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India to invite private firms to build strategic crude oil reserves - 18 Oct 2012 - Live Mint

Published On :2012-10-22 16:17:00

ew Delhi: India will invite private companies to build and operate strategic crude oil reserves to augment its protective storage of energy supplies.

Strategic reserves are a country’s answer to counter any short-term disruptions in energy supplies. These are typically state-funded and meant to tackle emergency situations.

“We have decided to opt for the public-private partnership (PPP) route for setting up future strategic crude oil reserves,” said a government official, requesting anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the issue.
Private sector involvement has been sought to help the government meet the fund requirement given high crude oil prices. This involvement is meant for the 12.5 million tonnes (mt) of additional strategic storage facility planned during the 12th Plan period (2012-17).

Participation will be allowed on the condition that crude oil should be available for release at the government’s discretion. Crude oil from these reserves will be released in situations when there is a short-term supply disruption, a natural calamity or a global event such as a war that may lead to an abnormal increase in prices.
G.C. Chaturvedi, India’s petroleum secretary, confirmed the development: “We are exploring the PPP option.”
Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd, a subsidiary of the Oil Industry Development Board, is constructing three strategic storage facilities at Visakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur that have a combined capacity of 5.39 mt (1.33 mt, 1.50 mt and 2.56 mt, respectively), capable of sustaining 15 days of consumption.
But the Visakhapatnam facility, which was to be commissioned by October, has been delayed due to geological issues. The Mangalore and Padur facilities, which are to be commissioned by 2013 and 2014, respectively, are also running late by a few months.

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PPP is the only model left for development: ASSOCHAM - 17 Oct 2012 - My Iris

Published On :2012-10-22 16:16:00

As the Centre is able to spend less than 15% of its entire expenditure budget on creating capital assets, the only way left for India to build infrastructure such as roads, ports and airports is to push the public-private partnership (PPP), an ASSOCHAM study pointed out.

Of the total expenditure of Rs 14.90 lakh crore budgeted for the current financial year, only Rs 2.04 lakh crore would be spent on building the capital assets, under the head 'capital expenditure'.

This is almost near about the money the government would end up paying for major subsidies. Although Rs 1.80 lakh crore has been provided for the major subsidies like food, fertilizer and oil, the initial trends show that the government will end up paying more than this amount.

The money earmarked for the capital expenditure is much less than the Central Government has to pay for interest on its borrowings. As much as Rs 3.19 lakh crore would be paid for the interest payments. In fact, the interest payments would claim more than half of new borrowings of Rs 5.14 lakh crore that the government would resort to in the current fiscal of 2012-13, as per the Budget estimates.

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PPP projects catch US delegation eye - 12 Oct 2012 - Indian Express

Published On :2012-10-16 16:15:00

The Public Private partnership projects of Uttar Pradesh Government, especially expressways, civil aviation and power have attracted interest of US India Business Council (USIBC), the delegation of which met Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and senior officials of the state Government on Friday. A presentation about the upcoming new projects in the state was made before the delegation. They also expressed interest in compressed and piped natural gas network which the government plans to establish in 21 cities across the state.

The delegation, led by chairman of USIBC, Ajay Banga and president Ron Somers, has invited Akhilesh to visit US in the month of January to interact with the entrepreneurs, following which a delegation of entrepreneurs from the US would visit Uttar Pradesh in the month of March with specific proposals for investment across state.

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Haryana has lion's share in urban development projects under construction in the PPP mode: ASSOCHAM - 11 Oct 2012 - India Education Diary

Published On :2012-10-15 16:14:00

Report by India Education bureau, New Delhi: Haryana accounts for maximum share of over 85 per cent in the total number of projects under construction in the urban development sector under the public-private partnership (PPP) model as of August 2012, apex industry body ASSOCHAM said today.

Of the total 81 urban development projects worth over Rs 78,000 crore under construction in the PPP mode across India, Haryana has 12 projects worth over Rs 66,800 crore according to a sector specific analysis by The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

“Out of the total 881 PPP projects worth over Rs 5.4 lakh crore taken up under the PPP model across India, 181 projects worth over Rs 99,300 crore are under different stages of implementation,” said Mr D.S. Rawat, national secretary general of ASSOCHAM while releasing the findings of the chamber’s analysis.

“Urban Development sector has the share of about 20.5 per cent in the PPP projects under construction in various sectors,” said Mr Rawat.

Andhra Pradesh ranks second with seven urban development projects under construction in PPP mode worth about Rs 2,700 crore followed by Madhya Pradesh where nine projects worth over Rs 2,650 crore are under construction followed by Rajasthan and West Bengal where seven projects worth over Rs 1,400 crore and 12 projects worth over Rs 1,200 crore are under construction respectively.

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Highways ministry asks private contractors to protect public interest - 11 Oct 2012 - Times of India

Published On :2012-10-15 16:13:00

NEW DELHI: The recent reports of courts coming to the rescue of commuters and suspending toll or questioning the logic of levying toll without ensuring good service has prompted the highways ministry to advise contractors to protect public interest to avoid such eventualities.

Road transport and highways secretary A K Upadhyaya on Wednesday said that in case of projects executed under public-private-partnership (PPP) mode, the most crucial aspect is protecting public interest. He said that though some of the judicial interventions are "not in conformity with the contract" norms, in democracy various agencies would intervene if public interest is not protected.

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