Anti-toll activists to hold public debate with NHAI

September 12, 2014

The National Highway Toll Collection Opposition Federation will convene a public debate with National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials on September 13 at Hanumanahalli toll point on the outskirts of Mulbagal.

Holding ‘irresponsibility and negligence’ of the NHAI and contractors responsible for accidents, the federation has exhorted NHAI officials to participate in the meeting.

It has also issued notices to the Chief General Manager (Technical) and project director of NHAI regional office, Bangalore.

Veteran freedom fighter and president of the federation H.S. Doreswamy will take part in the debate.

In a notice, a copy of which is available with The Hindu , the federation took exception to collecting toll fees without completing works as per the agreement.

The Deputy Commissioner on Tuesday said that a criminal case would be filed against NHAI authorities and contractors for negligence.

Source:The Hindu

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under About, Toll Payments

Non-linear ropeway prototype debuts in Kolkata

September 12, 2014

Commuters in Kolkata may soon travel on a non-linear ropeway – that has the potential to swing its way through the city’s skyline dotted with high-rises – the makers, who tout it is the world’s first of its kind, said after launching a prototype.

The private firm which has developed and patented this new pollution-free aerial transit – christened Curvo ropeway – is in talks with the West Bengal government to launch the service in two sectors as a second-tier urban transportation option.

Test-run of the prototype, with two cabins, was conducted within a stretch of 500 metres at a spot in Kolkata’s Joka area recently.

The inventors are also applying for certification to open the prototype for the public.

“It is the world’s first non-linear ropeway for alternative urban transportation. This will be a new-age transport system and add to the concept of smart cities. There are two proposals which we are discussing with the state government, regarding launching the service in Sealdah-B.B.D. Bag area and the other from Nabanna, the state secretariat,” said Rachana Mukherjee, director, Conveyor and Ropeway Services Pvt. Ltd.

“In addition, we are applying for certification to open the prototype for the public,” she said Saturday.

The ropeway service, to be run on electricity, will breeze over existing arterial and other roads on steel portal frames spaced at 90-100 metres supporting the ropes, avoiding the congestion on the streets below.

On any designated route, there will be elevated stops for deboarding and boarding of the passengers every 750 metres.

Proposed to run at 12.5 km per hour, the carrying capacity of the ropeway on a single track is pegged at 2,000 people per hour.

“On a double track, the capacity will be double. Cabins, with a capacity of eight to 10 seats, will be spaced at 22 to 25 seconds interval. The tariffs will be competitive keeping in mind the bus fares.”

“It is definitely safe and will offer greater flexibility (with regard to destinations) than the metro,” Mukherjee said, adding it is a completely indigenous technology.IANS

This will be a new-age transport system and add to the concept of smart cities

Source:The Hindu

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under About, Tech

Rs. 1,000 cr. to repair rain-damaged roads in Karnataka

October 24, 2013

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

The Hindu : Shimoga – Mandagadde road was blocked due to Tunga flood. File Photo: Vaidya

Public Works Department to take up work next month

The Public Works Department (PWD) will spend Rs. 1,000 crore to repair rain-damaged State highways and major district roads in the State.

Road repairs will be taken up from next month, Public Works Minister H.C. Mahadevappa told presspersons in Bangalore on Tuesday.

Action plan

He said that officials are preparing an action plan and they will submit it to the Finance Department for release of funds. About 1,000 km of main district roads and 177 km of State highways have suffered damage, he said.

The Minister said that road repair work would be completed by the end of February next year. The department had taken up repair work on 3,000 km of State highways in the first phase and work was nearing completion. Roads were damaged on account of heavy rain during the monsoon.

To a question, the Minister said that the government had cleared arrears of Rs. 250 crore owing to road and building contractors and another Rs. 850 crore would be paid soon.

Workshop

The Indian Road Congress and the Public Works Department have decided to hold a two-day regional workshop on promoting usage of new technologies, material, techniques and equipment in road construction, here from Wednesday.

The workshop will be held at Palace Grounds (Gayatri Vihar) and Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Oscar Fernandes will release a souvenir. Mr. Mahadevappa will preside over the event. President of Indian Roads Congress Kandasamy and Secretary-General Vishu Shankar Prasad will participate.

Experts will shed light on evolving technologies in the construction of roads and bridges. Engineers and experts will deliver lectures on ‘Retro-reflective material for road safety signage’ and ‘Processed steel slag as alternate aggregate for flexible pavements’ and other related issues.

Daniel Berger, Director, Quality, Research and Development, Orafol Europe GmbH, Ireland, and other experts had been invited to the workshop, Mr. Mahadevappa said.

There would be an exhibition on the usage of manufacturing and slag sand in civil construction, application of new technologies, material, techniques and equipment and application of nanotechnology in civil constructions, he added.

Source-http://www.thehindu.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Uncategorized

Karnataka introduces intelligent transport system

March 20, 2013

Mr Osamu Yoshizaki, Deputy Director General, Road Bureau, MLIT, greeting Ms V. Manjula, Commissioner, Urban Land Transport and Principal Secretary at a conference on Intelligent Transport System for Strategic Urban Development in Indian Cities in Bangalore. - Photo: K. Gopinathan

BANGALORE, FEB. 3:

Karnataka has made a modest beginning in using intelligent transport system (ITS) in urban transport management, said Ms V. Manjula, Principal Secretary, Karnataka Urban Development Department.

Addressing a conference on “Intelligent transport system for strategic urban development in Indian cities’, Ms Manjula said “ITS is the integration of information and communication technology with transport infrastructure, vehicles and users. It enables information to be collected and shared in order to help people make more informed travel choices, make journey more efficient and help to reduce the impact of transport on the environment.”

“Keeping these principles intact in Karnataka, few ITS projects initiated are B-Track in Bangalore by the traffic police.

Passenger information system (PIS) is by the BMTC and the vehicle location system (VLS) for city buses in Mysore,” she added.

As the State is getting urbanised at a faster pace, the use of ITS is becoming increasingly necessary.

Ms Manjula said “Karnataka is one of the more urbanised States in the country with 38 per cent of population living in urban areas. This population is spread over 237 census towns, with almost 66 per cent of the State’s urban population concentrated in 23 cities and Bangalore accounting for almost 11 per cent of the urban population.”

She explained that that ITS is very crucial in managing traffic in urban areas as vehicle density is increasing day by day.

“The growth of urban Karnataka has also brought in its wake of steep increase in the number of motor vehicles, the growth rate ranging from 10 to 14 per cent a year.

The number of vehicles has increased from 16 lakh in 1991 to 83 lakh in two decades,” she said.

B-TRACK

In B-Track project, the traffic management centre processes information collected through surveillance and enforcement cameras installed at various junctions across the Bangalore city, information conveyed through walkie-talkies by traffic policemen, and the plans signal phase timing alterations/congestion monitoring etc.

Information on congestion is conveyed through SMS to registered users of its service and flashed on information boards at vantage points.

GIS/PIS

BMTC has implemented a pilot project on ITS here an automatic vehicle location system is introduced in a limited way by installing GPS units devices on 189 buses.

Buses are tracked on real time basis and all the GPS units are controlled and monitored from a single control room.

Where as for PIS, BMTC has installed at select bus stops and at Bangalore International Airport which gives information on next bus, expected time, route number etc.

VLS

Ms Manjula said VLS is a world Bank-GEF funded project being implemented in Mysore city assisted by SUTP.

This project will be completed by March this year and will become operational from April.

In this project Central control station, automatic vehicle location system, passenger information system are all integrated to one control room through ITS.

source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/logistics/karnataka-introduces-intelligent-transport-system/article2857564.ece

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Uncategorized

Maytas-NCC consortium wins airport projects from Karnataka

November 22, 2007

Two separate SPVs are to be set up for the airport projects. Maytas Infra, NCC and VIE will hold 37%, 37% and 26% stake in the two SPVs, respectively

Maytas Infra Ltd. announced on Tuesday that a consortium involving itself, NCC Infrastructure Holding Ltd. and VIE India Project Development and Holding LLC has bagged an order to develop and operate proposed airports at Gulbarga and Shimoga on BOT (build-operate-transfer) basis.

The contract has been awarded by the Infrastructure Development Department of the Karnataka Government.

Two separate Special Purpose Companies (SPVs) are to be set up for the airport projects. Maytas Infra, NCC and VIE will hold 37%, 37% and 26% stake in the two SPVs, respectively.

The construction period is 24 months from the date of signing the agreements. The concession period is 30 years and the agreement can be extended for a further period of 30 years.

Source: indiainfoline.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Investment and Finance

Cial has non-metro, foreign airports on radar

November 21, 2007

It plans to participate in the modernization of the 35 airports in the country, apart from the overseas projects

New Delhi: Cochin International Airport Ltd (Cial), the company that built the new international airport at Kochi, India’s first to be built by a private sector firm, is looking to build airports in India and in other countries in an effort to tap growing demand for airline infrastructure in many parts of the world.

Cial plans to participate in the modernization programme of 35 non-metro airports in the country and also wants to build airports in Sri Lanka, Ghana, Angola and Papua New Guinea, according to S. Bharat, managing director, Cial.

Cial was promoted by the Kerala government, financial institutions, airport service providers, non-resident Keralites and a group of entrepreneurs.

The single largest shareholder in the company is the state government with 35% of the paid-up capital.

Bharat added that Cial is in talks with an international finance company and a technical partner to promote a new company that will handle these projects.

Cial’s overseas plans come at a time when international airport operators such as Singapore’s Changi Airport International (CAI), Airport Company South Africa Ltd, Fraport AG and other leading players from Mexico, Turkey, Paris and Germany are looking to partner with Indian companies to bid for airport projects in the country. Singapore’s CAI had floated a joint venture company with Tata Realty & Infrastructure Ltd, a subsidiary of the Tata group for the airport modernization projects in India.

If it wins any of the projects to build airports outside the country, Cial will be following in the footsteps of Bangalore-based GMR Infrastructure Ltd, the lead partner in the consortium that runs Delhi International Airport, which will be developing Sabiha Gokeen International Airport (SGIA) at Istanbul, Turkey. GMR’S partners in this project are Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhard and Limak Insaat Sanavi San Ve Tic A S Turkey.

Bharat confirmed Cial’s overseas aspirations.

“The government of Sri Lanka has invited us to study the possibilities of building an airport there. We have got offers from Ghana, Angola and Papua New Guinea. Cial’s team will shortly visit those countries,” he said.

Cial plans to take up overseas airport projects on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) or build-own-operate (BOO) basis. Under the BOT model, the developer constructs and manages a project for a specified time before handing it over to the government; in the BOO model, the developer continues to operate the project with a local partner.

“The funding of these airport projects would be done by a special purpose company formed under Cial,” Bharat said.

He declined to name the international partners citing confidentiality agreements.

“We are also looking at bidding for the ongoing airport projects within India as we can make airports at lower cost,” Bharat added. The Cochin airport was built at a cost of Rs315 crore including the cost of land.

A government committee on infrastructure, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has estimated that India will need to spend more than Rs40,000 crore in developing airports between 2006-07 and 2013-14. Of this, an estimated Rs31,100 crore is expected to come from public-private partnerships.

The ministry of civil aviation has decided to modernize and upgrade 35 non-metro airports across India.

Besides, the government is also planning to build greenfield airports at Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra), Kannur (Kerala), Hassan and Gulbarga (Karnataka), Ludhiana (Punjab), Greater Noida (NCR), Paykong (Sikkim), Cheithu (Nagaland) and Chakan (near Pune, Maharashtra).

“At a time when current airport modernization programmes envisage spending at least Rs5,000 crore for a single project, Cial had built a world class product on a very modest budget. Cial can cash in on its expertise in the upcoming non-metro airport projects,” said a Mumbai-based aviation analyst, who does not want to be identified because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Investment and Finance, Media