New ILS for Chandigarh airport
Airports Authority of India (AAI), under an MoU with Indian Air Force (IAF) has installed a new Instrument Landing System (ILS) at Chandigarh airport.
The installation of ILS; despite adverse weather conditions and involving major infrastructure issues and meeting stringent ICAO standards, has been completed in a record time of one and a half month.
The ground and air calibrations have been completed recently by the Flight Inspection Unit (FIU) unit of AAI and the same is being submitted to DGCA for acceptance. With the present approach lighting aids the ILS can facilitate landing of aircraft with visibility criteria of 1.2 Kms and this, over a period of time, can been improved further with corresponding improvements in the approach lighting system.
AAI under a continuous process of improvement of CNS and ANS infrastructure in the country, including the Defence airfields, has taken up such projects in the past, the recent being the ILS facility at Srinagar Airport where the DGCA clearance has been received. ILS has also been installed at Kanpur and flight has been inspected.
The complete process was closely monitored and steered by the Chairman AAI VP Agrawal.
New Air connectivity between Kolkata and Trivandrum
For the first time, Kolkata city has been connected with Trivandurm city on the air route. IndiGo airlines has agreed to commence its flight from Kolkata to Trivandrum via Banglore airport from January 31 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The distance of 1982 kms will be covered in 4 hour & 20 minutes. The flight will depart from Kolkata at 0550 hours and arrival Banglore at 0810 hours. It will then depart from Banglore at 0900 hours and arrive Trivandrum at 1010 hours.
Jindal Poly arm awarded coal block in Mozambique
Jindal Resources (Mozambique) Limitada, a subsidiary of Jindal Poly Films Limited has been allotted Block-2 situated in Moatize district, Tete Province.
The license covers an area of 1,480 hectares, which may have a potential to contain a resource of 150 million tonnes of coal including coking / thermal coal.
The company had participated in the tenders issued by Ministry of Mineral Resources, Government of Mozambique for auction of coal blocks for geological prospecting and exploration of coal in Mozambique, company said in a release.
The nearest rail head and coal loading station in Moatize is in the west of the license area. The Moatize rail head is connected to Beira port by railways.
In addition, Jindal Metal and Mining Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jindal Poly Films Limited has entered into a joint venture agreement with a Mozambique entrepreneur for prospecting, exploration and mining of coal. The exploration license is situated around 80 Km south west of Tete town in Changara district, Tete Province. The license may have a potential to contain a resource of 300 million tons of coal including coking, thermal coal.
Alstom-NTPC venture bags Rs. 120-cr Nalco order
Alstom Projects India Ltd has announced that its joint venture with power major NTPC Ltd-NTPC-Alstom Power Services Private Ltd (NASL) has bagged a contract worth around Rs. 20 million (approximately Rs. 120 crore), from the National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco).
The order work is to retrofit the electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) at five units of Nalco's captive power plant in Angul, Orissa, to reduce the particulate emissions from the power plant to below current environmental norms.
The ESPs at Angul were originally supplied by BHEL, and the units were commissioned between 1985 and 1989.
The contract scope includes the design, engineering, supply, erection and commissioning of the mechanical and electrical components of the ESPs, including the control system and the ash handling system. Out of the entire aforesaid contract, Alstom Projects’ scope of work would be Rs. 74.16 crore.
“This contract represents one of the largest ESP retrofit contracts in India to date. It is a significant step forward for NASL and Alstom, and clearly reinforces the market’s faith in our leading air quality control systems and services,” said Francois Carpentier, Head of Alstom Power in India.
NASL is a 50:50 venture between Alstom Projects and NTPC.
Jayaswal Neco ties up debt for Rs. 3,300-crore expansion
Neco Group’s flagship company, Jayaswal Neco Industries, has tied up debt for its Rs. 3,267-crore expansion in steel, mining and power projects.
Of the total project cost of Rs. 3,267 crore, the debt component is Rs. 2,143.50 crore and the rest Rs. 1,123.50 crore is the equity part. ICICI Bank, State Bank of Travancore, UCO Bank, Union Bank of India and United Bank of India have lend money to the company for expansion.
Neco said, “The company has commenced planning and implementation of its expansion of 0.1 million tonne per annum (mtpa) coke oven plant, expansion of its steel melt shop by 0.45 mtpa and rolling mill by 0.35 mtpa, modernisation of its existing wire rod mill, setting up of 0.3 mtpa sponge iron plant, setting-up of 62 Mw captive power plants, development of its non-coking coal mines along with 3 mtpa coal washery and development of its iron ore mines in Chhattisgarh and development of its coking coal mines with 1 mtpa coal washery in Jharkhand.”
After expansion, the company would have 1.3 mtpa of iron making capacity, 105 Mw captive power plants, 1.1 mtpa of finished steel making capacity, 4 mtpa of coal washeries, 0.2 mtpa of coke oven plants, 0.8 mtpa sinter plants and 0.1 mtpa of ferrous casting capacities.
Neco said, “Implementation of these projects would help us achieve total captive low ash metallurgical coke making capacity, self-sufficiency in entire captive power requirements, monetisation of benefits of non-coking coal mines by setting-up additional sponge iron plants and of coking coal and iron ore mines by developing them for usage in its integrated steel plant at Raipur.”
NHPC surpasses MoU target by 10.8% in Q3
The Operating Power Stations of NHPC Limited, India’s premier hydropower company and a ‘Mini Ratna’ Category-I Enterprise of the Government of India have once again surpassed the ‘Excellent’ MoU generation target during the third quarter (Oct’10-Dec’10) of the current financial year.
The Power Stations together have generated 3069 Million Units (MUs) during the 3rd quarter surpassing the ‘Excellent’ MoU target of 2770 MUs by 10.8%.
The cumulative generation for the three quarters is 15941 MUs (Million Units) till December 2010 against the ‘Excellent’ MoU target of 15461 MUs. In order to achieve the ‘Excellent’ rating for 2010-11, a challenging MoU target to generate 18000 MUs of energy has been set by the Company as against 17200 MUs set for last year.
Speaking on the occasion ABL Srivastava, Director (Finance) and CMD, NHPC said, “The exceeding of ‘Excellent’ MoU targets by NHPC reflects the tireless dedication of our employees and our constant endeavour to be a premier player in the field of hydro power development. We aim to be a robust, dynamic and commercially-focused sustainable company providing clean and green power to the country.”
NTPC to set up 4,000 MW unit in Vizag
Andhra Pradesh will have another National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) power plant with a capacity of 4,000 MW.
N Kiran Kumar Reddy, the Chief Minister, has signed a file that will pave the way for establishing the unit in Visakhapatnam district with an estimated cost of Rs. 23,000 crore.
He also cleared the State Government’s concurrence for purchasing and availing 50 per cent of the power generated at a tariff decided by the Central Electricity Regulatory Authority (CERC). The State Government has identified land at Pudimadaka near Anakapalle, the second biggest city in the district.
“This new NTPC power plant will help addressing the growing demand for power in the State due to rapid industrialisation and extensive agricultural operations,” a Government press release said here on Sunday.
The State Government gave its in-principle approval for the NTPC proposal in November 2010. As it gave the nod, the Government put a rider that it should be allocated half of the 4,000 MW generated at the plant. “The Government will help the public sector power utility get all clearances required for the project and allocate land,” the release said.
A month later, NTPC wrote back to the State with a draft Power Purchase agreement it needed to sign with APDiscoms (distribution utilities).
Suthirtha Bhattacharya, Principal Secretary (Energy, Government of Andhra Pradesh) said the agreements between NTPC and the distribution companies would be signed shortly.
Kiran Kumar Reddy also asked the APGENCO (State's power generation utility) to complete its projects on schedule in order to improve availability of power.
Shuman Mukherjee takes charge as Director (Commercial), SAIL
Shuman Mukherjee took charge as Director (Commercial) on the board of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) with effect from December 23, 2010.
Mukherjee, an Economics (Hons) graduate from St. Stephens College, Delhi and a Chartered Accountant, has experience in the field of marketing of steel and has held several important positions during his over 33 years of service with SAIL.
He was also a member of the Core Group that chalked out SAIL’s Corporate Plan 2012. Prior to the current position, he was Executive Director (Marketing-Flat Products) at SAIL’s Marketing headquarters at Kolkata.
He also served in the capacity of Regional Manager in Northern as well as in Western Region. He has also managed SAIL’s exports as General Manager, International Trade Division.
He has represented India at Organization of Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) Steel Committee Conference, on three occasions, and at Paris as a member of the Indian Delegation on behalf of the Ministry of Steel and SAIL.
Mukherjee has experience in the steel industry on both domestic and international issues and policy matters, including those related to WTO.
Iron ore prices hit 8-month high
Shanghai rebar futures rose to two-month peaks recently, showing that iron ore prices have room to keep recent gains as Chinese demand lifted key indexes to their highest since May.
The most active May rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange hit a high of 4,851 yuan a tonne, a level last seen on November 11, before closing at 4,834 yuan, up 0.9 per cent.
Chinese steel mills, the biggest buyers of the world's iron ore, have been replenishing stocks of the steelmaking raw material ahead of the Lunar New Year in February, with stronger steel prices also supporting the buying binge. “Steel prices are increasing because traders are boosting their stocks of steel products and raw material costs, like coal, are rising,” said an iron ore trader in Rizhao in China's eastern Shandong province.
Steelmakers across Asia have been raising product prices to meet a projected increase in coking coal prices to around $300 a tonne, the highest in two years, as supply from top exporter Australia had been disrupted by massive floods.
Firmer steel prices supported iron ore despite concerns that the coking coal shortage would impact iron ore demand. “The marginal buyers in the spot iron ore market tend to be small Chinese mills, which are not exposed to the Queensland situation for their coal supply and whose domestic coal price has seen limited movement,” Macquarie said in a note. China's iron ore imports rose 1.2 per cent from the previous month to 58.08 million tonnes in December, the highest in nine months. customs data showed.
Airports Authority of India (AAI), under an MoU with Indian Air Force (IAF) has installed a new Instrument Landing System (ILS) at Chandigarh airport.
The installation of ILS; despite adverse weather conditions and involving major infrastructure issues and meeting stringent ICAO standards, has been completed in a record time of one and a half month.
The ground and air calibrations have been completed recently by the Flight Inspection Unit (FIU) unit of AAI and the same is being submitted to DGCA for acceptance. With the present approach lighting aids the ILS can facilitate landing of aircraft with visibility criteria of 1.2 Kms and this, over a period of time, can been improved further with corresponding improvements in the approach lighting system.
AAI under a continuous process of improvement of CNS and ANS infrastructure in the country, including the Defence airfields, has taken up such projects in the past, the recent being the ILS facility at Srinagar Airport where the DGCA clearance has been received. ILS has also been installed at Kanpur and flight has been inspected.
The complete process was closely monitored and steered by the Chairman AAI VP Agrawal.
New Air connectivity between Kolkata and Trivandrum
For the first time, Kolkata city has been connected with Trivandurm city on the air route. IndiGo airlines has agreed to commence its flight from Kolkata to Trivandrum via Banglore airport from January 31 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The distance of 1982 kms will be covered in 4 hour & 20 minutes. The flight will depart from Kolkata at 0550 hours and arrival Banglore at 0810 hours. It will then depart from Banglore at 0900 hours and arrive Trivandrum at 1010 hours.
Jindal Poly arm awarded coal block in Mozambique
Jindal Resources (Mozambique) Limitada, a subsidiary of Jindal Poly Films Limited has been allotted Block-2 situated in Moatize district, Tete Province.
The license covers an area of 1,480 hectares, which may have a potential to contain a resource of 150 million tonnes of coal including coking / thermal coal.
The company had participated in the tenders issued by Ministry of Mineral Resources, Government of Mozambique for auction of coal blocks for geological prospecting and exploration of coal in Mozambique, company said in a release.
The nearest rail head and coal loading station in Moatize is in the west of the license area. The Moatize rail head is connected to Beira port by railways.
In addition, Jindal Metal and Mining Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jindal Poly Films Limited has entered into a joint venture agreement with a Mozambique entrepreneur for prospecting, exploration and mining of coal. The exploration license is situated around 80 Km south west of Tete town in Changara district, Tete Province. The license may have a potential to contain a resource of 300 million tons of coal including coking, thermal coal.
Alstom-NTPC venture bags Rs. 120-cr Nalco order
Alstom Projects India Ltd has announced that its joint venture with power major NTPC Ltd-NTPC-Alstom Power Services Private Ltd (NASL) has bagged a contract worth around Rs. 20 million (approximately Rs. 120 crore), from the National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco).
The order work is to retrofit the electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) at five units of Nalco's captive power plant in Angul, Orissa, to reduce the particulate emissions from the power plant to below current environmental norms.
The ESPs at Angul were originally supplied by BHEL, and the units were commissioned between 1985 and 1989.
The contract scope includes the design, engineering, supply, erection and commissioning of the mechanical and electrical components of the ESPs, including the control system and the ash handling system. Out of the entire aforesaid contract, Alstom Projects’ scope of work would be Rs. 74.16 crore.
“This contract represents one of the largest ESP retrofit contracts in India to date. It is a significant step forward for NASL and Alstom, and clearly reinforces the market’s faith in our leading air quality control systems and services,” said Francois Carpentier, Head of Alstom Power in India.
NASL is a 50:50 venture between Alstom Projects and NTPC.
Jayaswal Neco ties up debt for Rs. 3,300-crore expansion
Neco Group’s flagship company, Jayaswal Neco Industries, has tied up debt for its Rs. 3,267-crore expansion in steel, mining and power projects.
Of the total project cost of Rs. 3,267 crore, the debt component is Rs. 2,143.50 crore and the rest Rs. 1,123.50 crore is the equity part. ICICI Bank, State Bank of Travancore, UCO Bank, Union Bank of India and United Bank of India have lend money to the company for expansion.
Neco said, “The company has commenced planning and implementation of its expansion of 0.1 million tonne per annum (mtpa) coke oven plant, expansion of its steel melt shop by 0.45 mtpa and rolling mill by 0.35 mtpa, modernisation of its existing wire rod mill, setting up of 0.3 mtpa sponge iron plant, setting-up of 62 Mw captive power plants, development of its non-coking coal mines along with 3 mtpa coal washery and development of its iron ore mines in Chhattisgarh and development of its coking coal mines with 1 mtpa coal washery in Jharkhand.”
After expansion, the company would have 1.3 mtpa of iron making capacity, 105 Mw captive power plants, 1.1 mtpa of finished steel making capacity, 4 mtpa of coal washeries, 0.2 mtpa of coke oven plants, 0.8 mtpa sinter plants and 0.1 mtpa of ferrous casting capacities.
Neco said, “Implementation of these projects would help us achieve total captive low ash metallurgical coke making capacity, self-sufficiency in entire captive power requirements, monetisation of benefits of non-coking coal mines by setting-up additional sponge iron plants and of coking coal and iron ore mines by developing them for usage in its integrated steel plant at Raipur.”
NHPC surpasses MoU target by 10.8% in Q3
The Operating Power Stations of NHPC Limited, India’s premier hydropower company and a ‘Mini Ratna’ Category-I Enterprise of the Government of India have once again surpassed the ‘Excellent’ MoU generation target during the third quarter (Oct’10-Dec’10) of the current financial year.
The Power Stations together have generated 3069 Million Units (MUs) during the 3rd quarter surpassing the ‘Excellent’ MoU target of 2770 MUs by 10.8%.
The cumulative generation for the three quarters is 15941 MUs (Million Units) till December 2010 against the ‘Excellent’ MoU target of 15461 MUs. In order to achieve the ‘Excellent’ rating for 2010-11, a challenging MoU target to generate 18000 MUs of energy has been set by the Company as against 17200 MUs set for last year.
Speaking on the occasion ABL Srivastava, Director (Finance) and CMD, NHPC said, “The exceeding of ‘Excellent’ MoU targets by NHPC reflects the tireless dedication of our employees and our constant endeavour to be a premier player in the field of hydro power development. We aim to be a robust, dynamic and commercially-focused sustainable company providing clean and green power to the country.”
NTPC to set up 4,000 MW unit in Vizag
Andhra Pradesh will have another National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) power plant with a capacity of 4,000 MW.
N Kiran Kumar Reddy, the Chief Minister, has signed a file that will pave the way for establishing the unit in Visakhapatnam district with an estimated cost of Rs. 23,000 crore.
He also cleared the State Government’s concurrence for purchasing and availing 50 per cent of the power generated at a tariff decided by the Central Electricity Regulatory Authority (CERC). The State Government has identified land at Pudimadaka near Anakapalle, the second biggest city in the district.
“This new NTPC power plant will help addressing the growing demand for power in the State due to rapid industrialisation and extensive agricultural operations,” a Government press release said here on Sunday.
The State Government gave its in-principle approval for the NTPC proposal in November 2010. As it gave the nod, the Government put a rider that it should be allocated half of the 4,000 MW generated at the plant. “The Government will help the public sector power utility get all clearances required for the project and allocate land,” the release said.
A month later, NTPC wrote back to the State with a draft Power Purchase agreement it needed to sign with APDiscoms (distribution utilities).
Suthirtha Bhattacharya, Principal Secretary (Energy, Government of Andhra Pradesh) said the agreements between NTPC and the distribution companies would be signed shortly.
Kiran Kumar Reddy also asked the APGENCO (State's power generation utility) to complete its projects on schedule in order to improve availability of power.
Shuman Mukherjee takes charge as Director (Commercial), SAIL
Shuman Mukherjee took charge as Director (Commercial) on the board of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) with effect from December 23, 2010.
Mukherjee, an Economics (Hons) graduate from St. Stephens College, Delhi and a Chartered Accountant, has experience in the field of marketing of steel and has held several important positions during his over 33 years of service with SAIL.
He was also a member of the Core Group that chalked out SAIL’s Corporate Plan 2012. Prior to the current position, he was Executive Director (Marketing-Flat Products) at SAIL’s Marketing headquarters at Kolkata.
He also served in the capacity of Regional Manager in Northern as well as in Western Region. He has also managed SAIL’s exports as General Manager, International Trade Division.
He has represented India at Organization of Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) Steel Committee Conference, on three occasions, and at Paris as a member of the Indian Delegation on behalf of the Ministry of Steel and SAIL.
Mukherjee has experience in the steel industry on both domestic and international issues and policy matters, including those related to WTO.
Iron ore prices hit 8-month high
Shanghai rebar futures rose to two-month peaks recently, showing that iron ore prices have room to keep recent gains as Chinese demand lifted key indexes to their highest since May.
The most active May rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange hit a high of 4,851 yuan a tonne, a level last seen on November 11, before closing at 4,834 yuan, up 0.9 per cent.
Chinese steel mills, the biggest buyers of the world's iron ore, have been replenishing stocks of the steelmaking raw material ahead of the Lunar New Year in February, with stronger steel prices also supporting the buying binge. “Steel prices are increasing because traders are boosting their stocks of steel products and raw material costs, like coal, are rising,” said an iron ore trader in Rizhao in China's eastern Shandong province.
Steelmakers across Asia have been raising product prices to meet a projected increase in coking coal prices to around $300 a tonne, the highest in two years, as supply from top exporter Australia had been disrupted by massive floods.
Firmer steel prices supported iron ore despite concerns that the coking coal shortage would impact iron ore demand. “The marginal buyers in the spot iron ore market tend to be small Chinese mills, which are not exposed to the Queensland situation for their coal supply and whose domestic coal price has seen limited movement,” Macquarie said in a note. China's iron ore imports rose 1.2 per cent from the previous month to 58.08 million tonnes in December, the highest in nine months. customs data showed.
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