The 'golden share', which will be owned by the government, will ensure that it has a say in all major decisions taken by the private concessionaire. It will also obviate the need for the government to invest in the equity of the company. The proposal has been mooted by the Planning Commission in the new model concession agreement that it has developed for the infrastructure sector. The agreement has been circulated among various stakeholders for consultation.
Auctions for spectrum for 3G or third-generation telecom services could be delayed from an already rescheduled date of January 30 after the Department of Telecommunications sought legal opinion on whether it should send the finance ministry's suggestion on doubling the reserve price back to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for its endorsement.
The economic slowdown has taken off the road nearly a quarter of the total trucks in the country. In fact, the number is as high as 80 per cent in the mining belts of Karnataka, Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
Inadequate funding and non-viability of some projects have forced several leading infrastructure development firms to stay out of bidding for over 13 highway projects worth over Rs 12,500 crore (Rs 125 billion).
Nearly three years after RITES, the consultancy arm of Indian Railways, prepared a preliminary project alignment design for the proposed dedicated freight corridor project, the railways are demanding 42 per cent more land for the project than what was previously envisaged.
This is the second project in the country in which a metro rail project is being undertaken through a PPP model after the 71-kilometre Hyderabad metro project was won by Maytas Infrastructure. According to industry sources, infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro had also initially shown interest for the project, but backed out finally.
Highway users will have to shell out more toll for using the roads that are constructed under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme.
Only 13 infrastructure companies attended the pre-bid conference at Rail Bhawan, compared with over 25 companies that had earlier submitted RFQs to the railways. Out of those 25, the railways had prepared a list of 13 companies which were technically qualified for the project. However, the RFQ was cancelled and a new set of documents was prepared.
The government aims to make highway projects more attractive to the private sector by raising the approved or sanctioned cost of all projects to be implemented under the private-public partnership mode by 15 per cent.
Over 50 per cent of the fishing vessels operating near the major ports on the country's western coast are unregistered, posing a threat to India's maritime security.
Unified communications providers (video and audio conferencing, IP-based telephony and web-based communications systems) see a silver lining in the dark clouds of the economic slowdown. With companies reducing travel expenditure, thanks to the slump, telecom companies offering such modes of communication are bullish over their business prospects.
The government's ambitious highway projects under the public-private partnership mode are in serious trouble. Construction companies have either not put in bids or have withdrawn from 20 such projects, which fall under the build, operate and transfer scheme.
The government and Reserve Bank of India are working on measures that include relaxing norms for Non-Performing Assets (sticky loans) and prudential lending to kick-start key infrastructure projects.
The telecom department has sent a letter of intent to NM Rothschild.
Trai has submitted 26 recommendations to the government and released 30 consultation papers so far this year, up from seven and 20, respectively, in 2007. Few of its recommendations are actually accepted by the govt.
WiMax is a telecommunications technology that provides broadband speed without the need for cables. "The subscriber equipment cost or the cost of the instrument that facilitates WiMax is still priced at about $ 175-200 (Rs 8,225-Rs 9,400). So ways and means have to be worked out to offer a feasible tariff," explained a senior BSNL executive.
The decision by India and Pakistan to scale up the number of freight trains between the two countries to five a day has not yet materialised due to lack of sufficient freight traffic between the two countries. At present, two freight trains each from Pakistan and India cross the border post at Attari and Wagah every day.
Under the RFQ, companies had to initially participate in technical bids based on certain minimum criteria such as net worth, experience and so on. Only five or six companies that scored the highest on this basis were then permitted to put in financial bids.
The regulator has suggested that all spectrum will be auctioned as opposed to the current policy of bundling it with a 2G licence. A beginning has been made with the auctioning of spectrum for 3G services, which is due later this year. Trai has also suggested that licences for any telecom service should be auctioned as opposed to the current policy, where it is given on a first-come-first-served basis. The new policy is expected to be ready by the end of December this year.
The Chaturvedi Committee and the public sector oil marketing companies have suggested that all industrial and commercial establishments including the state transport undertaking and the railways, which are the largest consumer of diesel in the country, should pay for the fuel at the market rate. The public sector oil marketing companies sell diesel and petrol at highly subsidised prices in order to shield customers from the rise in crude oil prices.
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