement, replacement and upgradation of equipment at ports, deepening of channels and improvement of port connectivity.

In fact, Rs 45.75 billion of the total investment for this programme would be devoted to rail and road connectivity to ports. The ministry of railways is expected to make a contribution of Rs 18.99 billion while the department of road transport and highways is likely to pump in Rs 16.04 billion for the project.

A total of 228 projects have been identified to be taken up in two phases. It is reported that the 10-year PPP initiative is based on a detailed assessment of the national traffic demand till 2013-14.

- The Economic Times


Jute to be used in soft soil for roads

The central government has cleared a pilot project to use "jute geo textile" in construction of rural roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). Rural development minister, Dr. Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, said that over Rs 170 million had been sanctioned for the project to be implemented in five states.

Dr. B.P. Chandrasekhar, director (technical), National Rural Roads Development Agency, explained, "Jute geo textile is jute woven in mills like cloth. By introducing this in soft soil, you can make roads cost effective and perform better than conventional roads in the long run". He added that though the technology was new, it had been tried out on certain stretches including one at Kakinada Port. "The idea now is to generate data to develop specifications and standards", he said.

The roads are to be made within a year and post-construction monitoring will be done for two and a half years with the help of Central Road Research Institute. The jute geo textile is expected to bring down the cost by Rs 200,000 per km.

- Financial Express

Indu Projects becomes end-to-end service provider

Hyderabad-based infrastructure development company, Indu Projects Limited, has now become an end-to-end service provider in the infrastructure domain.

Besides developing the infrastructure, it also sources the land for its clients, gets all the required permissions and negotiates with the government officials when required.

The company is in the final stages of tying up with a European company that is looking at investing Rs 10 billion in Andhra Pradesh to set up retail outlets across the state. "This is a new kind of outsourcing wherein all the services are transferred to us and we charge fees for each service. We have also developed separate teams for this purpose", Mr I.S.P. Reddy, managing director of Indu Projects Ltd, added.

- Business Standard

Sharp increase in new constructions in Meghalaya

Meghalaya government has claimed to achieve an increase of 209 percent in new constructions and 530 percent in upgradation of houses under the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) during April to June quarter this year. This increase was in terms of improvement in financial achievement as compared with the corresponding quarter of 2004.

In terms of 'physical achievement' during this same period, an additional 689 beneficiaries (registering 1048 percent increase) in new constructions and extra 624 beneficiaries (recording 3220 percent hike) were claimed by the government under the IAY.

The Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana registered 120 percent and 42 percent (in the groups) hike in financial and physical achievements, respectively during the period. Under the Sampurna Gramin Rojgar Yojana, 209 percent financial and 261 percent physical achievements were recorded during the period, according to an official report.

These figures were projected in a recent meeting, chief minister Mr D.D. Lapang, had with the officials of community and rural development department to review various rural development (RD) schemes in the state. Mr Lapang decided an independent evaluation of the developmental schemes would have to be done for the state specific programme and centrally-sponsored schemes to get an 'accurate understanding' of the field realities.

- Financial Express

Gujarat okays Rs 450 million for roads

The union ministry of shipping, road transport and highways has sanctioned allocation of Rs 450 million towards road improvement work of national highways that connect different ports of Gujarat. The financial assistance will be diverted towards construction and extension of Gandhidham-Mundhra-Mandvi road and Somnath-Porbandar road.

As part of MoU linked with IL&FS, the Gujarat government has completed feasibility study to implement the concept of improvement of state road network under a commercial format. Under the World Bank-assisted rural road project, 6100 km of new construction and improvement of rural roads were completed in 13 out of 19 districts.

It is noteworthy that the network has registered an eight-fold increase from mere 7622 km in 1947 to 70609 km in 1995.

- Financial Express

Upgradation of highways in Gujarat

West Gujarat Expressway, a special purpose vehicle promoted by IL & FS and Consolidated Transport Network, Mumbai, is to upgrade various national highway sections in Gujarat. The schemes include :

• four-laning of Jetpur-Gondal Highway on NH-8B from km 117 to km 143.3.
  
• widening of the 4-lane Rajkot-Gondal Highway from km 133.3 to km 185.
  
• widening of the Rajkot bypass.

The company will implement the above schemes on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis for a concession period of 20 years. As of June 2005, the process of appointing sub-contractors had been taken up. The upgraded sections are scheduled to be opened to traffic by end of 2007.

- New Projects

Mr Shiban Raina, director general of the National Council for Cement and Building Materials (NCB), has been appointed Chairman of the Standards Advisory Committee of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), New Delhi.

Mr. Raina's rich experience in R&D of cement and building materials especially in the field of standardisation, quality control, quality assurance and conformity assessment is expected to benefit the BIS Standards Advisory Committee and give it a new direction in achieving its objectives.

- NCB press release

TCPL wins honours for Delhi Metro Design

The Consulting Engineers Association of India accorded the national award for "Excellence in Consulting Engineering Services, 2004" to Tandon Consultants Pvt. Ltd. (TCPL).

The award was given for the 14km long "Elevated Viaduct: ISBT - Tis Hazari - Trinagar - Rithala of Line 1 of Delhi MRTS Project". The elevated viaduct snakes through some of the most crowded and heavily built-up areas of the city. This world-class project typifies excellence, setting now standards for structural design consultancy in the country.

A variety of bridge structures are employed for the project, with precast prestressed segmental technique being the dominant methodology of construction. Crossing over the river Yamuna is a prestressed concrete incrementally launched bridge which was pushed from its east bank. The viaducts also span across major arterial roads of the city by continuous bridges built by cantilever construction.

Design innovations for overcoming obstacles in the difficult urban mileu, aesthetics of the structures and environment-friendly concepts were the key areas of expertise which contributed to the successful implementation of the project.

- TCPL press release