GMR consortium to develop Rs 11,000 cr Istanbul project
New Delhi: A consortium led by GMR has bagged a Rs11,000 crore (two-billion-euro) project to modernise Istanbul's second airport.

The consortium will pay a license fee of 1.93 billion euros ($ 2.57 billion) and would invest 400 million euros in the beginning as part of the project cost.

The GMR Infrastructure Limited-led consortium faced stiff competition from Fraport, Venice Airport, Chicago Airport and two other local companies.

GMR and Turkish firm Limak Insaat Sanayi own a 40 per cent stake each in the consortium while Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad own the remaining 20 per cent. The consortium would develop the Sabiha Gokeen International Airport, which is second one at Istanbul after the Attaturk Airport.
Back to News Review index page  

REL plans capacity addition of 15,000 MW power
Mumbai: Reliance Energy is planning to add capacity to the tune of 15,000 MW from power generation projects using coal, gas, hydro and other renewable fuels with an investment of over Rs60,000 crore over the next five years. This is over a tenth of the installed power generation capacity in the country today.

Anil Ambani, chairman, Reliance Energy said the company is planning to bag at least two of the proposed 4,000 MW ultra mega power plants, which would involve investment of nearly Rs40,000 crore. The company is pre-qualified for the final bid for the Krishnapattanam ultra mega power project in Andhra Pradesh and has submitted request for qualification for the pit-head based Tilaiya project in Jharkhand.

Reliance Energy currently produces a total of about 950 MW of power through its 500 MW (2 units of 250 MW each) Dahanu thermal power plant near Mumbai, and from power projects at Kochi, Andhra Pradesh, Goa as well as a windfarm in Karnataka.

It is also setting up a 1,200 MW (2 units of 600 MW each) coal-based power plant at Rosa and a 7,480 MW project at Dhirubhai Ambani Energy City at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh. Further, it is also developing a 300 MW coal-based power plant at Butibori near Nagpur and a 4,000 MW power plant at Shahapur in Raigad district of Maharashtra at an estimated investment of Rs15,000 crore, comprising a 2,800 MW gas-based project and a 1,200 MW imported coal-based project.
Back to News Review index page  

L&T gets Rs542-cr order from IOC
Mumbai: Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has bagged a Rs542-crore order by Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) for construction related works at its Panipat refinery.

The order is for upgradation of the Motor Spirit Quality (MSQ) unit located at IOC's refinery at Panipat in Haryana, its associated utilities and offside facilities to meet Euro IV norms, L&T said.

IOC intends to operate this MSQ upgradation unit and necessary utilities and offside as part of their fuels upgradation project, it added.

IOC retained Jacobs H&G Pvt Ltd (JH&G) to provide services for project management consultancy and front- end engineering design. This order comprises the residual process design, detailed engineering, construction, installation, and performance guarantee test runs for the project.
Back to News Review index page  

MSPL to make huge investments in capacity expansion
New Delhi: Indian mining company MSPL plans to invest more than Rs18,000 crore to increase its capacity and set up steel and pellet manufacturing plants within the next five years. This includes setting up a five- million-tonne steel plant for forward integration.

Company sources said the company would set up a one-million-tonne steel plant in Koppal district in Karnataka and the board has approved an investment of Rs4,500 crore in the first phase of the project. The work for the plant would begin by October this year and is likely to be commissioned by 2009.

Besides, MSPL has also received the official nod for gold mining at Gadag in Karnataka. The company aims to mine around 2 million tonnes of gold per annum from the mine which has an estimated reserve of 30 million tones. The company is also aiming to mine around 10 million tonnes of iron ore in the current fiscal.
Back to News Review index page  

BSNL cuts international roaming rates by 40 per cent
New Delhi: Providing relief to tourists Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) has cut international roaming tariff for foreigners using its network in the country by up to 40 per cent. Currently, if a tourist using services of a European operator uses BSNL's network while on roaming in India, the average tariff is about Rs50 per minute for an outgoing local or STD call, Rs99 per minute for an ISD call and Rs75 per minute for an incoming call.

After the cut, the tariff for outgoing local/STD call is slashed to about Rs30 per minute from Rs49, while an ISD call will cost Rs70 per minute from the earlier Rs99. For an incoming call, a person has to pay Rs50 per minute instead of earlier Rs75 a minute, officials of the PSU said.

They said the condition for the reduced tariff is that the foreigner has to be a customer of designated operators with whom BSNL has bilateral agreement.

This global roaming tariff is applicable to international in-roamers of those foreign operators with whom direct bilateral agreement has been signed and commercially launched, the officials said.

BSNL gets about Rs90 crore a year as revenue from foreign tourists on international roaming.
Back to News Review index page  

ONGC for deregulated gas price
New Delhi: Reliance Industries (RIL) and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) have asked the government's Committee of Secretaries to do away with regulated (read subsidised) price of gas. Last week power and fertiliser companies had pitched for regulated prices to the same Committee, set up by the government to take a final decision on gas prices.

RIL and ONGC recently made gas finds in the Krishna-Godavari basin.

RIL has made a strong case for a "market-determined" price of gas, and claims to have discovered a price of $ 4.33 per million British thermal unit (mBtu) through a competitive bidding process.

ONGC however has argued that there cannot be a market determined price as there is no real gas market in the country where demand is double the supply. The company however wanted a higher price of gas as it is making an annual loss of Rs 700 crore on the gas business. This is because the company is forced to sells most of its gas at a controlled price of below $3 per million British thermal unit (mBtu).

RIL told the CoS it followed a transparent process to discover the price of gas to be produced from its D6 block in the Krishna Godavari basin, refuting allegations that the base of the 10 power and fertiliser companies it had called for bidding for the gas was low.
Back to News Review index page  

DLF to develop $10-20 bn B'lore township
New Delhi: DLF has bagged a township project in Bangalore spread over 9,000 acres that could entail an investment of about $10-20 billion. DLF emerged as the sole bidder for the project, which is to be developed on the outskirts of Bangalore, industry sources said.

When contacted, a DLF official refused to comment as the bidding process has not been completed. The township would be about three times the size of Gurgaon city, being developed by the company. The project would have housing complex, malls, commercial space, schools, clubs, hospitals and hotels among other facilities.

Earlier, DLF was the only bidder for a convention centre project spread over 35 acre in Delhi to be developed at a cost of Rs3,000 crore.
Back to News Review index page