MMTC to pump in Rs. 6,000 crore to double NINL capacity.

State-owned trading firm MMTC said it will invest about Rs. 6,000 crore to double the capacity of Neelachal Ispat Nigam (NINL) in the next four years. "We have decided to double the hot-metal capacity of 1.1 million tonnes in the next four years in Neelachal Ispat in the first phase," MMTC Chairman and Managing Director Ved Prakash said. Speaking on the sidelines of FIMI organised summit, he said the steel plant will commence production from December. MMTC holds 50 per cent stake in Neelachal Ispat while, NMDC Ltd and Odisha Mineral Corp, have 12 per cent and 28 per cent, respectively. Prakash said Neelachal Ispat's board have already given in-principal approval for the expansion to 2.2 million tonnes hot-metal capacity. "We are waiting for the techno feasibility study, which is expected to be ready in the next 45 days. All the three major promoters have agreed in-principle for the expansion plan. The total investment for doubling the capacity would be in the region of Rs 6,000 crore," Prakash added. MMTC said it may convert its Rs 1,000 crore working capital loan into equity toward its share of fresh equity of Rs 2,000 crore requirement towards the expansion. In the second phase, the capacity of Neelachal Ispat would further be increased to five million tonnes, Prakash said. Meanwhile, buoyant from gold business and higher coal imports, MMTC is eyeing a revenue of Rs 20,000 crore in the current financial year, Prakash added. "Our coal imports for the year (Apr-Mar) is expected to be in the region of 8-10 million tonnes. We have recently entered into an agreement for exporting iron ore to Japan and Korea. We are also expecting a higher business from gold medallions. All these should drive our revenue to Rs 20,000 crore," he said. MMTC had posted a Rs 18,241 crore top-line in 2014-15 from around Rs 25,000 crore in 2013-14. Speaking about gold medallion, Prakash said the agency will finalise a national distribution network in a fortnight after dialogues with banks like SBI, ICICI and Department of Post. Once we have a distribution network, then we will begin selling the gold medallions, he added.

Maharashtra approves infrastructure projects worth Rs. 52,000 crore.

The first meeting of the state cabinet sub-committee on infrastructure, which was chaired by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, saw projects worth over Rs 52,000 crore being approved in-principle. Fadnavis directed officials to prepare the detailed project reports, seek environment and other clearances in the next six months and complete works by 2019. Public works (public undertakings) minister Eknath Shinde said that the Mumbai-Pune Expressway capacity augmentation would reduce accidents and traffic congestion. The Rs 3,400-crore project will see two new tunnels of 8 kms and two viaducts with a total length of 3 kms being constructed.

Japan to extend Rs. 5,479-cr loan for Chennai, Ahmedabad metro rail projects.

Japan will extend an official development loan assistance worth Rs. 5,479 crore to India for Chennai metro and Ahmedabad metro rail projects. For the Ahmedabad metro project, the loan assistance has been pegged at Rs. 4, 410 crore. In the case of Chennai metro rail project, the loan assistance stood at about Rs. 1,069 crore. The agreements for these loans were signed here by S Selvakumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs in the Finance Ministry, and Yutaka Kikuta, Deputy Chief of Mission of Japan to India. Meanwhile, an official statement said that the Government of India attaches highest importance to infrastructure projects. A very important component of infrastructure is urban infrastructure. Within urban infrastructure, provision for metro rail gains more importance because of its environment friendly nature. It reduces the traffic congestion in the cities where the traffic is overflowing and also reduces greenhouse gas emission, the release added. In this regard, the Government is continuously making efforts to obtain bilateral and multilateral funding to meet this financial requirement. India and Japan have had mutually beneficial economic development cooperation since 1958. In the last few years, the economic cooperation between India and Japan has strengthened and grown into a strategic partnership.

State to Sign MoU With Suzlon for Producing 4,000 MW Green Energy.

Andhra Pradesh government has decided to enter into an MoU with Suzlon Energy Ltd for manufacture and development of 4,000 MW Renewable Energy Power Projects in the State. According to a GO issued here on Friday, the chairman Suzlon Energy Limited had earlier submitted a representation to the State government for development of 4,000 MW Renewable Energy Power Projects (Wind Energy) and Wind Solar Hybrid Systems and to establish Wind Turbine Generator manufacturing facilities. Hence, he had proposed to sign an MoU with AP along with their partners Axis Energy Ventures India Private Limited. Suzlon Energy Ltd has global presence with an installed capacity of about 15,000 MW in 19 countries including 8,700 MW in India. The company proposed to develop 4,000 MW RE capacity over a period of five years mostly in Anantapuram district. Suzlon Energy Ltd had also agreed to set up integrated wind turbine manufacturing units in the State and had already signed an MOU with the Industries Department on April 29 this year. Renewable Energy Project Benefits l Manufacturing at multiple locations (i.e. blade, tower, nacelle/generator) to integrate all components of wind turbine generator in Anantapur & Nellore districts. l Employment generation l Direct: 8,000 (manufacturing & projects) l Indirect: 25,000 l Establishment of wind and wind-solar hybrid projects (mostly in Anantapur district) l Establishment of skill development centre in Anantapur district l Establishment of SUZLON Chair at the proposed Energy University The New Indian Express

CB&I-CTCI JV receives $ 2.8 bn EPC contract from Orpic for cracker project

A joint venture between CB&I and CTCI Corporation of Taiwan has received a contract worth approximately $ 2.8 billion from Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (Orpic) to provide engineering, procurement and construction for cracker Package 1, which includes the steam cracker and associated utilities for the Liwa Plastics Industrial Complex Project in Sohar, Oman. The scope of work includes EPC for a grassroots 880-ktpa ethylene plant, pygas unit and MTBE unit, as well as all the related off-sites and utilities. CB&I�s scope of work also includes the construction of cryogenic and atmospheric storage tanks and pipe spool fabrication. As previously announced, the cracker will employ CB&I�s latest, proven ethylene technology, including highly selective SRT cracking heaters, and its innovative recovery section design, featuring low-pressure separation and mixed refrigeration. �CB&I is pleased to have been selected for this significant project following the successful completion of the front end engineering and design of the Liwa Plastics Project for Orpic. This new award builds upon the successful relationship between Orpic and CB&I and is a testament of our customer's confidence in our experience and world-class project execution capabilities,� said Philip Asherman, president and chief executive officer, CB&I.

L&T Construction bags orders worth Rs. 1,038 cr.

The power transmission and distribution business of L&T Construction has bagged orders worth Rs. 1,038 crore from domestic and foreign market during November. In a statement to the BSE, it said that its fully owned subsidiary in Saudi Arabia has bagged a $108.2-million order from National Grid, a subsidiary of Saudi Electricity company. This is for the construction of five 132 kV substations. The project is in the central province of Saudi Arabia and is scheduled to be completed in 24 months. In the domestic market, the company has bagged an order from Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. It is for the engineering, supply, erection and commissioning of several kilometre of underground EHV and HV networks, compact substations and other distribution elements in Bhubaneshwar. This forms part of the power system improvement project in the State.

Punj Lloyd wins orders worth Rs. 483 cr.

Diversified engineering, procurement and construction company Punj Lloyd has won two rural electrification contracts worth ₹ 483 crore from NTPC Ltd. for two districts in Odisha under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana. The company said in a statement recently that the scope of work for these two projects includes supply and erection of rural electrification work, construction and augmentation of substation, installation of distribution transformers and connections to below poverty line consumers in the districts. "These projects come shortly after the company announced its debut in T&D with two orders for rural electrification by Power Grid Corporation of India Limited," said C K Thakur, President & CEO � Power, Punj Lloyd. "With this Punj Lloyd will be executing four T&D orders with a cumulative value of approximately ₹ 1,000 crore," he added. The group�s order backlog stands at ₹ 20,283 crore. The order backlog is the value of unexecuted orders on September 30, 2015 plus new orders received after that date.

NBCC bags Rs. 5,828 crore AIIMS project.

State-run NBCC has bagged a Rs. 5,828-crore redevelopment project from AIIMS which involves construction of 3,000 flats. "AIIMS issued a letter of award on November 23 to NBCC for the redevelopment of AIIMS western campus and Ayurvigyan Nagar, involving construction of 3,000 flats in 2.5 years with the financial implication of Rs. 5,828 crore," NBCC said in a regulatory filing. To make the project commercially viable, NBCC will sell 10% of the area. NBCC would be charging 10% of the final project cost as project management consultancy fee and 1% for marketing expenses. The MoU between AIIMS and NBCC will be signed after the Union cabinet's approval.

IOC Gujarat refinery to set up 1,400 kW solar power unit.

As a measure to reduce its carbon footprint and increase in utilisation of renewable energy, Gujarat Refinery of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. (IOC) has laid out a plan to set up 1,400 kW of solar power systems that will be commissioned in the year 2016. A grid-connected 250- kW solar power system is already catering to the partial electricity requirement of technical building including daytime lighting and air conditioning, informed the company. "The system automatically gets synchronized with Gujarat Refinery�s Power System at LV level during day time and similarly gets offline during evening period. Grid-connected systems are the most common type of solar grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) system," said S K Dhar Gupta, Executive Director, Gujarat Refinery. Dhar Gupta also mentioned that in a first for the Indian Oil refineries in India, the Gujarat Refinery has set up a Visual Model-based Safety Park to train its workforce. Inaugurated recently, the park constantly reminds and highlights the importance of safety measures to the workforce. "The refinery has a large number of contractual workers working for various tasks at the refinery. They require regular training on safety and precaution measures before conducting a job at the refinery. Lock Out Tag Out system and electrical safety systems, confined space entry safety system, hot job safety system, Chemical Safety procedures and SOPs have been put up in the safety park which shall be a complete safety guide for visitors, contract workers and employees of the refinery," said Dhar Gupta. For the first time, the company has used SEED (Safety in Each and Every Deed) project for safety culture improvement at Gujarat Refinery. "The genesis of the safety park lies in the fact that 80 per cent learning is done by observing and seeing the situation personally. In order to provide safety training that all workers can understand, we have tapped the visual model based approach to make an impact on the mind of the viewer," said Dhar Gupta. The company is implementing a Reverse Osmosis (RO) Plant within its 13.7 mtpa refinery complex with an investment of Rs. 160 crore. The mechanical completion of the RO plant is expected by March 2016. The RO plant will maximise reuse of treated effluent by improving its quality and thus reduce fresh water consumption considerably.

Essar's Italian venture bags $1.5-b order.

Essar Projects recently said its joint venture with Italy�s Saipem S.p.A won a $1.57 billion order from Kuwait National Petroleum Company for setting up a part of the Al-Zour Refinery Project. This is Essar�s biggest third-party order won in the region. The project at Al Zour is Kuwait's biggest development project with a crude processing capacity of 615,000 barrels per day (bpd). The Kuwaiti company has so far awarded four contracts for the refinery�s construction, worth over $13.2 billion to different International bidders. The project is expected to be completed by 2019. Essar Projects' Managing Director & CEO Shiba Panda said, "The project marks Essar's entry into the Kuwait project market with the biggest EPC contract by an external client." With this order, Essar Project�s order book has reached $2.8 billion, with projects being executed in nine countries