M’lore: High-tech Four-lane Road from Kundapur to Talapady Soon
May 2, 2008
Govind D Belgaumkar/The Hindu
- Work on the 90-km stretch likely to begin after the monsoon season
- Contractors to apply for pre-qualification before May 30
- Work to be awarded on build, operate and transfer basis
Mangalore, May 2: A smooth ride on a high-tech road from Kundapur in Udupi district to Talapady on Karnataka-Kerala border may be a possibility very soon. However, vehicle users will have to pay for using the road.
The work is being taken up under the third phase of National Highway Development Project (NHDP), aimed at building world-class highways to fuel the growth of the economy.
Although the work on the stretch between Nanthur and Surathkal has been tardy, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has invited tenders for the remaining 90-km stretch. The Surathkal-Nanthur stretch has been taken up under the Port Connectivity Project of the NHDP.
Process
Considering that the process of awarding the tender takes a few months, as suggested in the authority’s website, the 90-km project implementation may begin only after the monsoon season.
The authority intends to pre-qualify six applicants, who will be eligible to bid for the project. In the next step, the bidders have to submit their financial offers for the project.
The NHAI has set May 30, against the previous May 5, as the deadline for contractors to apply for pre-qualification. Queries from the applicants will be entertained till May 5, after which a conference will be organised to clear their doubts on May 7. It will be a tolled road to be awarded on build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis. A special purpose company will be created to undertake the project implementation.
The contractor winning the project will have to design, engineer, finance, construct, operate and maintain the road till its transfer to the NHAI.
Scope of work
The scope of the project includes, rehabilitation of displaced people, improvement and widening of the existing carriageway to four-lane standards with construction of new pavements, rehabilitation of existing pavement, construction and/or rehabilitation of major and minor bridges, culverts, road intersections, interchanges, drains, and the operation and maintenance thereof.
Features
The NHDP hopes to provide enhanced safety features on the roads taken up for four-laning or six-laning, besides better riding surface, better traffic management and noticeable signage, divided carriageways and service roads, grade separators, over bridges and underpasses, bypasses and wayside amenities. The third phase envisages construction of more than 12,000-km of road. Of this, about 10,000 km is yet to be awarded, according to the NHAI website. Under NHDP, the authority has almost completed the golden quadrilateral which connects the four metros.
source:www.daijiworld.com
Australia’s longest tunnel with Kapsch technology: Another contract from Australia for Kapsch TrafficCom AG
April 17, 2008
Kapsch TrafficCom will equip Australia’s longest tunnel. In March 2008, the company was able to secure contracts with a project sum of more than 11 million Australian dollars (more than EUR 6.4 million). More specifically, Kapsch will supply the road side equipment as well as the central telematics system for the tolling in the North-South Bypass Tunnel in Brisbane. With this contract, Kapsch TrafficCom is consolidating its strong market leadership in Australia.
“We are pleased about being awarded the contracts for equipping the North-South Bypass Tunnel. This traffic project emphasises Australia’s leading position in traffic systems and fully electronic toll systems. With this contract, Kapsch TrafficCom can also continue its success story in Australia – since 2000, several major projects have been realised in Australia – e.g. in Melbourne and Sydney”, explains Erwin Toplak, Management Board Member of Kapsch TrafficCom AG.
Upon its completion in 2010, the North-South Bypass Tunnel in Brisbane will be the longest in Australia. The tunnel, with a project length of 6.8 kilometres, includes two 4.8 km double-lane tunnel tubes. Kapsch TrafficCom is equipping this with a central traffic telematics system, including two signal bridges and a complete back-office solution. When complete the tunnel will create a new link for north-south traffic underneath Brisbane and will significantly reduce the volume of traffic in the city.
Further information also available at: www.rivercitymotorway.com.au
Kapsch TrafficCom AG is an international provider of innovative traffic telematics systems, products and services. Kapsch TrafficCom mainly develops and supplies electronic toll collection (ETC) systems, especially multi-lane free-flow (MLFF) ETC systems as well as offering technical and commercial operating services for these systems. In addition, Kapsch TrafficCom offers traffic management solutions focusing on traffic safety and traffic control, electronic access control systems and parking space management. With more than 140 installed toll systems worldwide in 30 countries in Europe, Australia, Latin America, the Asia-Pacific region and South Africa, and with a total of more than eleven million transponders and 11,000 equipped traffic lanes, Kapsch TrafficCom has positioned itself as a worldwide market leader for ETC systems. Kapsch TrafficCom is headquartered in Vienna, Austria and has subsidiaries and representative offices in 18 countries.
Vienna, 31st March 2008
For further information:
Brigitte Herdlicka
Public Relations & Sponsoring
Kapsch Group
Phone: +43 (0) 50 811 2705
A-1120 Vienna, Wagenseilgasse 1
E-mail: brigitte.herdlicka@kapsch.net
www.kapschtraffic.com
www.kapsch.net
Update on NHAI expressways projects
April 3, 2008
It is reported that, with access controlled expressways attracting massive investments, ministry of road transport & highways has decided to conduct the feasibility study for more such expressways and construction companies eyeing the access controlled expressway projects of National Highways Authority of India are likely to get investment opportunities for at least 4 such projects spread over 495 kilometer over the next few months. They are1) 70 kilometer Chandikhol Jagatpur Bhubaneswar – INR 761 crore2) 47 kilometer long Delhi Hapur – INR 474 crore3) 198 kilometer long Vijayawada Elluru Rajamundri – INR 1,602 crore4) 180 kilometer long Delhi Agra highway – INR 1,918 croreThe feasibility reports for these projects are already completed and the work is likely to be awarded in about 6 months. These projects are for widening the current 4 lane highways into 6 lanes and operating them for certain durations. Companies would have to bid competitively for these projects on a revenue sharing basis. Thus companies would have to bid on the extent of toll revenue that they are ready to share with the Government if they are allowed to operate the roads. Since these highways are already 4 lane stretches, the road operators can start toll collection even during the project construction phase from an appointed date, mutually decided by NHAI and the road operator. The toll revenues will be routed to an escrow account.Recently, NHAI has awarded 4 such mega projects of 882 kilometer length, which are likely to cost an estimated INR 10,912 crore. From the NHAI perspective, these projects have emerged as money spinners, with companies willing to foot the entire construction cost and part with 2% to 48.06% of their revenues in the initial leg of the project. At the end of the concession period, which is about 12 to 15 years duration, the winning firms have agreed to part with 12% to 59% share of toll revenues.The feasibility reports for another 10 projects of similar nature are under preparation. They are1) 315 kilometer long Kishangarh Udaipur stretch – INR 2,205 crore2) 235 kilometer long Udaipur Ahmedabad – INR 1,645 crore3) 190 kilometer long Varanasi Aurangabad – INR 1,330 crore4) 184 kilometer long Nellore Chilkaluripet – INR 1,288 crore5) 148 kilometer long Krishnagiri Walajapet – INR 1,036 crore6) 145 kilometer long Pune Satara – INR 1,015 crore7) 85 kilometer long Ludhiana Chandigarh – INR 595 crore8) 80 kilometer long Belgaum Dharwad – INR 560 crore9) 56 kilometer long Samakhiali Gandhidham – INR 392 crore10) 55 kilometer long Indore Dewas – INR 385 croreThe ministry has also decided to conduct the feasibility study for 4 such expressways between Delhi and Meerut, Chennai and Bangalore, Vadodara and Mumbai and Dhanbad and Kolkata. Source: http://steelguru.com
Government falls short on its promise to build roads
February 29, 2008
The government has fallen short on its promise to build roads in 2007-08. The Economic Survey revealed that while the flagship Golden Quadrilateral connecting the four metros was 96% complete at this time, only 21% of the north-east and south-west corridors were finished till November 2007. This means the end-2009 completion target for the project is unlikely to be met. The port-connectivity projects, which envisage linking major ports with national highways, are also way behind schedule.
Work under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP)-III has also fared terribly with only 274 km completed by November 2007. The project envisages four and six-laning of 12,109 km of highways on the build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis. While the first phase covering 4,815 km was expected to be completed by end-2009, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which spearheads the construction and upgradation, finished only 5.69% of the target.
The NHDP-III is estimated to cost Rs 80,626 crore and 30 contracts covering more than 1,900 km have been given out so far with another 3,000 km to be awarded during the current financial year.
Lackadaisical implementation notwithstanding, highway connectivity among Indian cities, however, remains a priority. The Survey has stressed the need to connect all cities by national highways in the medium term.
Source: economictimes.indiatimes.com
Hit the road: Infrastructure growth is revving up
February 29, 2008
The indian infrastructure story is just waiting to unfold. It is a foregone conclusion that the need for infrastructure to facilitate economic growth in India, both immediate and long-term , is ever more pressing. The growth rates witnessed in the Indian economy today are indicative of the change to follow —infrastructure has been expanding at an accelerated pace to support the economic growth rate of 9%. India’s infrastructure development has so far been predominantly financed publicly. The urgent need of the hour is an enhanced approach that would create a balance between public and private sector roles, complemented by transparent public policies. The Government has already taken many proactive measures such as opening up a number of infrastructure sectors to private players , permitting foreign direct investment (FDI) into various sectors, introducing model concession agreements and taking up projects such as the National Maritime Development Programme and National Highway Development Project, among others. The next four to five years will witness implementation of some key infrastructure projects such as additional power generation capacity of 70,000 MW; development of 16 million hectares through irrigation works; modernisation and redevelopment of four metro and 35 non-metro airports; six-laning 6,500 km of Golden Quadrilateral and selected National Highways. Focus will be on key infrastructure sectors of highways, ports, airports, railways and power. Having been part of the Indian infrastructure history, we at GVK have always believed that the key to developing a sustainable infrastructure in India is to build for the future. India will see an investment to the tune of $500 billion in infrastructure in the next five years. Coupled with government support, this investment will fructify in the form of key infrastructure projects to strengthen India’s cities. The next four years will bring a sea change in infrastructure and as a result, in another ten years, we will see the emergence of a new India. Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com
Foreign cos take to highways
February 22, 2008
New Delhi, Feb 22 Indian road construction projects seem to have caught the fancy of large foreign players in a big way. Out of five successful bidders for projects to widen four lane highways to six lanes which were announced today, foreign companies have equity stake in four of them.
Four international companies, namely, Dubai-based Emirates Trading Agency, Deutsche Bank, IJM Corporation, Berhad (Malaysia) and Isolux Corsan group of companies from Spain have teamed up with Indian companies and have equity stake ranging from 10 to 51 per cent, the Secretary, Road Transport and Highways, Mr Brahm Dutt, said here today.
These are the first tranche of projects bid under the new model concession agreement (MCA) that works on a revenue-share basis .
Earlier, road development projects were awarded to companies which offered upfront money to the Government to operate the six-lane highways. Now, the Government would receive part of the revenues generated through toll collections during the agreement period.
In the projects announced today, 882 km of four-lane national highways would be converted to six lanes at a total cost of Rs 10,912 crore.
The private firms would not only foot the entire construction cost, but also share a part of total revenue earned with the Government during the 12-15 year period.
Since the traffic on highways is expected to surge over time, the extent of revenue share will go up over the project life.
At the initial end of projects, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) would mop up revenue share ranging from two per cent to 48.06 per cent. At the end of the concession period, NHAI would take a share of 12 per cent to 59 per cent.
More such mega-projects are lined up for the next financial year. “We expect to invite bids for widening about 2000-2500 kilometres of four lane highways in the next financial year,” said Mr AV Sinha, Member-NHAI.
In the previous bidding method for two such projects, NHAI received an upfront negative grant of Rs 975 crore from L&T Toubro, and Ideal Road Builders.
Source: thehindubusinessline.com
Anil edges out Mukesh in bid
February 21, 2008
Construction of the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link, a 21-km-long inshore bridge spanning Sewree on Mumbai Island and Nhava, the second longest bridge on the earth, will commence in December next and completed in five years from then, according to Maharashtra Public Works Minister Anil Deshmukh.Mr. Deshmukh said that the bid submitted by the Anil Ambani-led consortium of Reliance Energy and Hyundai of Korea won the contract for the prestigious project, defeating the consortium of IL&FS, SKIL Infrastructure and John Laing Construction led by his brother, Mukesh Ambani.
The bids were opened on Wednesday. The project worth Rs.6,000 crore is on a BOT (build, operate and transfer) basis. The Anil Ambani consortium bagged it for they had said they would collect the toll charges from user-vehicles for nine years and 11 months while his brother’s bid had quoted toll charges for 75 years.
The successful bidder will bear the entire cost of the project and transfer it to the state after operating it for the period. Mr. Deshmukh said that the toll charges were fixed, Rs.150 for light vehicles and Rs.250 for heavy vehicles. It is estimated that 50,000 vehicles use the trans-harbour bridge every day.
But the usage would go up because of developments such as new airport, expansion of the Nhava Sheva Port (Jawaharlal Nehru Port) and SEZ. The consortiums led by the Ambani brothers were the only rivals in the final round.
Mr. Deshmukh said that the letter of acceptance of the bid will be issued in March next.
Source: hindu.com
CRISIL assigned IPO Grade 3/5 to KNR Constructions
December 6, 2007
Leading credit rating agency, CRISIL assigned IPO Grade 3/5 (pronounced `three on five`) to the proposed initial public offer of KNR Constructions (KNRCL). The public issue of 7,874,570 equity shares of face value Rs 10 targeting an issue size in the range of Rs 1,500-Rs 1,750 million. This grade indicates that the fundamentals of the issue are average, in relation to other listed equity securities in India.
The grading reflects KNRCL`s strong track record of project execution in both roads construction and operations and maintenance (O&M). The company has executed many projects as part of the NHAI`s NHDP program and has had a 7-year relationship with Patel Engineering as a joint venture partner.
The KNR-Patel JV has won 10 road construction projects so far. These include two BOT annuity projects as a part of NHDP Phase II, the combined value of which is Rs 9.6 billion. As of September 2007, KNRCL`s order book stood at Rs 16.25 billion, of which the roads sector constituted 89%.
The grading is however constrained by the relatively underdeveloped state of the company`s operating system, which in turn, could constrain its ability to augment the size of its operations. The grading also reflects the uncertainties associated with company`s plans to diversify into the power generation and real estate sectors.
Source: myiris.com
20 cos bid for longest expressway in India
December 6, 2007
The planned expressway will dwarf the 95km-long, six-laned, access controlled expressway connecting India’s financial capital Mumbai with Pune
Mumbai: Twenty firms have submitted initial bids for building India’s longest and biggest expressway project yet—a Rs40,000 crore, eight-laned, access controlled expressway linking Ballia in eastern Uttar Pradesh (UP) with Greater Noida—located on the border of the Capital, New Delhi.
The 1047 km-long road project dubbed Ganga Expressway will, when operational, cut travel time between the backward eastern part of Uttar Pradesh and the more prosperous western part of the state, by 16 hours from the current 24 hours.
For a traveller, it would take just about eight hours to zip from the holy city of Varanasi to New Delhi when the project is completed.
The planned expressway will dwarf the 95km-long, six-laned, access controlled expressway connecting India’s financial capital Mumbai with Pune and the under construction and controversy-ridden 111km-long expressway linking Bangalore with the garden city of Mysore.
The firms that have applied for pre-qualification include Larsen & Toubro Ltd, Reliance Energy Ltd, DLF Ltd, IL&FS Ltd, Gammon Infrastructure Projects Ltd with Australia’s biggest investment bank Macquarie, GMR Group, the Omaxe Ltd-GVK Group-Nagarjuna Construction Co. Ltd consortium, the Bajaj Hindusthan Ltd-Apollo Group-D S Constructions Ltd consortium, Jaiprakash Associates Ltd, Canadian firm SNC Lavalin with Progressive Constructions Ltd, Unitech Ltd, Punj Lloyd Ltd, Oman’s Gulfar Engineering & Contracting Llc., Zoom Developers Pvt. Ltd, Australia’s Leighton Group with Oriental Construction Co. Ltd, and PLUS Expressways Berhad, a subsidiary of Malaysia’s UEM Group, according to an official with the UP government overseeing the bidding process who did not wish to be named.
UP has taken inspiration for building the Ganga Expressway from legendary Afghan leader Sher Shah Suri, who built the Grand Trunk Road connecting Delhi with Kabul in the 16th century after temporarily displacing Humayun from the Mughal throne.
Suri’s road ran alongside the right bank of the Ganga; the new expressway will be built on the left bank of the river.
The eight-laned expressway will be constructed on an embankment to be built by the state’s irrigation department for controlling floods on the left bank of the Ganga.
The proposed expressway will start at Ballia-Gazipur and pass through Varanasi, Mirzapur, Sant Ravidas Nagar, Allahabad, Pratapgarh, Rae Bareli, Unnao, Hardoi, Farrukhabad, Fatehgarh, Shahjahanpur, Badaun, Bulandshahr, Gautam Buddhanagar and terminate at Greater Noida.
The expressway project will make available around 5,000 acres of land for real estate development including residential and industrial units. This will make the project economically viable for the developers.
The work on the expressway project will begin next year.
Source: livemint.com
Baalu Discusses Road Development Initiatives In The State Of Bihar
August 4, 2006
The Union Minister for Shipping, Road Transport & Highways, Thiru T. R. Baalu discussed the initiatives of the Central Government on the Road Sector Development in Bihar with the Central Ministries and Members of Parliament belonging to the State here today. The senior officials from the Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), State Chief Engineer and Team Leaders of various Projects briefed the participants on the progress of several projects in the State.
The status and pace of implementation of various projects under Golden Quadrilateral (GQ), East-West Corridor and Projects under NHDP Phase III alongwith the special Projects were discussed threadbare. The development of all other National Highways in Bihar being improved through the State National Highway Wing was also deliberated upon.