Essel Group adds Maharashtra for developing smart cities

January 6, 2015

Essel Group, India’s leading businessconglomerate, is aggressively pursuing thedevelopment of smart cities in the country. After announcing plans for the states of Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, the group has now brought Maharashtra into the list of states for development.

Targeting cities with population of more than 5 lakh, the group will be looking at markets like Pune, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nashik and Aurangabad with world class smart city developments in the next five years.

Speaking of the company’s vision, Subhash Chandra, chairman, Essel Group, said, “We see smart utilities as a blueprint for the future of smart and connected cities in India. We want to collaborate with the Maharashtra state government in delivering good governanceand services to citizens and helping transform the way citizens will live, work, play and learn.”

Accordingly, the company will bid for turnkey projects in Maharashtra from planning and designing stage to funding and implementation of projects, in creating a smart city habitat.

Essel Group’s integrated utilities company – Essel Utilities & Distribution Company Limited (EUDCL) will focus on nurturing smarter communities across major cities in Maharashtra by undertaking projects in power and water distribution services, municipal solid waste management, sewage treatment, drainage and storm water management, city wi-fi, cable and broadband, city gas distribution and intelligent traffic management systems. These services will be offered through a single-window solution model based on SIPC (Smart Integrator and Principal Contractor) concept, thus delivering an all-in-one conduit to consumers. This will be a first-of-its kind concept where all utility services will be offered under one roof.

Essel group had committed to invest Rs 7,500 crore towards transforming five major cities of Madhya Pradesh into state-of-the-art smart cities and is evaluating development projects in infrastructure utility worth Rs 50,000 crore in the years to come. So far the group has invested Rs 5,000 crore for similar projects in Madhya Pradesh. According to the company management, projects of this scale will help generate employment opportunity to a huge number of people and transform the way cities and communities are designed, built and renewed to ensure economic, social and environmental sustainability.

Kamal Maheshwari, president, Smart City Business, said, “With our pioneering spirit of venturing in futuristic arena, Essel Utilities will work towards developing inclusive and smart cities in India with world’s leading eco-system partners, thus transforming the quality of life of citizens across cities. We are looking forward to closely work with the central and state government in formulating the governance and policy framework, and sustainable financial model for Smart Cities.”

Essel Utilities presently manages power distribution franchise in Sagar & Ujjain (MP), Muzaffarpur (Bihar) and Nagpur (Maharashtra). Shortly, the company will also be managing power distribution services for Gwalior in MP. The company also manages the water distribution franchise in Aurangabad (Maharashtra) and Bhagalpur (Bihar).

The company has also been awarded seven projects in solid waste management in Deonar (Mumbai), Jabalpur (MP), Pallavapuram (Chennai), Surat (Gujarat), Bhubaneswar (Odisha) and Bangalore (Karnataka). It further intends to foray into various other verticals such as city gas distribution and, cable and broadband in major cities of India. The company is targeting a top line revenue of close to Rs 2,000 crore and a reach of more than 2 million consumer households by 2015-16.

Source:dna

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under About, Smart City

MMRDA sets ball rolling to make BKC smart city

October 6, 2014

MMRDA has also planned to introduce electric and hybrid buses to ply within the business district and the nearest stations.

A few days before the poll code of conduct set in, the Congress-led Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) had called for tenders to create Maharashtra’s first smart city, Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), the glitzy business district of the country’s commercial capital.

Building smart cities has been a major campaign agenda of the BJP and a dream project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Union government has set aside Rs 7,060 crore for the creation of 100 smart cities either by moulding satellite towns around large cities or modernising existing mid-sized cities.

The MMRDA, which was chaired by former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, on September 10 invited expressions of interest for basic smart city initiatives for surveillance, connectivity, parking facilities and citizen-centric services based on information and communication technology networks.

Naseem Khan, a Congress MLA and guardian minister for the Mumbai suburbs, said while projecting the overall infrastructure development brought about by his party, the Congress is also positioning the smart city initiative in BKC as a major achievement.

“BJP leaders are only talking about it. Congress leaders actually deliver. While they are still busy preparing the vision document for smart cities, the state Congress government has gone ahead and started tendering for a smart city,” Khan said.

Smart cities are those where data collected through sensors is used to enhance efficiency in utilities and citizens’ services such as electricity, water, drainage, gas, traffic, parking and so on, and enable real time monitoring by authorities. Effective eco-friendly transportation systems, transparent processes for commercial activities, and online approval systems are other hallmarks of a smart city.

A senior MMRDA official who did not wish to be named said, “What we are doing in BKC is just the basic first level of a smart city. We won’t reach the global standards by implementing these initiatives, but in the next five years, we will add on more smartness features with the network as the backbone and reach the level of cities such as Barcelona and Copenhagen.”

Under the plan, the MMRDA will first cover the 175-hectare area in a public wi-fi network at a high Internet speed of 5 Mbps. There would be 90 surveillance cameras with direct coordination with security agencies to keep an eye on the E and G blocks of the complex.

Visitors will be able to avail of a smart parking facility. They will know the nearest available parking slot of the 3,000 parking slots in BKC without having to manually hunt for one. This is expected to reduce unauthorised parking and will bring down the time required to park from 20 minutes to 5 minutes, the MMRDA official said.

The 841 streetlights in BKC would be equipped with solar panels to generate power during the day and utilise it after dark with motion sensors fitted on the lights so that they switch on based on requirement. Besides, citizen-centric mobile applications will be launched for emergency services, or to provide details of the nearest restaurants and so on, the official said. MMRDA has also planned to introduce electric and hybrid buses to ply within the business district and the nearest stations.

Source: Indian express

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under About, Smart City

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

Ashoka Buildcon Ltd. becomes the first Indian infra company to get the prestigious IMS international certification

November 1, 2007

Ashoka Buildcon Limited (ABL), a renowned infrastructure developer with a track record of over 25 years, has achieved the distinction of becoming the first Indian infrastructure construction firm to receive the prestigious Integrated Management Systems (ISO 9001:2001, ISO 14001:2004 & 18001-1999) certificate (IMS) from International Standards Certification Pty., Australia, covering all business operations, which includes all BOT (build-operate-transfer), EPC (engineering procurement construction) projects, RMC (ready mixed concrete) plants and Toll operations.

This certification is in recognition of the Company’s commitment to continuing improvement of quality, environmental and occupational health and safety management system performance and complying with all applicable legal and contractual requirements while adopting state-of-the-art technology in project execution.

Mr. Ashok M. Katariya, Chairman, ABL, said, “Our technological superiority, rapid progress, quality and construction management skills are guiding us towards our dream of building India 2020. The principal objective of our organisation is to offer the latest technology in civil construction and structural engineering, besides maintaining a quality oriented economy. We have now steadily progressed towards being one of the country’s most experienced infrastructural developers.”

Mr. Satish D. Parakh, Managing Director, ABL, said, “The initiative of acquiring this prestigious international certification was taken in June 2007. Subsequently, we launched a campaign through training reviews, documentation and internal audits, covering all our divisions including operations and maintenances of road infrastructure.” Mr. Parakh added, “This is an endorsement of our ability to conduct operations in a manner wherein we protect people, property and the environment. We do this by identifying, controlling and reducing all associated risks to a level as Low as ReasonablyPracticable.”

Ashoka Buildcon Ltd. had earlier adopted quality management system (QMS) current standard ISO 9001-2000 during the year 1998. In view of the emerging scenario of globalisation of the Indian infrastructure industry and the increasing need for compliance to the requirements of the stakeholders and also for continual business improvement based on sustainable development, the Company went for IMS certification to include EMS (ISO14001) and OHSAS 18001.

This IMS certification will benefit the Company in areas such as reducing multiple assessments; improving legal statutory and regulatory compliance; enhancing employee related safety and good housekeeping, making it more socially responsible; and being perceived as a quality player with a competitive edge for better customer satisfaction.

The Nashik-based Ashoka Buildcon Ltd. is among the first few companies in India to get the ISO 9000 certification, keeping in kind the need of the times to prevent global warming and to preserve the environment. It has received recognition from United Nations for its contribution towards the “billion tree” plantation campaign.

Starting off as an industrial contractor, the Company has now steadily progressed towards being one of the country’s most experienced infrastructural developers spanning across a plethora of mega-infrastructural assignments. It received the Limca Book Awards from completing the bridge across the Mandve river, Maharashtra, within 38 days as against the allotted time period of 12 months.

Over the years, the Company has completed several major bridges and 94 minor bridges. In addition, it has also completed 4 railway-over bridges, 5 flyovers and 7 foot-over bridges. In terms of road length, the Company has completed 1,888 lane kms of road and 988 lane kms of road work is in progress. It has also an established track record of commissioning 13 BOT road projects — the largest in the country. The Company is committed to become an icon in infrastructure development,through innovation, professionalism, active leadership in product quality and sustained growth by delivering value to its customers.

Since its inception in the early 1980s, Ashoka Buildcon Ltd. has successfully completed projects in several states including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and the NCR region. It has emerged as a major BOT toll road operator in the country. It was the first infrastructure Company to complete the work among the seven corridors of Phase I of RIDCOR (Road Infrastructure Development Company of Rajasthan) much ahead of the schedule. It has executed several prestigious projects including the BOT project of Indore Edlabad Road and the East Coast Road from Chennai to Pondicherry, which is reputed as a world class road. The prestigious projects executed by the Company in the western region also include the Pune Shirur Road Project and the Nagar-Karmala road project. It has also executed various projects including the construction of a five star Hotel Sun-N-Sand at Shirdi, Railway overbridge at Nashirabad, Yashvantrao Chavan Open University Building at Nashik. The Company is a responsible corporate citizen engaging in philanthropic activities committed to environment protection, education and agriculture.

Source: indiaprwire.com

Written by ITW Editor · Filed Under Uncategorized