Andhranews

New Delhi, Oct. 5: Giving a new fillip to the ambitious Golden Quadrilateral project, which was launched by the former NDA government some years ago, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday approved the six-laning of 6,500 kms of National Highways, comprising 5,700 kms of the Golden Quadrilateral project, at a cost of Rs 41,210 crores. The six-laning of the existing four-lane National Highways sections will be through public private partnership on build operate and transfer mode. Briefing reporters after the CCEA meeting, finance minister P. Chidambaram said the committee had also approved 800 kms of other sections of NH under NHDP-V.

Mr Chidambaram said that of the Rs 41,210 crores, a sum of Rs 35,692 crores will be from the private sector and Rs 5,518 crores as viability gap funding, utility shifting, consulting etc, to be met by the government. The projects would be taken up on BOT mode following a design, build, finance and operate (DBFO) pattern, with a maximum of 10 per cent viability gap funding, he said. The cost of projects under NDHP-V has been estimated at Rs 6.34 crores per km comprising Rs 5.78 crores per km for construction and Rs 0.56 crores per km for land acquisition, utilities, consultancy etc, the minister added.

According to the government, upgradation of existing road will improve traffic safety and provide faster movement of vehicles with improved riding quality and time. This will lead to reduction in vehicle operating cost and significant reduction in fuel consumption for the vehicle resulting in energy conservation.

In other decisions, the CCEA approved the rehabilitation scheme of Eastern Coalfields Ltd, a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd, and to provide poultry feed to farmers at a reasonable price. The committee approved the release of 50,000 metric tonnes of maize at a price of Rs 450 a quintal. For ECL, the plan involves investment of Rs 2,956 crores by the company, out of its internal resources, from the period 2003-4 to 2012-13, Mr Chidambaram said.

New Delhi, Oct. 5: Advocating greater liberalisation of the services sector, which has contributed to India’s comfortable current account deficit situation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said the government is contemplating setting up a high-level group to make it globally competitive.

“It is services exports, as well as foreign remittances, which are keeping our current account deficit and our balance of payments in a comfortable situation,” he said, adding the success of services sector is changing the world economic order. Mr Singh, who was inaugurating the International Exposition on Trade In Services, said sectors that had not been exposed to sufficient competition, and where regulatory framework was weak, had failed to make a big impact on the economy.

The government was committed to sustaining the rapid growth of the services sector and the UPA coalition had its “job cut out,” he said. The Prime Minister said services like health, legal, higher education and tourism could have the same growth potential as IT, “and in all these areas, we have core competence that could be tapped successfully to boost exports.”

“We are considering setting up a high-level group in the Planning Commission to look into all aspects influencing the performance of the services sector and suggest policy measures to sustain its competitiveness in the coming years,” he said. The commerce ministry has already floated consultation papers for liberalising legal services and education.

Hyderabad, Oct. 5: Tata Tea Ltd has gone shopping again, and has bought a 33 per cent stake in South African tea company Joeckels Tea Packers through its subsidiary, the Tetley Group. Both companies have signed a definitive agreement and the Tetley Group has funded the acquisition, a press release said without disclosing the financial terms of the deal. Joekels is the third largest player in South Africa with a 5 per cent value share of the tea market and with a turnover of $5 million, according to a Tata Tea statement.

The company is owned and run by Mr Jonathan Kelsey and Mr Joe Swart, who founded it in 1994, the release said. Joekels manufactures and sells a strong portfolio of brands spanning the economy and mainstream tea sectors.
Joekels will have a licence to sell Tetley branded products in South Africa, Nambia, Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland. They will produce these at their factory in Pinetown, KwaZulu Natal prov-ince.

In a statement, Mr Ken Pringle, executive vice-chairman and CEO of the Tetley Group, and director of Tata Tea, said: “This acquisition is yet another development in our plan to grow the Tata Group’s tea business around the world. It establishes a presence for Tetley in South Africa and some of its neighbouring countries. Joekels is a successful well run company and we anticipate that with their entrepreneurial spirit and this new investment from Tetley, Jonathan and Joe will be able to accelerate Joekels growth.”

Before the South African acquisition, Tata Tea had picked up 30 per cent stake for $677 million in US-based Energy Brands — a company that owns the Glaceau brand of “enhanced waters”. The JoeckEls deal is the fifth by Tata Tea. Having acquired a controlling stake in Tetley Group in 2000 for $407 million, Tata Tea later bought US-based Good Earth Corporation for $32 million and Czech Republic-based JEMCA for an undisclosed sum.

Chennai, Oct. 5: Ashok Leyland, the flagship company of the Hinduja Group, on Thursday signed an MoU with the Ras al Khaimah Investment Authority (RAKIA) for setting up a bus assembly plant in Ras Al Khaima, one of the emirates of UAE.
The facility, to be built with an initial investment of $5 million, would be upgraded to an assembly plant for trucks in the second phase.

“The proposed unit will allow local value addition, close to a growing market for Ashok Leyland. Customers stand to benefit through better finish and timely delivery as we can avoid shipping of finished products. The vehicle assembly facility in UAE is in line with our practice of favouring local value addition in our major export markets,” said Mr R. Seshasayee, managing director of Ashok Leyland, in a statement here.

“As a strategic window to the Gulf Cooperation Council and neighbouring countries, we plan to scale up operations of the unit in phases and envisage its development into a full-fledged assembly unit for complete trucks and buses,” he added.

The agreement was signed by Mr Seshasayee and Dr Khater Massaad, CEO of RAKIA, a public body established by the government of Ras al Khaimah. The unit, with an initial annual capacity for 1,000 buses, will start operations as a bus body assembly using Ashok Leyland chassis and bus body CKD kits sent from India. The facility, which includes a paint plant, managed and operated by Ashok Leyland would have a 450-strong workforce and will commence operations within a year. The unit will be provided an industrial license that would enjoy duty-free import of vehicle kits and duty free export of finished vehicles to GCC and West Asia. The unit at Ras al Khaimah would also target the north Africa and central European markets.

New Delhi, Oct. 5: MetLife India is planning to invest $100 million in India to fund its expansion plans that include increasing its agent force to 50,000 and doubling up branch network in the next two years. Speaking in a press conference here, MetLife global chairman and CEO Rob Henrikson said that the company is very optimistic about the Indian market and is planning to increase its paid-up capital by $100 million. MetLife currently has Rs 431 crores of paid-up capital.

The company is also planning to double branch network in the next 20 months. MetLife India, at present, has 8,500 agent force and 43 branches across the country. MetLife Inc. is keen to increase its stake in the venture to 49 per cent from the current 26 per cent once the increased FDI is allowed by the Indian government in the insurance sector, Mr Henrikson said.

Mr Henrikson, who met the government officials, said they are supportive of the hike in FDI and so is the regulator IRDA. “We always wanted to hike our stake in the company from 26 per cent to 49 per cent,” said Mr Henrikson. MetLife India is a joint venture between US-based MetLife Inc., Jammu and Kashmir Bank, M. Pallongi and Co. and other private investors. The private insurance company has collected Rs 150 crores in premium in the first six months of this fiscal, growing by 100 per cent year-on-year.

The growth drivers of MetLife, that covers 80 lakh lives in India, are agents and third-party distributors. It offers both traditional and unit-linked insurance products (ULIPs) with ULIPs contributing 64 per cent of the business. MetLife’s expansion strategy for India in the next three years involves identifying and entering under-penetrated geographies.

Hyderabad, Oct. 5: Cairn Energy has begun its drilling campaign in the Ravva oil field off the coast of Andhra Pradesh. The drilling programme is expected to continue for nine months, and will allow the Ravva oil field, which has been in production since the last 10 years, to stay on plateau production of 50,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd) until the end of 2007, a Cairn Energy statement said on Thursday.

Six infill wells and one firm exploration prospect will be drilled using the Hercules rig which arrived in the region from Malaysia recently. In addition to these seven wells, there are options for this rig to drill further five wells, it said. “The Rig 31, a mat supported jack-up rig from Hercules Offshore reached Kakinada port recently from the Johor port in Malaysia where it had undergone an extensive refurbishment. The rig is now safely in place offshore in the Ravva field and drilling operations on the first well have started,” the statement said.

The Ravva oil production levels, which were approximately 3,700 bpd before Cairn took over as operator of the block, were increased first to 35,000 bpd in the second quarter of 1997 and subsequently to the current plateau rate of 50,000
bpd in the first quarter of 1999.

According to the statement, to ensure uninterrupted drilling through continuous supply of equipment, fuel and consumables, a ware barge, Ismaya (similar to an onshore warehouse), has been mobilised for the first time and will be anchored near the rig to support the drilling operations. A company spokesman for Cairn India said: “Cairn continues to invest in its operations throughout India. Ravva has been the cornerstone of Cairn’s development in India over the past 10 years and this is the latest investment that Cairn is making along with its partners in the Ravva field.” The current drilling programme also envisages drilling of one firm exploration well.

Hyderabad, Oct. 5: A Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd consortium has been awarded the contract to build an Urban Entertainment Centre on government-owned land in Hyderabad. The land is where the Gandhi Medical College was situated earlier, and the contract would be on a Build Operate Transfer model, a government release said on Thursday.

The other member of the consortium is GSG Constructions, promoted by Gowri Shankar Gupta, a real estate developer. Pantaloon and GSG Constructions have floated a Special Purpose Vehicle for the project.

The release said that the extent of land is 5.61 acre, and the project cost would be Rs 137.52 crore. The Urban Entertainment Centre would comprise a retail shopping mall with a minimum of 50 — 60 per cent of the total built-up area. The balance area can be utilised for purposes such as hotels, food courts and gaming zones, the release said.