India to emerge as second largest economy

India will emerge as the second largest economy in the world along with the US by 2050. By then, China will be the largest economy in the world.

In a report "The World in 2050", global consultancy firm, Price Waterhouse Coopers, (PWC) projected that in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), India will witness the highest growth of 5.2 percent in 2005-50 compared to 3.9 percent of China and Brazil and 2.4 percent of Russia. The US will grow at 2.4 percent during the period while UK, France, Germany and Japan will grow at 2.4 percent, 2.2 percent 1.8 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively. The report, more or less, concurred with the famous BRICs report of Goldman Sachs.

The high growth rate would enable India to become the second largest economy in the world, but Chinese economy would be at least 1.43 times bigger than that of the US economy in PPP terms. However, in absolute terms, measured in dollars, India would be the fourth largest economy after US, China and Japan by 2050, up from the present tenth position.

One of the most important factors that would fuel the highest growth in India is its growing population of working age group in 15-59 years. According to UN report, while India would witness 0.8 percent population growth in productive age group of 15-59 year between 2005-50, China would face a decline by around 14 percent, Japan by 15 percent and US by 6 percent. However, because of the influx of the population from other countries, the US will have a net growth of 0.4 percent of the productive age group during 2005-50. But countries like China, France, Germany and Russia will continue to have a negative growth rate in the region of 0.4 percent to 1.1 percent.

In fact, as population growth in India would average out 0.8 percent during 2005-50, the growth in the average income of Indians (per-capita income) would be highest at 4.3 percent. China, despite its low population growth at 0.1 percent, the average income of its people would grow at 3.8 percent. Similarly, the per-capita income in Brazil will grow at 3.2 percent, in Russia at 3.3 percent and US at 1.8 percent.

Despite, such a high growth, India's per-capita income at US $ 21, 872 at PPP terms will be way behind the $ 88,443 of the US, $ 70,646 of Japan, $ 43,586 of Russia, $ 35,851 of China and $ 34,448 of Brazil. At PPP, India's present per-capita income is US$ 3,224 as against $ 6,949 of China and $ 8,311 of Brazil and $ 10,358 of Russia.

- Times of India

After the recent success in privatising the Delhi and Mumbai airports, the announcement of the railway freight corridor project and the rapid growth in the telecom sector, anything the recent union budget announced in the infrastructure sector was expected to be a bonus. Even so, the government announced a step-up of the central plan outlay in the power, telecom and transport sectors of around Rs 200 billion with the total outlay in 2006-2007 expected to be around Rs 1000 billion - around half of this is for the transport sector and 30 percent for power.

Responding to the criticism that the ambitious national highways programme had ground to a halt, finance minister, Mr P. Chidambaram said his government was working on the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) project at the rate of 4.48 km a day as compared to 1.86 km a day prior to May 2004. The GQ would be 96 percent complete by June this year and the North- South-East-West corridors by December 2008.

In addition, the government has decided to develop 1000 km of access-controlled expressways. These will be on new alignment and built on the design, build, finance and operate model. The sections identified are Vadodara-Mumbai, Delhi-Chandigarh, Delhi-Jaipur, Delhi-Meerut, Delhi-Agra, Bangalore-Chennai and Kolkata-Dhanbad. The government proposes to restructure the National Highway Authority of India into a multi-disciplinary body.

In addition, the government is confident of adding 5,083 MW of additional capacity in 2005-2006 taking the total Tenth Plan addition to 34,000 MW.

- Business Standard

Higher allotment for highways

The Government of India recently proposed to enhance the budgetary support for the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP) to Rs 99.45 billion in 2006-2007 from Rs 93.2 billion in 2005-2006.

It also proposes to open a separate window under rural roads component of Bharat Nirman under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) XII with a corpus of Rs 40 billion in 2006-2007. Specific projects under the public private partnership (PPP) model would also be allowed to access RIDF funds. RIDF XI sanctions have touched a level of Rs 73.01 billion as on January 31, 2006.

- Business Line

Boost for Bharat Nirman

Bharat Nirman epitomises the central government's approach to governance. It is a paradigm shift that will enable people to use the resources thrown up by the engine of growth for building infrastructure and bringing basic amenities to rural India. This is clear from the following data on the first year of its implementation, 2005-2006 :

• Rs 9442 million has been released so far as grant under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) and the target of 600,000 hectares of irrigation potential is expected to be created this year.
  
• Against the physical target of 56,270 habitations, 47,546 habitations have been covered until January 2006 under the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Project.
  
• 5,337 habitations were connected under the rural roads programme by September 2005.
  
• 870,000 rural houses have been constructed and a sum of Rs 22.6 billion has been released till January 2006.
  
• The entire allocation for rural electrification of Rs 11 billion has been released and the target of covering 10,366 villages is expected to be achieved in the current fiscal.
  
• 17,182 villages have been provided with a telephone till December 2005 in the first year of the three-year programme.

- Business Line

NHAI signs Rs 8.79 billion BOT pact with 3 states

The National Highway Authority (NHAI) has signed three build-operate-transfer (BOT) concession agreements in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra at a total cost of Rs 8.79 billion. The agreement has been signed to four-lane one national highway section each in these three states. All these projects come under National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase-III-A. This phase pertains to upgradation and four-laning of 4,000 km of national highways on BOT basis at an estimated cost of Rs 220 billion.

The first Rs 1.95 billion BOT agreement has been signed by NHAI with Oriental Pathways (Agra) Private to four-lane the 45 km long density corridor of Agra-Bharatpur section. The project is expected to be completed in 30 months. According to the agreement the concessionaire would pay NHAI a grant of Rs 29 million.

The second BOT agreement has been signed to four-lane the 77 km long stretch of Indore-Khalghat section in Madhya Pradesh. It will be built at a total cost of Rs 4.72 billion and is expected to be completed in three years. The concessionaire, Oriental Pathways (Indore) would pay NHAI a grant of Rs 58 million.
The third BOT agreement has been signed again with Oriental Pathways to four-lane the 50 km long stretch of Kondhali-Talegaon section in Maharashtra at an estimated cost of Rs 2.12 billion. The project is expected to be completed in 30 months.

- The Economic Times

Hydel power capacity to be raised by 10,000 MW

The government is likely to add about 10,000 MW of hydroelectric generation capacity during the tenth plan, the highest ever capacity addition from hydro sector in any plan period.

A capacity of 5,380 MW has already been added in the tenth plan so far, and a total of about 10,000 MW from hydro projects would be added during the five-year period, the power minister, Mr Sushil Kumar Shinde said recently.

This would be the highest ever capacity addition from the hydro sector in any five-year plan. The capacity addition during seventh, eighth, and ninth plan periods were 3,828 MW, 2,428 MW and 4,538 MW, respectively.

The minister said the government has accorded high priority for development of hydro projects. Several incentives have been included in the tariff notification for hydro projects, such as rewards for better availability, generation of secondary energy and measures for mitigating hydrological risks during initial years of operation, he said.

Mr Shinde said the government has put in place a three-stage clearance procedure for speedy sanction of hydel projects to be executed by central public sector undertakings in consultation with the ministries of finance and environment. There is no dearth of funds for execution of projects in central sector, he said, adding the gross budgetary support for hydropower has been increased to Rs 175.11 billion for the tenth plan from Rs 92.84 billion.

In the meanwhile, the power ministry and the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) have projected a capacity addition of 26,324 MW for 11th five-year plan, with the implementation of 84 hydro projects. During the plan period, the central sector would play a dominant role with the projected capacity addition of 15,855 MW, followed by 6,269 MW by the state sector and 4,200 MW by the private sector.

- Business Line

Boom time for construction companies

It is boom time for construction companies. Most of them are sitting pretty with strong orders following the government's big push to infrastructure over the past year. Orders of more than Rs 450 billion have flowed in since the past 12 months.

The spurt ensures business for most companies over the next two to three years. Thanks to strong demand, even medium-sized firms have seen strong orders. This augurs well for the industry in the current financial year. "The order book-to-sales ratio of most companies has improved significantly. But the biggest challenge is converting these orders into revenues. The ratio indicates the sustainability and quantum of revenues for companies in future", analysts said.

Data available with Economic Times shows Hindustan Construction Company Ltd has an order book-to-sales ratio of 3.1 times. Based on its financial performance in the past 12 months, this points to sustainable revenues for at least the next three years. The company has an order pile-up of over Rs 53 billion and total sales of Rs 17.31 billion for the year to December 2005.

Jaiprakash Associates with unexecuted orders of Rs 67 billion and revenues of Rs 30.06 billion in the 12-month period ended December 2005 has an order book-to-sales ratio of 5.5 times. It has unexecuted orders worth Rs 43.40 billion and revenues of Rs 7840 million. The Hyderabad-based IVRCL has an order-book to sales ratio of 3. It had orders of Rs 40 billion and revenues of Rs 13.14 billion on December 31. Nagarjuna Construction's order-book sales ratio stood at 2.8.

- Economic Times

Kolkata, Chennai airports to be upgraded

The process of modernisation of the Chennai and Kolkata airports is gathering steam, with the government entrusting the planning commission with the task of drafting the expression of interest (EoI)

According to government officials, the plan panel has also be given the task of working out the modalities of modernising the two airports.

The documents for the modernisation process will be finalised soon and tenders inviting private companies to participate in the process will be invited shortly.

The government is considering setting up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) on the lines of the Delhi Metro to develop the Chennai and Kolkata airports.

- Business Standard

News from Ircon

Ircon International plans to raise about US $ 294 million for its projects in Sudan and Mozambique. It also proposes to raise Rs 1500 million from the domestic market for the Dhule-Pimpalgaon road project in Maharashtra.

In Sudan, Ircon has finalised a proposal for executing a US $ 250 million project to construct a 300-km long new rail line.

Ircon, along with its sister concern consulting firm RITES also plans to raise about US $ 44 million for the Mozambique project on Beira line.

Incidentally, backed by a strong order book position, Ircon International, the Indian Railway's public sector unit specialising in construction, now plans to diversify into real estate and hydroelectric projects, apart from focusing strongly on urban transport projects as well. It plans to bid for Chandigarh's monorail project.

It is aiming for a turnover of Rs 20 billion by 2010 against 10.14 billion in 2004-05. In the current fiscal, the company expects a turnover of Rs 11 billion.
The order book position of the Ircon has grown impressively over the past few years.

- Business Line

Metro rail for Mumbai

The Maharashtra state cabinet approved the first line of the metro railway between Colaba and Charkop via Mahim. The cost of this 38 km long route is going to be around Rs 10.23 billion.

Work on the line is expected to commence in May or June this year. The project will be completed by the end of 2011. This line will have 36 stations including 11 underground ones.

The plan prepared by the MMRDA for Mumbai Metro suggests construction of 9 routes at a cost of Rs 190 billion. In the first phase, MMRDA has suggested undertaking construction of the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar and Mahim-Kurla-Mankhurd lines besides the line between Colaba and Charkop.

A special purpose vehicle (SPV) will be created for executing the Mumbai Metro which will be on the lines of the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation (DMRC).
The state government and central government, both will pick up 20 percent equity in the SPV; rest of the equity will be brought in by the bidder who will get the contract.

Out of 38.24 km of the first line, the Colaba-to-Mahalaxmi stretch of 10.8 km will be underground, while the rest of the corridor will be elevated, it is learnt. Initially, metro trains will comprise of 4 passenger cars and frequency will be 3 minutes, which will be increased subsequently, and it is expected that in 2011, when the first line will open, it will be used by 2.18 million passengers. The fare of metro rail will be 1.5 times more than that of BEST's bus service in 2009; it will be increased 10 percent every two years.

- Business Standard

GMR Energy to set up 1000 MW power plant

GMR Energy Ltd is planning to set up a 1000 MW coal-based thermal project at a cost of Rs 40 billion. The company is also planning to acquire stakes in coal mines in India and overseas and has firmed up plans to enter the power transmission business.

The proposed power plant will be of two units of 500 MW each and the company is presently looking at Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Orissa as the potential project sites.

The company has also identified a few potential pockets in Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Orissa for acquiring a coal mine stake.

Further, the company has entered into a JV with KEC International Ltd for developing transmission projects. The company will be bidding for build-own- operate-and-transfer projects. The company has also got a power trading licence and intends to venture into the power trading business shortly.

- Business Standard

CO2 hits record levels in 2005

The concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere climbed to a record 381 parts per million last year, an increase sure to spark further debate on global warming. The reading was up 2.6 parts per million, according to preliminary calculations, David J. Hofmann of the of the Office of Atmospheric Research at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA, said recently.

Final calculations from reporting stations around the world won't be available until later in spring, Hofmann said. But the preliminary numbers are usually quite close. Meanwhile, the World Meteoroligical Organisation issued a report for 2004 which said that the greenhouse gases reached their highest ever recorded levels in 2004, mainly due to human activity.

Besides carbon dioxide, the 2004 data from WMO calculated that nitrous oxide which has been rising steadily since 1988 totalled 318.6 parts per billion. Methane has risen the most dramatically over the past two centuries with the total amount in 2004 at 1783 parts per billion, but its growth has been slowing.

The publication of WMO's first Greenhouse Gas Bulletin gives the scientific community agreed worldwide data on the amount of heat-trapping greenhouse gases created in the burning of fossil fuels.

- The Times of India

Vacuum excavator safety manual

The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), USA, has produced a safety manual designed for operators, maintenance personnel and other job site workers involved with vacuum excavation equipment.

AEM offers more than 40 product-specific safety manuals and videos. The association initiated its safety-tools programme more than 35 years ago to provide effective, job-proven and time-tested suggestions for promoting safety-conscious attitudes and performance. In addition to accident prevention, benefits include improved worker productivity and less equipment downtime for repairs.

The AEM vacuum excavator safety manual is published in an illustrated format of sensible "do's and don'ts" featuring typical daily situations on the work site. The safety message are presented in clear, readable text and illustrations to aid understanding, and the manual can be used for safety sessions on the job or in the classroom.

Content of the 36-page manual includes general safety tips concerning the workplace and equipment, start-up and shutdown guidelines, and operating and maintenance precautions.

The vacuum excavator safety manual is the result of cooperative efforts of equipment manufacturers working through AEM's Vacuum Excavation Equipment Committee to research and develop the manual. The information is intended to supplement, not replace, manufacturer operating manuals.

For more details, please contact:

Mr Pat Monroe
6737 West Washington Street
Suite 2400, Milwaukee,
WI 53214-5647, USA
Tel: +1-414-272-4123
Fax: +1-414-272-1170
E-mail: pmonroe@aem.org

Guide for surface finish

"The Guide for Surface Finish of Concrete Slabs on Ground" published by American Society for Concrete Contractors (ASCC) was designed to help contractors inform owners, specifiers, architects and engineers of the surface finish of slabs on ground that competent, competitive contractors can predictably provide. The guide discusses variations in concrete colour and texture; covers imperfections in slabs on ground such as trowel marks, pinholes, delamination and cracks; and includes numerous full-colour photographs. To learn more or to order this publication, visit American Concrete Institute's (ACI's) website www.concrete.org.

ACI offers many additional publications on concrete slabs and surface finishing. Here are a few highlights :

• ACI 302.IR-04 : Guide for Concrete Floor and Slab Construction
  
• ASCC105 : The Contractor's Guide to Quality Concrete Construction - Third Edition published jointly by ACI and ASCC

For more details, please contact :

American Concrete Institute
PO Box 9094
Farmington Hills,
MI 48333-9094, USA
Tel : 248-848-3800
E-mail : bkstore@concrete.org
Website : www.concrete.org