The Empowered Committee of the Ministry of Rural Development has sanctioned proposals worth Rs 1,068 crore under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. While intimating the approval of the  committee to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh expressed his displeasure over the slow pace of completion of the infrastructure projects.

“The State is required to enhance its capacity to deliver the desired quality of roads,” the empowered committee remarked.

Advising the State Government to increase the strength of the project implementation units (PIUs), Ramesh said 2,048 road works out of the project sanctioned till March, 2011, have  remained incomplete. “Unless the State enhances its execution capacity, the desired progress with respect to speed and quality cannot be achieved.

Hence, the Ministry has decided to sent the Joint Secretary along with his team to the State to have a meeting with the State officials and the contractors to resolve various issues faced by the State before August end,” Ramesh said.

The MoRD has sanctioned 343 road projects covering 1,184 km at a cost of Rs 584 crore and 140 long span bridges at an estimated cost of Rs 483 crore.

As the quality of roads constructed under the flagship programme is not satisfactory, the Union Minister has suggested that the Chief Minister should institutionalize quality monitoring system in a few selected districts and send the plan to the Ministry by the end of this month.

http://newindianexpress.com

NEW DELHI: A United Nations (UN) report has warned India that it is at greater risk by opting for public private partnership (PPP) mode of investment for raising its public infrastructure where the government has less control over its executing private partners and the latter has little interest in long term safety of the projects.

A UN study, the Global Assessment Report (GAR) on disaster risk reduction, released earlier this month for Asia Pacific has warned India of its huge infrastructure assets exposed to disaster risk, something like what we have experienced post release of the report inUttarakhand where flash floods have washed away properties worth thousands of crores while thousands have perished.

The report says: “Increasingly, in India, PPPs are emerging preferred mode of investment for publicly managed construction. These partnerships do not necessarily lead to improved disaster risk assessment and management, and may underplay disaster risks or lead to their transfer as shared costs to the public sector or to city residents.”

The 2013 GAR study on disaster risk reduction is the third biennial report coordinated by the UN’s Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and has analysed many of the country’s largest infrastructure projects for their risk exposure to natural and man-made calamities.

The findings reveal a sample analysis of 136 port cities with populations of more than 1 million predicting that currently North America has the highest volume of exposed economic assets while it is the population which is at greater risk in Asia.

The GAR warns India — which has projected nearly $1 trillion worth of investments for infrastructure development in the 12th Five Year Plan – of greater economic losses from unsafe public property facing disaster risk. The report puts the estimated exposure of economic assets in Mumbai alone to increase from $46 billion in 2005 to $1,598 billion in 2070. Other Indian cities where large PPP assets are planned face similar risk.

“Owing to economic and urban growth, natural and artificial subsidence, sea level rise and climate change, this exposure is likely to increase dramatically, particularly in low and middle-income countries,” according to GAR findings.

Uttarakhand too is prone to earthquakes. Almost half of the state falls in high earthquake zone. Most disasters that could occur haven’t happened yet, the UN report warns, estimating total expected annual global loss from earthquakes and cyclone wind damage alone to $180 billion a year. “This figure does not include the significant cost of local disasters from floods, landslides, fires and storms or the cost of business interruption,” it added.

Elsewhere in India, the report cautions against haphazard development in urban areas where “the urban population is expected to grow from 379 million in 2010 to 606 million in 2030 and 875 million in 2050.” It seeks the government to ensure adequate regulatory mechanism that guarantees private constructions invested in earthquake resistant housing developments.

The UN calls the government to “integrate disaster risk information into investment decisions; building public-private risk governance and disclosing disaster risks and costs on balancesheets of companies.” It says innovative companies worldwide have already begun to move in this direction, identifying disaster hot spots in their supply chains, reporting on risk reduction measures and forging partnerships with municipal governments.”

The report has another concern area, the export oriented special economic zones (SEZs), many of which are located in hazard-exposed areas. “The number of export oriented SEZs has expanded from 176 zones in 47 countries in 1986 to 3,500 zones in 130 countries in 2006. Many such zones are located in hazard-exposed areas increasing disaster risks,” it added. India has one of the largest expansions of SEZs, with ineffective regulatory control.

Source-http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

If construction companies were pinning their hopes on a steady flow of highway projects in the current financial year, they might have to wait longer. A report by CARE Research says the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will be able to award only one-third of its current target.

The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways had set a target of awarding around 9,000 km of road projects in 2013-14. CARE Research expects that road projects with the length of about 3,000 km would be completed.

“The target seems to be unattainable, given the continued impediments faced by the road sector. Delay in obtaining land, forest and environmental clearances, coupled with a slowdown in macro economic conditions continue to hit projects in the sector,” the report said.

Analysts say the state-of-affairs of slow order inflows of the last financial year will continue to the first half of the current financial year as well. Many of them had expected NHAI to award as much as 3,000-4,000 km worth of projects in the first half of the year.

“The first half will see dull ordering but there is hope that the second one would be good. It all depends on how government will process infrastructure projects,” said Viral Shah, senior research analyst-infrastructure, Angel Broking. The broking firm has also taken a conservative estimate of L&T’s order inflow growth. While the infrastructure major guided a 10 per cent growth, the firm expects it to be at around 8-9 per cent, indicating a tough environment ahead.

NHAI’s delayed targets would affect construction companies as 50 per cent of awards were supposed to be on the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) model. In 2011-12, awards and road project wins on build, operate and transfer (BOT) mode could not raise debt, as banks became cautious. Many such projects had aggressive bids by project developers.

Some projects which sought bids last year, saw lack of interest from developers as well. “Almost 10 road projects worth Rs.14,800 crore received no bids or witnessed bidding cancellation in 2012-13,” said CARE Research.

However, slow execution of highway projects, might see a pick-up this year. “The execution of already awarded road projects will improve in FY14. The upcoming elections are expected to expedite the execution of road projects in this fiscal. Also, the recent judgment by the Supreme Court, on delinking environment clearance from forest clearance will provide some fillip to the project execution,” the report said. According to estimates, road length of about 2,700 kms would be constructed in 2013-14.

While NHAI’s programme might be slower in the current financial year, state government project awards have picked up pace. The report believes that the annual investment will grow at 16 per cent in the Twelfth Five Year Plan.

Source-http://www.business-standard.com