Telecom PSUs plan alliance for value-added services
New Delhi: Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (VSNL), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL), the three public sector undertakings in the telecom sector, are exploring the possibility of striking a tripartite alliance to offer value-added communication services, which will include e-services and e-medicine services. A proposal to package various value-added services in the country by the three PSUs has been put together by the department of telecom (DoT).

MTNL had already indicated its intentions to jointly roll out cellular service as a third operator along with BSNL across the country. It has approached the ministry of communication with a proposal to jointly roll out the cellular service with BSNL as the third operator. While MTNL has the licence for the metro circles of Delhi and Mumbai, BSNL is the incumbent in other telecom circles in the country. The joint roll out would enable MTNL to expand its reach across the country.
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Tenth plan to focus on power transmission
New Delhi: Mr. K C Pant, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission has said that the tenth five-year plan (2002-07) will focus on large scale public investment in power transmission. He said that while the quantum of investment cannot be decided on at this stage, the approach will be to ensure that more money is spent on improvement of the transmission network.

Mr Pant has said that transmission of power must be looked at separately from distribution of electricity to the final consumers. The tenth plan will be looking at making the three aspects of power sector - transmission, generation and distribution, independently viable," Mr Pant. Since the first five-year plan, much more money has gone into generation than transmission of power, and said the tenth plan will reverse the process.
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Railways to offer model concession scheme for core projects
New Delhi: The Railways has prepared a new model concession agreement, which does away with leasing and offers to bear the risk of traffic on lines of the annuity system proposed for the roads sector. The new model concession agreement document prepared by Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) provides for a tri-partite agreement between the Railways, the project executing agency and the financial institution.

Under the model agreement, the railways would pay access charges, which is similar to annuity, to the contractor who builds the asset. A builder stands protected from traffic risks, as the railways would pay the charges, irrespective of whether they generate that much revenue from the asset or not. The new scheme has also tried to address the other major problem with long gestation rail projects - the financial institution's risk.

The model concession agreement is being sent to the Law Ministry for concurrence and would be placed before the Railway Board for final approval before bids for specific projects are called.
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