Cement sales likely to rise by 12% in March

Mumbai:

Sales of cement is likely to go up by 12% in March on demand from real estate and construction sectors , say industry executives and analysts. This would be the third consecutive growth in sales of the building material in a month.

Cement companies are scheduled to announce sales data on March 31.

 “There are no dampeners to growth,” said Shree Cement managing director Hari Mohan Bangur. “Demand is robust and the industry will see healthy growth in March. The growth momentum will continue as there are no dampening factors.”

The growing sales are reflective of a robust demand scenario and Indian companies are expanding capacities. India’s cement industry is targeted to go up to 300 million tonnes by December, from the current 240 million tonnes. Globally, India is the second-largest cement maker after China.
In January, all India cement sales were up 11%,while it grew 4.3% in February.

Large cement majors - Aditya Birla, Jaiprakash Associates, Dalmia, JK Lakshmi and Shree Cements, are expected to grow mainly due to higher consumption by the building industry. These five companies together account for almost half of Indias total capacity of 240 million tonnes.

“Our initial estimates show that March sales would be higher compared to the first two months of the current year,” said Rupesh Sankhe,a cement analyst with Angel Securities. Sales could go up by 12% in March.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the country needs to spend $1 trillion on roads, ports, power and other infrastructure between 2012 and 2017.

“A sharp sales increase likely in March would be due to inventory pile up of February month. There was a shortage of wagons last month when many companies unable to deliver the commodity to the retailers,” Mr Sankhe added.

Apart from a revival in real estate, sectoral analysts say sharp pick up in the consumption of the key building commodity, following the government’s thrust on infrastructure spending.

“Sales have increased and company expects a 15% jump in revenues in the current quarter due to the boom in infrastructure and real estate projects in Kolkata,” said Ashok Gutgutia,managing director of Burnpur Cement.

With the boost given by the government to various infrastructure projects,road networks and housing facilities, growth in cement consumption has been anticipated.

Ajit Motwani, cement analyst, Emkay Global says that demand will rise over the next one quarter as most firms are expanding current projects aggressively, due to increased construction activities from the Commonwealth Games, which is scheduled to be hosted in Delhi. Source: MagciBricks

Ahmedabad gets Rs 1,900cr to improve infrastructure

Ahmedabad:

Looking at the size of the funds allocation this financial year, there’s lot more in store for the city. The state government has earmarked Rs 1,900 crore in 2010-11 for improving services in Ahmedabad. The money is to be used for projects spanning all sectors under a plan that aims to change the way the city looks and its citizens live.

The focus this year will be on slum upgradation and urban development. State Finance Minister Vajubhai Vala said, “Approximately Rs 2,000 crore has been allocated this year. 2010-11 will focus on slum upgradation. We want to achieve the target of providing housing facility to one lakh slum dwellers.”

Urban Development Minister Nitin Patel said the BRTS, the biggest project of 2009 has been a great success and thus, more funds will go into extending the services “according to the share in government funds”.

POLICE (HOME DEPARTMENT): Rs 183 CRORE
A new scheme, ‘Gaurav Senani’ (police aide) will be launched to generate posts in the department. A Home Guard Bhavan will come up in the city for Rs 42 lakh. The Sabarmati Central Jail will get 400 new cells at a cost of Rs 9 crore.
 

ROADS AND BUILDINGS: Rs 66 CRORE
Rs 5.48 crore has been allocated for Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar metro link. Three new bridges will be built on the Sarkhej-Gandhinagar highway. Rs 7 crore will be spent on a mini-theatre, lab and a hostel for women at L D Engineering College campus.

JUDICIARY: Rs 40 CRORE
Of this Rs 12.25 crore will go into constructing new sessions and city civil court. The 30 bungalows for judges in Bodakdev will be renovated. Judges will get new cars (allocation: Rs 3.36 crore) and 42 Blackberry phones (Rs 15 lakh) from this. Source: MagicBricks

India needs $1tn for infrastructure development

To achieve a share of 9.95 per cent as a proportion of GDP, this amount is needed to pump in infrastructure segment

Published on 03/23/2010 - 06:50:18 AM

New Delhi: An investment of over US $1 trillion is required in the infrastructure sector during the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017), Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said.

"A preliminary assessment suggests that investment in infrastructure during the 12th plan would need to be of the order of about US $1,025 billion to achieve a share of 9.95 per cent as a proportion of GDP," he said in a report on the sector.

The investment requirements of the 12th Plan are twice more than amount investment during the current plan. About US $500 billion will be invested by the end of the 11th Five Year Plan with the telecom sector attracting more than expected investments, reports IANS.

Lack of infrastructure is among the main challenges faced by the growing Indian economy today.

The government showed resolve in bridging the gap as it allocated 46 per cent share of the total budget allocation for the next fiscal towards new and ongoing infrastructure development projects. Source: igovernment.in

Afcons Infrastructure Ltd. wins Rs 938 Crore Kolkata Metro order

Order includes Design and Construction of Underground Metro from Howrah Maidan station to Central Station; 1st time in India a Transportation Tunnel Project running 20 Meter below a River.

Mumbai, Maharashtra, March 22, 2010 /India PRwire/ -- Afcons Infrastructure Ltd. (Afcons), the infrastructure arm of Shapoorji Pallonji Group, has bagged Rs 938-crore projects from the Kolkata Metro Corporation through competitive bidding. This project is to be completed in four years time.
Mr. Ramakrishna V Ramanan, Director Transportation Afcons Infrastructure Limited, said, "We are very happy to get ourselves associated with the Kolkata Metro Corporation through this order and our skill-set and engineering expertise will be on display once again in executing critical infrastructure projects such as Metro Rail in the development of the nation." "The project includes Design and Construction of Underground Metro from Howrah Maidan station to Central Station which is a part of East West Metro Project in Kolkata", He said.

Mr. Ramakrishna V Ramanan further said, "This is the 1st time in India a Transportation Tunnel Project is running Approx. 20 m below a River, and hence challenging. This project will be a boon to commuters travelling from Howrah to Kolkata City". "Latest technologies will be used in the construction of this under river link and will go a long way in boosting the transportation infrastructure of Kolkata City", He added.
Afcons Infrastructure Limited in a Joint Venture with a Russian company namely Transtonnelstroy Limited has bagged this prestigious contract which comprises of three underground stations at Howrah Maidan and Mahakaran respectively, one Crossover at Howrah Maidan and Twin Bored tunnels using earth pressure balancing machine which is essentially a tunnel boring machine in soft soil. Length of tunnel: Twin Bored Tunnel: 2954 m and approximately 520m is under the river Hooghly.

Notes to Editor
About Afcons Infrastructure Ltd.
Afcons Infrastructure Ltd. (Afcons), the flagship infrastructure, construction and civil engineering company of the Shapoorji Pallonji group, has an experience of five decades in construction industry. Its portfolio of completed projects comprises a wide variety of infrastructure projects in India. Afcons has successfully executed more than 170 structures along the Indian coastline. It has also successfully completed more than 115 bridges, flyovers, viaducts, two LNG storage tanks, underground Metro and 24 kilometers of elevated train corridors and has executed 2,700 lane kilometers of road works. Afcons has also successfully completed and are currently engaged in execution of projects through its international firms Afcons Construction Mideast LLC(Dubai) and Afcons Infrastructure International Ltd (Mauritius) in Middle East and Africa respectively. Among the Infrastructure and the construction companies it is known to cultivate the culture of completing projects on or ahead of schedule and also holds the recognition of being a Government recognized Export house.

Afcons to build India’s first underwater train tunnel, Bags Rs 938-Cr Project From Kolkata Metro Railway

22 Mar 2010, 0830 hrs IST, ET Bureau

KOLKATA: Afcons Infrastructure, the infrastructure arm of Shapoorji Pallonji group, has bagged a Rs 938-crore contract from Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation (KMRC) for a critical stretch of the Rs 4,678-crore East-West Metro that includes three underground stations and a section under the river Hooghly. 

This is the first time that a transportation tunnel running 20 metre below a river will be built in India. Mumbai-based Afcons, which recently completed a job for the Delhi Metro Railway Corporation, grabbed the contract through competitive bidding. Others in the fray included Senbo-Shanghai Urban, CEC-Simplex , IVRCL and L&T . KMRC is a joint venture between West Bengal government and union urban development ministry. 

Afcons Infrastructure will design and execute the project dubbed “UG 1” through a recently formed strategic JV with a Russian company Transtonnelstroy. The Transtonnelstroy Afcons JV is slated to construct a 3.89-km stretch, including 520 metres of the underwater section and three underground stations at Howrah Maidan, Howrah station and Mahakaran, within a period of 42 months. The Russian company experience of working on similar projects in Iran to build a road under the sea. Incidentally, Afcons is also bidding for upcoming Chennai Metro projects with its Russian partner. 

“For the underwater stretch, we’ve tied up with Atkins, a Dubai-based company which is a leading consultant for underwater tunneling,”R V Ramanan director (transporatation) of Afcons said. 

Incidentally, Atkins which has worked on the Dubai Metro will also assist Afcons to monitor and study the impact of tunnelling on the buildings and structure above ground. Mr Ramanan director (transportation) of Afcons signed the agreement for the project with KMRC officials on Saturday.

Gayatri Projects to bid for Rs 50 billion road projects

18 Mar 2010, 1250 hrs IST, REUTERS


MUMBAI: Infrastructure firm Gayatri Projects is the lowest bidder for road projects worth about 23 billion rupees and will bid for road projects worth at least 50 billion rupees before June, a top official said. 

"We are qualified for another 50 projects of NHAI (National Highways Authority of India)...We will be bidding, so we might be successful in another two or three more," Managing Director TV Sandeep Reddy told Reuters in a telephonic interview.

The firm's current order book stands at 60 billion rupees, he added.

"We are confident of getting another 2,000 crores of NHAI projects." Source: ET