Cement, Energy and Environment

.• SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT MALAYSIA KEEN ON JOINT VENTURES WITH INDIAN STATES FOR CORE PROJECTS The Malaysian Government is keen on technical tie-ups with State Government at Mumbai to participate in Infras tructure projects. It has already tied up with the Tamil Nadu Government to implement a four phase , Rs. 2700 crore project to set up a container port in Kolachal near Kanyakumari. It also plans to set up an 11-kmlong elevated highway connecting Chennai port w ith Meenambakkam airport, according to Y.B. Dato, Seri Samy Vellu, Minister of Works, Malaysia. Speaking to newspersons after presiding over the documents signing ceremony for a Rs.750-crore road project, Mr. Samy Vellu said the first phase of the container port project would take off the next year and the past phase would be completed by year 2020. The first Government-to-Government initiative betweenMalaysia and India took off today with Swarna Tollway Pvt. Ltd. an SPV created by Malaysia's Con s tructi on Inves tment Development Board with four private companies signing a tern loan of Rs.350crore with an IDBI-led consortium. The Rs. 750-crore project involves strengthening a 110-kmstretch on NH-5 between Tada and Nellore and a 35- km s tretch be tween Nand igama and Ibrahimpatnam on NH-9. Courtesy: Cement News Digest, 23-31 March 2002, P 19. Email: cmabb@bom3. vsnl.nct.i.I1 ROAD INSTITUTE Ingersoll-Rand (India) Ltd., a leader in road build ing equipment has recently launched a Resource Cent~e IR-Rasta, which aims bridge the gap between paving and compac tion equipment technology, and end user applications. Established in line wi th the IR Road Institute in USA, and in China, the IR– Ras ta aims to create an ideal platform for training and knowledge s'haring for the mushrooming road-building entrepreneurs and professionals in the industry. Mr. Daljit Mirchandani, the Chairman and President of Ingresoll-Rand (India) Ltd. said that virtual platform has been created very close to the customer with the basic objective of bringing together the contracting community and make it interact very closely with specialists in the field of road building. "We have world class equipment but lack world class techniques and skilled man power who can handle these sophisticated equipment. There has been no forum that helped them develop these skills. IR-Rasta is trying to bridge this gap in a very small way" said Mr. K. Rarnnath, Dean of the Institute. IR wants to be a total solution provider to the road-building entrepreneurs in India. We are not just equipment suppliers, bu t also wan t to help the builder get associated with other research institutes who can support him, in doing the job in the right way, for the very firs t time itself. The word "institute" is misleading. It is more like a resource centre where IRis going to act as a catalys t between the customers/end users at one side and the professionals of the industry on the other side. IR will be a forum to bring both these groups onto a single platform where they can exchange ideas and views. And IR's major objective is to support the contractors to do the job 'in the right way'.