Infrastructure

Government of India has launched Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) initiative on 1 October 2018, to promote CBG as an alternative, green transport fuel for efficient management of biomass and organic waste.

The new joint venture aims to provide reliable & cutting-edge technology battery packs with higher lifecycle to automakers domestically as the EV market expands to meet evolving consumer needs and to address issues related to energy and climate change, the company said in a release.

The businessman-turnedpolitician, who makes confectioneries for several top global chocolate brands, has recently tied up with companies in Serbia for technical support to make two-seater and four-seater aircraft along with air ambulances. Patel was elected as BJP MLA from Wadhwan constituency in 2017 election.

Indian Railways all set to get ‘Make in India’ high-speed rails! The state-run steel manufacturing firm SAIL or Steel Authority of India Limited is planning to start manufacturing special quality rails for the high-speed train corridors and metro projects in the next two years. An official quoted in a recent PTI report said that the organisation could start manufacturing special rails at its Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) in Chhattisgarh as well as the IISCO Steel Plant at Burnpur situated in West Bengal. Anirban Dasgupta, CEO, SAIL’s Bhilai Steel Plant was quoted in the report saying that they expect to commence head-hardened rail project in the next two years. However, the project is now in the planning stage and the capacity, as well as project investments, have not been finalized as yet.

The special quality rails which are being manufactured by SAIL hold significance to the Indian Railways network as the speciality product has more strength than the normal rails and will be utilized for metro rail projects and high speed train corridors. Dasgupta explained that the feasibility studies will be carried out at the BSP and Burnpur steel plants as only one facility’s set-up will not be enough for SAIL, given the existing demands of the projects. The rail project would also help for substituting imports.

According to Dasgupta, SAIL is in the process of hiring a consultant in order to carry out the feasibility studies. According to reports, the Indian Railways’ track modernisation programme will need at least one million tonnes of the head-hardened rails in the next four-five years. The new metro rail projects across the country alone will stimulate the demand for at least 500,000 tonnes of the special quality rails in the next couple of years. The capacity of the Bhilai steel plant has been increased, for producing two million tonnes of normal rails from 0.8 million tonnes per annum after the modernisation process. In the year 2019 -2020, the steel plant facility is expected to produce 1.3 million tonnes.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said about 12 global companies have evinced interest to shift their base from China to India, taking advantage of a competitive tax rate of 15 per cent announced recently.

It is learnt that during the international conference organised by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), under the aegis of Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI) in Mumbai earlier this month, discussions were held over future utilisation of LWRs in India to supplement existing plans of construction of heavy water pressurised reactors.

Shenzen-based BYD is also a leading manufacturer of electric buses, trucks and other vehicles. Its domestic arm was established in March 2007 in Chennai and has an office in New Delhi. The Indian subsidiary has two factories covering more than 140,000 square metres, with a cumulative investment of over $150 million.

“As on October 31, 2019, a total grid connected solar power generation capacity of 31,696 MW has been set up in the Country, projects of 17,998 MW capacity are at various stages of installations,” the minister said.

Minister of state for electronics and IT (MeitY) Sanjay Dhotre said Wednesday that the government is drafting an approach paper on the National Level Blockchain Framework which discusses the potential for distributed ledger technology and the need for a shared infrastructure for different use cases.

The semi-high speed train sets are being manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF). Two rakes have already been put into service, the government informed the Lok Sabha.