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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Fwd: Releases.........pt1



---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Press Information Bureau Ministry of I&B <pib.kolkata@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 1:42 PM
Subject: Releases.........pt1

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
* * * * * *
Vice President's Secretariat
Vice President greets people on Ram Navami
New Delhi: March 23, 2010

The Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari has greeted the
people of our country on the auspicious occasion of Ram Navami. In his
message he has said that Lord Rama, through his role as Maryada
Purushottama has inspired generations of mankind to uphold the high
standards of ethical conduct in life. His life and teachings have the
power to provide guidance and spiritual solace in all phases of our
lives.

Following is the text of Vice President's message :

"I offer my best wishes to the people of our country on the occasion
of Ram Navami, the auspicious day which celebrates the birth of Lord
Rama.

Lord Rama, through his role as Maryada Purushottama has inspired
generations of mankind to uphold the high standards of ethical conduct
in life. His life and teachings have the power to provide guidance and
spiritual solace in all phases of our lives.

On this auspicious day, let us rededicate ourselves to the enlightened
teachings of Lord Rama for establishing a peaceful and harmonious
society."

sk/rs/dk/kol/13:39 hrs.

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
* * * * * *
Prime Minister's Office
PM greets the Nation on Ram Navami
New Delhi: March 23, 2010

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh has greeted the nation on the
auspicious occasion of Ram Navami.

In a message, the Prime Minster said that the life of Lord Ram
inspires us to follow the path of righteousness even in the face of
extreme hardships. He said Ram Navami is an occasion to rededicate
ourselves to living virtuously.

May the festival bring joy and happiness for all, the PM added.

sh/lv/dk/kol/13:40 hrs.

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
* * * * * *
Prime Minister's Office
PM inaugurates Conference on Building Infrastrcuture: Challenges and
Opportunities
New Delhi: March 23, 2010

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh inaugurated the Conference on
Building Infrastructure : Challenges and Opportunities in New Delhi
today. Following is the text of the Prime Minister's address on the
occasion:

"It gives me great pleasure to inaugurate this conference on the
challenges and opportunities of building infrastructure. I addressed
the first such conference at this very venue three and a half years
ago in the year 2006. A great deal has happened since then, much of it
very positive. I am very happy to be here once again to speak on this
issue, which is extremely relevant to our economic future.

India's recent economic performance has been commendable on many
counts. The economy grew at an average annual rate of about 9% before
the global economic meltdown. It slowed down in 2008 because of the
global crisis which continued into 2009, when it was compounded by a
severe drought the country faced. Despite these adverse circumstances,
our economy grew by 6.7% in fiscal year 2008-09, and it has
accelerated to 7.2% in the fiscal year which is about to end in a few
days time. These rates are well above those seen in the developed
worlds, and reflect the underlying strengths of our economy. We expect
to achieve 8.5% growth rate in the year 2010-11 and I hope we can
achieve a growth rate of 9% in the year 2011-12.

I believe that we need to do even better. For eliminating poverty and
providing productive employment for our young population in the near
future, we must aim at accelerating the pace of economic growth to
about 10% per annum. This is the growth target which we should work
towards for the Twelfth Five Year Plan.

A growth rate of 10% looks ambitious but it is not impossible. It has
been achieved by other emerging economies in Asia. However, it is not
something that will happen automatically. We would need continual
improvements in our policy regime and in our implementation
procedures. Later today, I will be reviewing these issues in a meeting
of the full Planning Commission to discuss the Mid Term Appraisal of
the Eleventh Five Year Plan. For now, I will focus only on
infrastructure development and what it requires in the years that lie
ahead.

Let me begin by clarifying that when I say infrastructure, I do not
mean only infrastructure for the modern part of our economy. For truly
inclusive growth, we need to meet the infrastructure needs of the
whole country. Infrastructure must therefore be defined broadly to
include highways and roads of all kinds including rural roads,
railways, air and water transport, irrigation, electric power,
telecommunications, water supply and sewerage system.

The Eleventh Plan had estimated that we would need to invest over
Rs.20 lakh crore in infrastructure over the five year period. This was
more than double the realised investment during the Tenth Five Year
Plan. The Plan also recognised that such a large investment in
infrastructure could not be funded from public resources alone. This
is because the government would have to necessarily devote a large
portion of its own resources to critical livelihood support programmes
and to providing access to education and health services which are
crucial to ensuring inclusiveness of the growth process.

The strategy for infrastructure development therefore involved
combination of public investment supplemented by private investments
wherever feasible. The mix was expected to vary from sector to sector,
and also from region to region.

Our experience shows that private participation in infrastructure
development is indeed a feasible proposition and can help expand
infrastructure much faster than it would have relying only on public
resources. The telecom sector is the most compelling example of this
proposition. The Eleventh Plan target for tele-density was realised
ahead of schedule, in the third year of the Plan itself. The addition
of 1 crore subscribers every month with user charges among the lowest
in the world, has really taken the communication revolution to the
doorstep of the 'aam aadmi'. We have also seen many successful PPP
projects in roads, ports, airports and electric power. We need to do
much more in these areas.

The Central Government has developed a fairly robust framework for
PPPs which balances the legitimate requirements of the investors and
the needs of the users and also ensures transparency. Model documents
have been developed for several sectors. Projects are awarded on the
basis of competitive bidding and standardisation of documents and the
bidding processes have contributed greatly to the promotion of
transparency.

One of the reasons why it is difficult to attract private investment
in infrastructure is that all projects may not be able to generate
adequate revenue streams. The projects may have high economic rates of
returns but may not be financially viable. The Central Government has
dealt with this problem by offering a capital subsidy which is
competitively determined through the bidding processes. Since the
capital subsidy is only a proportion of the total capital cost,
government resources effectively leverage a large volume of private
resources. This Viability Gap Funding arrangement can be accessed by
state governments as well. The scheme has been received well and a
large number of PPP projects have been approved under this scheme.

I am happy to note that our states are now actively pursuing
infrastructure projects, including through PPP arrangements. Some of
the states have made notable progress in this area, while others are
at earlier stages. The Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission
are actively engaged with the state governments to help them in
managing the PPP process.

You will be hearing directly from my colleagues in charge of the
various infrastructure sectors about developments in each sector. I
will therefore only touch briefly on these.

The power sector is crucial for fuelling the 10% growth we are aiming
at. The capacity addition achieved already in the Eleventh Plan period
is much higher than the achievement anytime in the past. But we have
made less progress in this area than we should have. Power shortages
remain a problem in many parts of our country. The distribution
segment, which is entirely in the states sector, continues to be
fragile.

We are trying to tackle the problem of high Transmission &
Distribution losses through a restructured Accelerated Power
Development and Reform Programme which has just begun to roll out. We
must also take steps to operationalise open access as early as
possible to enable bulk consumers to buy electricity directly from
competing producers so that a vibrant market is created where
producers can invest for eliminating shortages and also reduce tariffs
through competition.

In the roads sector, we are very seriously working towards
accelerating the road building programme in all parts of our country,
especially the north-eastern states and the state of Jammu and
Kashmir. Some changes have been made in the terms of concessions
responding to stakeholder feedback, and with these changes we expect
strong investor interest in PPP road projects.

The Delhi-Mumbai and Ludhiana-Kolkata dedicated rail freight corridors
are a transformative initiative of the Indian Railways. While much of
the investment in the railways is necessarily in the public sector,
PPPs have nevertheless been envisaged in many areas. Metro rail
projects are being increasingly pursued in many cities, through
various models including PPPs.

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission is designed to
bring in a quantum improvement in urban infrastructure. I would urge
the states to actively identify and pursue the possibilities of PPP in
all segments of urban infrastructure which require both expansion and
upgradation.

In civil aviation, Delhi and Mumbai airports are currently undergoing
a complete transformation while airports at Hyderabad and Bangalore
have already been completed and operationalised through PPP. The
Airport Authority of India is also upgrading several of its airports
including the two metro airports at Kolkata and Chennai.

The government has also initiated an ambitious plan for expansion of
the port sector, including through PPPs.

Issues involving the logistics sector need to be seen in a holistic
manner. We have constituted a High Level Committee under the
chairmanship of Dr Rakesh Mohan to prepare an integrated plan for the
development of the transport sector in our economy.

I have already mentioned that our strategy of inclusiveness requires
high priority to the social sectors, especially education and health.
While these efforts will have to be primarily in the public sector,
there may be merit in bringing in public private partnership in these
areas as well. We need to work on PPP models in these sectors that are
fully consistent with the objective of providing access to the
underprivileged sections of our society.

Effective private sector participation in infrastructure would require
a large mobilisation of resources through our financial institutions.
The Finance Ministry has taken several initiatives in this regard.
Preliminary exercises suggest that investment in infrastructure will
have to expand to $ 1000 billion in the Twelfth Five Year Plan. I urge
the Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission to draw up a plan of
action for achieving this level of investment.

We also need to review the approach that should guide our regulatory
institutions in different sectors. An Approach Paper on the subject
was published by the Planning Commission after extensive consultations
with experts and stakeholders. I have asked the Commission to prepare
a draft bill outlining the next stage of regulatory reform. We would
welcome the views of all stakeholders in this very important area.

Finally, I must emphasise that a successful infrastructure development
strategy depends crucially and critically on implementation. Both the
Centre and the states have to give top priority to strengthen
implementation capabilities. We have set up the Cabinet Committee on
Infrastructure to monitor progress in this area. I have asked the
Planning Commission to engage in detailed consultations with each of
the infrastructure ministries and come up with agreed targets of
achievement for each Ministry, in order to identify slippages at early
stages and take corrective action as necessary. I would urge the
states to adopt similar tight monitoring so that we achieve the best
possible outcome in the remaining two years of the present Eleventh
Five Year Plan.

With these words, I once again wish your deliberations all success."

sh/lv/vk/dk/kol/13:40 hrs.

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
* * * * * *
Ministry of Home Affairs
Mega Housing Project for Central Para Military Forces launched
New Delhi: March 23, 2010

In order to address the housing needs of the Central Para Military
Forces(CPMF), the Ministry of Home Affairs has launched a major
initiative through the commencement of an ambitious mega housing
project for construction of about 1,00,000 houses across the country.
This will be done through the Public Private Partnership mode in about
four years. Besides meeting the housing satisfaction level in the
Forces, the provision of additional houses for the Force personnel is
seen as a measure to boost the morale and motivation level of CPMF
personnel, which is also expected to contribute to their operational
efficiency.

The housing satisfaction level among Central Para Military Force
personnel is 15.4% which is low and considered to be a demotivating
factor. Until now CPWD has been constructing houses for the force
personnel and the pace of construction has been less than what is
required to meet the authorized satisfaction level of 25% for the
force personnel. By the conventional approach, on an average about
4,000 houses are added every year.

The Ministry of Home Affairs in consultation with the Central Police
Force like Border Security Force(BSF), Central Reserve Police
Force(CRPF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police(ITBP), Sashastra Seema
Bal(SSB) and Assam Rifles(AR) have identified 245 sites across the
country where land is readily available with the CPMFs. 30 sites have
been taken up on the pilot project basis and notice for Request For
Qualification(RFQ) for 30 sites/5 Clusters has already been issued on
the 10th of this month, the details of which are available on the
website of the Ministry i.e. www.mha.nic.in. The pre-bid conference
for these 30 sites is scheduled for the 29th of this month and the
last date for receipt of the RFQ is the 9th of next month. There will
be provision in the budget of Ministry of Home Affairs for making
payment to the developers on an annuity mode. The remaining nearly 215
sites are also proposed to be launched in four lots on a staggered
basis within the coming financial year 2010-11.

It may be recalled that this was one of the major projects announced
in the Budget of 2009-10 by the Finance Minister. In order to prepare
the feasibility report, the Ministry of Home Affairs had engaged
Consultants with the assistance of the Ministry of Finance and the
Asian Development Bank which completed the Feasibility Study in
January, 2010. In order to carry the process forward and float the
bids, MHA has appointed M/s Price Waterhouse as Transaction Advisors.
On 5th March, 2010, the Government of India's Public Private
Partnership Approval Committee, under the chairmanship of the Finance
Secretary, accorded in principle approval to the first lot of the
project of the 30 sites for which the RFQ has been released.

ok/kka/dk/kol/13:40 hrs.



--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/

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