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Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Karnataka to get three new railway lines: Gadag-Wadi

Source: Economics Times

"Three new railway lines - Gadag-Wadi, Kengeri-Chamrajnagar and Srinivasapura-Madanapalled - have been approved (by the Railway Board)," he said delivering keynote address at Business Standard Infrastructure Round Table 2011 here.

About Rs 24,000 crore worth projects are being undertaken in the state, including 2,137 km of new railway line in Karnataka, Gowda said. "Gauge conversion and line doubling works also are being undertaken," he added.

The state government has also received in-principle approval for Metro Phase II from the Central Government, he added.

About air connectivity, Gowda said both Shimoga and Gulbarga airports, being developed under Public-Private Partnership (PPP), would be operational before July 2012.

As many as 105 infrastructure projects under PPP format are underway in the state and are at various stages of development involving an investment of Rs 80,946 crore, he said.

Karnataka has been at the forefront in various sectors including education, health, business, communication and information technology, he said.

"The state contributes up to 8 per cent of India's industrial income and 9.8 per cent of product exports," Gowda said. Karnataka is the seventh largest and fifth most urbanised state and ranks third as a recipient of FDI, the chief minister said.

Gowda also said the government was taking up major projects like the greenfield port at Tadadi, Dabhol-Bangalore gas pipeline, city gas distribution for Bangalore, international transit centre at Subhashnagar and traffic/transport management centre at Hebbal.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Gulbarga - Inter-State highway: 65 p.c. work completed

Source: The Hindu

Nearly 65 per cent of the upgrading of the 139-km long inter-State highway connecting Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, passing through Gulbarga district, has been completed, according to sources.

The remaining portion is likely to be completed well before the deadline of December 2012.

The Government awarded the work on Build-Own-Operate-and Transfer (BOOT) model to a Hyderabad-based consortium for Rs. 240 crore.

Sixty-two per cent of the cost is being borne by the contractor, 20 per cent by the Union Government, and 18 per cent by the State Government.

Official sources told The Hindu that the Government and the consortium were in the final stages of reaching an agreement on toll rates for vehicles .

According to sources, the final black-topping has been completed up to 95 km of the total road length. As per the contractual agreement, the consortium would be allowed to own and operate the road for 28 years and the maintenance would be looked after by the contractor.

The work in the remaining length had been hastened along with the remodelling of small bridges. However, the Government had not cleared the proposal for construction of a new bridge across the Kagina near the Uttaridi Math in Malkhed. During monsoon, the bridge gets submerged and the traffic is disrupted.

Sharanprakash Patil, Sedam MLA, had proposed the construction of a new bridge across the river and Public Works Minister C.M. Udasi had given consent for that.

He asked the Karnataka Road Development Corporation Ltd. (KRDCL) to submit a proposal to the Government.

The KRDCL had proposed a new bridge costing Rs. 50 crore, but it has not been approved.

Textile parks to come up in five districts - One in Belgaum

Source: DHNS
The Textiles Department will set up Textile Parks in Belgaum, Chitradurga, Kolar, Tumkur and Chikkaballapur, Textiles Minister Varthur Prakash said on Thursday.

Addressing the media in Bangalore, Prakash said the government would give a subsidy of Re 1 per unit of the electricity consumed by factories that will be set up in the Textile Parks.

The minister said there were around 55,000 weavers in the State and efforts were being made to provide houses to all of them.

Presently, housing has been provided to 25,000 weavers. Around 350 families have been identified in the Naxal-hit areas of the State, where the department will impart training in weaving.

Prakash said the Textile sector had attracted an investment of around Rs 500 crore. He said he would shortly hold discussions with Education Minister Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri to resolve the school uniform distribution problem.

His department is presently finding it difficult to meet the Education department’s demand.
He said the actual requirement would be ascertained from the Education department, following which a decision will be taken on the total number of uniforms to be distributed.