Highways development, which remained largely comatose during UPA-I, has got an adrenalin injection with the induction of Kamal Nath as the minister in-charge. But his pitch to create 20 km of highways, despite his good intentions, looks hard to achieve, primarily because of capacity constraints in the road construction industry—an issue that has got much less attention than it deserves. Join discussion...

Organic seo India’s best search engine Optimization Company offering search engine marketing services, search engine optimization service and inventive solutions to stay on top of the rapidly changing environment of the absolutely best SEO standards and practices. Join discussion...

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, will act as the principal adviser to the proposed Vizhinjam International Seaport, near Thiruvananthapuram. IFC will extend expertise to structure, market and implement the project and to attract serious investors through an open and competitive bidding process, said Lars Thunell, executive vice president and CEO of IFC. Join discussion...

To cut red tape in the process of obtaining approvals for highway projects, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has proposed that the B K Chaturvedi Committee do away with the system of mandatory approval of the Private-Public Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) before tendering of a project. Join discussion...

The Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) has granted approval to eight more PPP projects, estimated to cost a total of around Rs10,883.89 crore. The 28th PPPAC meeting, chaired by finance secretary, on 16 October, granted approval to eight more projects of the ministry of road transport and highways, spread across three states. The projects included the following: Join discussion...

Most of the funds from the equity raising will be either for entering into the build-operate-transfer (BOT) space pan-India or we will look into acquisitions outside the country. We also are looking into capital investment in the country. Join discussion...

Engineering, procurement and construction company Punj Lloyd Ltd, which has interests in construction for the oil and gas, thermal power and civil infrastructure industries, wants to increase its highways portfolio in India, company chairman Atul Punj said. The company is looking to participate in projects covering 2,000-3,000km over the next six months, Punj said. Join discussion...

In a complete break from the current style of bidding out highway projects (as small parcels of land), the surface transport ministry is planning to award mega projects comprising 400 km to 600 km of highways. “In the next four to six months, we will be bidding out the first of the mega projects that will entail an investment of Rs 5,000 crore or about $1 billion,” road transport and highways minister Kamal Nath said on Sunday. He was speaking on the sidelines of the India Economic Summit. Join discussion...

A plan for projects to be awarded in the year 2010-11 is to be launched soon. If there is one thing that makes India’s growth story patchy, it is its infrastructure. Within the infrastructure deficit, the lack of roads remains the greatest challenge. Although India currently has 3.3 million kilometres of roads — the second largest such network in the world — the shortage of highways has been a major hurdle for attracting foreign investment. Join discussion...

City based infrastructure major IVRCL Infrastructures and Projects Limited is in the process of demerging its intermediary holding companies IVR Strategic Resources and Services Limited and IVRCL Water Infrastructures Limited and amalgamating them with its publicly listed real estate subsidiary IVR Prime Urban Developers. Join discussion...