PUNJAB TO TAKE UP RS 31,248 CRORE INFRA PROJECTS VIA PPP MODEL

The Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) will take up new projects under the public-private-partnership (PPP) mode valued at Rs 31,248 crore, reports Financial Express.

According to the report, around 62 projects are on anvil. The most ambitious of these projects are five expressways -- the Mohali-Phagwara Expressway at Rs 2,500 crore, the Mohali-Banur-Baddi expressway, the expressway for Amritsar Airport at Rs 300 crore, the Pathankot-Ajmer Expressway up to the Punjab border, among others, the report added.

The other PPP projects include two ring roads -- the Amritsar Ring Road to be laid at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore and the Ludhiana Ring Road at an estimated cost of Rs 2,300 crore. The projects include six roads -- the Batala-Beas road at Rs 50 crore, the Karatpur-Kapurthala-Nakodar road at Rs 70 crore, the Amritsar-Sri Hargobindpur-Tanda road at Rs 80 crore, the Sirhind-Morinda-Ropar road at Rs 60 crore, the Hoshiarpur-Phagwara road at Rs 60 crore and the Jagraon-Raikot-Malerkotla road at Rs 65 crore, it said.

The PIDB plans to spend Rs 468.72 crore to construct railway over bridges (ROB), railway under bridges and high-level bridges, the report continued.

State PWD (B&R) minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa said that out of the 28 ROBs planned, eight bridges had been completed in Mansa, Lehragaga, Sangrur, Dhuri, Phagwara and Dasuya. An amount of Rs 103.34 crore was spent on these bridges. Work on three bridges at Sara Ka Pattan at Ropar, Bhagi Choe at Hoshiarpur and Mukhu at Gidderpindi was in progress. The total expenditure incurred on these projects was Rs 301.50 crore so far.

The PIDB has proposed two metro rail projects at Ludhiana at an estimated cost of Rs 5,000 crore and the other in Amritsar at Rs 4,500 crore. A project for a mass rapid bus transport system in Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Amritsar at Rs 15 crore and nine interstate checkpoints are planned at a cost of Rs 300 crore, the report said.

Other PIDB projects under the PPP mode include the Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences at Jalandhar at Rs 225 crore and a super-speciality hospital at Mohali at Rs 200 crore. The city will also get a sports complex at a cost of Rs 150 crore. Also in the pipeline is the Punjab Habitat Centre at Rs 200 crore, a hotel-*** recreational facility at Bathinda near the proposed Rs 18,500-crore thermal plant coming up with FDI from the LN Mittal Group, touted to be biggest ever FDI flow to Punjab, it added.

The PIDB and the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) plan to develop 5-star and 3-star hotels in the proposed new city centre in Amritsar.

PIDB has floated expressions of interests from international bidders and joint venture parties for developing the hotels on a design, build, operate and transfer basis, the report said.

KARNATAKA FOCUSES ON INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

Karnataka is focusing big on infrastructure development, if the plans and projects in the pipeline are anything to go by. According to V Madhu, principal secretary – Infrastructure Development Department, Karnataka Government, there are 224 projects worth Rs 1.38 lakh crore under various stages of planning and progress in the public-private partnership (PPP) model.

Madhu said the Government is trying to double the rail infrastructure in the State at an investment of Rs 18,000 crore and energy infrastructure at Rs 80,000 crore by 2017, improving the existing road infrastructure by 2020, and also increase the number of airports to 12 from the current four and airstrips to 12 at an investment of Rs 1,500 crore by 2010-11.

Talking on the current PPP projects in the State, Madhu said that the significant ones include airports at Hassan -- for which agreement has been already signed, Bellary -- for which tendering process is on, Bijapur -- PPP agreement to be signed soon for this, Shimoga and Gulbarga, and 12 airstrips; high-speed rail link to airport at Rs 6,000 crore; 10,000 km of road projects at Rs 45,000 crore; the Devanahalli Business Park at Rs 9,500 crore; Devanahalli Convention Centre to be developed by the tourism department; logistics park near the airport for which tendering notification would be made soon and two mono rail projects in Bangalore.

DLF TO INVEST RS.1000 CRORES IN MULTIPLEX BUSINESS

Real estate giant DLF is likely to invest about Rs 1,250 crore on expanding its multiplex business, DT Cinema, by adding about 500 screens in the next four to five years. Currently, DLF is at a pre-operative stage with about seven screens. In another four to five years time, the target is to have 500 screens across India. By September this year, two DT Cinema complexes in Delhi and one in Chandigarh would be operational and 35 screens are expected to be functional in the next seven months. Once these initial projects start, the mid-term aim is to have about 150 screens operational within two years. Apart from north Indian cities, DT Cinema plans to set up multiplexes in Hyderabad , Chennai, Kochi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Goa andKolkata. The size of each multiplex could be between 35,000 sq ft to 90,000 sq ft. DLF believes that the multiplex business offered a big opportunity as there is a shortage of nearly 40,000 screens in India.

COGNIZANT TO INVEST $100 MN MORE IN INDIA

CHENNAI: Cognizant Technology Solutions said it will invest an additional $100 million in India, taking its total investment in the country to $300 million over the next two years.

The IT and BPO major said the additional investment will be used to expand its new Chennai campus — located in a special economic zone — which will double in size with an area of over 2 million sqft.

Cognizant is increasing the size of the first phase of planned construction of its SEZ facility in Coimbatore to over 7,25,000 sqft. It also plans to acquire additional property in Hyderabad and Chennai.

Chief financial and operating officer Gordon Coburn said: “We expect this investment to enhance our flexibility to meet the escalating demand for our services from both new and existing customers around the world.”

In November 2006, Cognizant announced it has planned to spend more than $200 million on land, building and other facilities for upcoming techno-complexes. The move, it said, would increase its existing campus area in India by more than 3 million sqft with a capacity to accommodate over 30,000 new employees.

Of the 46,000 professionals globally, over 35,000 are in India, spread across its eight locations in Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Coimbatore and Kochi.