BIRLA'S BROWNFIELD EXPANSION

Birla Corporation will involve itself in increasing the grinding capacity at Durgapur facility by six lakh tonnes along with installing of a 17.5 MW captive power plant.

DURGAPUR AEROTROPOLIS UPDATE

Finally, a big day for Brand Bengal. The state government has handed over the first 533.51 acres for the big-budget aerotropolis project in Durgapur. The airport will be operational by September 2011, while the township-cum-airport project will be completed in seven to eight years. The land was handed over to Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Limited (BAPL) on a 99 year lease by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) on Tuesday at a premium price of Rs 44.37 crore. In all, 2,182 acres are needed for the first phase of the airport-cum-township project. The country's first (Rs 10,000-crore) greenfield airport project.The project is now moving in the right direction and a major milestone has been achieved by the government with the hand over of the first 533 acres to BAPL.The Aerotropolis project, which is being developed in association with Singapore's Changi Airports International (CAI), is all set to change the face of the Durgapur and is expected to create the second metropolitan city in the region. The project aims to attract around $2.2-billion in investment and will be home to around 150,000 people and generate over 40,000 direct and indirect jobs. The airport is expecting a passenger volume of approximately 4 lakh by 2011-12. This passenger traffic is expected to grow by as much as 12% in the next few years.Having already received clearance from the ministry of civil aviation and attained financial closure for the project, BAPL is in the process of completing the detailed engineering plan and expect to commence construction from March 2010. Changi Airports International has a 26% stake in BAPL. Changi has also signed a technical services agreement under which they are providing advisory services to BAPL in planning, supervising, execution and commissioning of the airport. Another 510 acres will be handed over to BAPL in the month of December.

RAMSARUP AWARDED

Ramsarup Industries had recently commenced production of LRPC strands and wires at their new plant at Durgapur.Ramsarup Industries Ltd., a leading manufacturer of steel wires in India, has received the prestigious Homotogation Certificate from Spain for LRPC (Low relaxation pre-stressed concrete) strands and wires. The Homotogation Certificate, mandatory for marketing strands and wires to the European Union, opens up a huge international opportunity for the Company. The certification will also help Ramsarup, the only manufacturer of LRPC single wire in India, in marketing LRPC strands and wires in domestic markets as it will boost the confidence of Indian project companies too.The Homologation Certificate reflects undeterred commitment towards attaining global quality standards. It further strengthens the ability to emerge as a preferred global supplier of LRPC strands and wires thereby expanding our potential markets manifold, .LRPC wires are used in construction of pre-stressed concrete girders for roads, river and railway bridges, flyovers, pre-stressed atomic reactor domes, slabs, silos, hangers, aqueducts, high-rise buildings and railway sleepers. Globally, LRPC wires are used for construction activities as they ensure minimisation of the structure size, reduced loss of relaxation at higher temperature, lower material consumption, lighter and yet superior quality of output as compared to normal-relaxation PC wires.

ROSE VALLEY HOTEL PROJECT

Rose Valley is going to launch one hotel in Durgapur.Location is not yet disclosed

SUBWAY OUTLET UPDATION

The Durgapur Subway outlet is slated to come in the next year.

DSP TO INVEST Rs 3000 Cr

With the steel sector showing signs of recovery following the economic slowdown, the Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP) of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) has decided to go ahead with its modernisation plan with a capex of Rs 3,000 crore.Orders for modernisation of the first phase of Rs 3,000 crore will be placed within two months. The expansion would be completed in fiscal 2011-12. The plans for the second phase of expansion has not been firmed up as yet, once the modernisation is complete, DSP's finished steel production would go up to 2.12 million tonne (MT) from a level of 1.786 MT at present.DSP has planned to increase its saleable steel production to 2.08 MT in 2009-2010 from 1.786 MT in 2008-09.SAIL plans to mop up its overall capacity from 13.5 MT at present to 23 MT by 2012 through expansion of all its 5 integrated steel plants and three special steel plants.
The phase I expansion will involve setting up a 1 mt medium structural mill and a 'bloom-cum-round continuous caster'. It will also do de-bottlenecking of material handling facilities.

XELF SERVICE IN DURGAPUR

In these recession-hit times, watching a film in a multiplex will seem like a bit of an indulgence. Buying a stack of CDs and DVDs of your favourite films and pop artists may also be considered ostentatious. Indeed, if we can’t buy movies, and music, what do we do with our leisure time instead? Maybe visit an online book rental website? Xelf, a website created by two Kolkata city-based entrepreneurs promises to make your book-reading experience and affordable and hassle-free one. “Xelf is the first online book rental library.It has an exhaustive collections of paperbacks and hard-covers which can be delivered directly to your house, without the need to purchase. The delivery and pick-up is free and there are no late fees.Xelf was created to offer a cost effective, convenient online service to the book lovers of the city where they can read more and save money.Customers can just reserve the books online and XELF will deliver them.XELF will open its centre in Durgapur very soon .Check out the service at www.xelf.in

MAMC TO OPEN AFTER DEBT CLEARANCE

Coal India Limited's effort to take over the ailing Durgapur-based Mining and Allied Machineries Corporation (MAMC) is yet to fructify. The proposal was taken up to start manufacturing underground mining equipment at the plant since there are no established makers as on date. Once, MAMC’s debts are waived by the Centre, CIL and its partners, including Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), will be able to manufacture open cast mining equipment, too. It will help substitute imported equipment for both open cast as well as underground mines.The company is waiting for the government's clearance.Since MAMC is a BIFR case, the joint takeover proposal by Bharat Earth Movers Limited, CIL and DamodarValley Corporation to take over the firm will now have to be passed by the high court, following which needs to be cleared by the Cabinet. BEML intends to take 48% in the company, while CIL and DVC will take 26% each.MAMC owed the West Bengal government about Rs 100 crore, which has already been waived. Central dues stand at about Rs 1,200 crore, and will require a Cabinet clearance.

GREEN POWER FROM WASTE IN DURGAPUR

Durgapur Municipal Corporation is soon going to sign a memorandum of understanding with Hyderabad-based Selco for green-energy-from-garbage project.The West Bengal Green Energy Development Corporation (WBGEDC) will be the technical adviser for the project. Power will be generated from about tonnes of garbage every day,the project will help conserve electricity and also generate revenue.The project is an attempt to minimise the use of conventional energy as far as possible to tackle the problem of global warming and climate change.Experts said apart from generating green power, the project could also solve the problem of garbage piling up at the dumping ground.The developer will foot the project cost, power generated from garbage may be costlier than that generated from coal, but it would help earn the corporation valuable revenue for its clean development mechanism (CDM).The garbage would be put into the plant's machine that will create a jerk to separate solid and heavy waste materials. The lighter waste materials left in the machine would then be passed onto a dryer. Drying would convert the waste into Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) a special kind of fuel which would ultimately generate power.

FORD CAR SHOWROOM

Ford Motor Company is planning to open one car showroom in Durgapur