Cement, Energy and Environment

In fact, from the private entrepreneur's point of view, the waste business looks potentially so good that even a corporate big gun like Hong Kong 's Li Ka-shing has decided to get involved. One of Li 's companies, Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings, is paying the equivalent of $501 million in cash to buy New Zealand's second biggest waste– management firm, EnviroWaste Services , from an Australian private equity company, lronbridge Capital. "Since the volume of waste continues to rise, waste services offer a great potential for growth," the company noted in a statement after signing the deal early January. EnviroWaste is a vertically integrated waste– management company serving about 500,000 residential and business customers across New Zealand. It owns a full network of collection and recycling depots, landfills, transfer stations, and plants to convert landfill methane into electricity. Its business principle is to divert as much recyclable and compostable elements as possible from the waste before it reaches landfills. Singapore -where 60 per cent of municipal solid waste is recycled overall, 38 per cent is burned to produce energy, and only two per cent is sent to an offshore landfill - is perhaps the best example of how private interest in the waste business can be best exploited in long– term public interest. Waste collection and recycling in the is land republic has been privatized for over a decade now, and waste-energy generation is going the same way. A private company, Keppel Corporation, now runs two of Singapore's four waste-to-energy incineration plants, accounting for 58MW of their 168 MW total installed capacity. The private role in Singapore's waste management took a significant new direction in April 2012, when Sembcorp Industries opened a plant, built at a cost of $27 million, which burns waste wood to produce 20 tonnes per hour of processed steam for dedicated commercial customers on Jurong Island. A second boiler, able to generate 40 tonnes per hour, will be ready later this year, while two more will go into production in 2014, taking total production to 140 tonnes of steam per hour. Sembcorp says this operation has been profitable from day one and is only its first step towards building up a strong waste-based, customer-specific renewable energy portfolio. Courtesy: Business Standard, Feb 2, 2013 India Country Profile INDIA'S STEEL DEMAND TO INCREASE BY 7 PER CENT The demand for steel in India is expected to rise 7% in the next financial year beginning April 1 as compared to the sluggish 5.5% projected growth in 2012-13, according to a senior official of Tata Steel. MD H M Nerurkar said the overall outlook for the steel sector is positive and the demand was likely to pick up in the next financial year on the back of revival in economic growth and the government's measure to ease infrastructure investment rules. "In fiscal 2012-13, growth in domestic steel demand is expected to be around 5.5%. Total demand is expected to be around 75 million tonnes, up from 71 million tonnes in 2011- 12. In 2013-14, demand is expected to be higher at around 7% Nerurkar said. Weak demands have affected performance of major steel firms in India. Tata Steel, which a part of the $ 100 billion Tata Group, posted a Rs. 363.93 crore loss in the second quarter of the current financial year as against a profit of Rs . 212.43 crore in the corresponding quarter of the pervious year. Tata Steel reported slowest sales growth in the second quarter of the current financial year since 2009. Nerurkar hoped that the govt's recent measures to ease infrastructure investment rules and push forward economic reform measures would boost steel demands in India. "Formation of the cabinet committee on infrastructure for single window clearance for mega projects will generate activity in the power and roadways sectors, among others . The expected lowering of interest rates by RBI in Jan will provide impetus to the manufacturing and consumer durables sectors, among others. The full impact of all these will be felt in 2013-14, Nerurkar said. Courtesy: FIMI News Bulletin, 1 February, 2013 MINING LEADS TO POVERTY: RAMESH TO TRIBALS Mining only leads to greater poverty," Jairam Ramesh, Union Minister of Rural Development explained to the tribals of Lanjigarh, Odisha at the foothills of the Niyamgiri hills. This is the union minister's first visit to the naxal-affected Kalahandi district, a political tinderbox, where tribal interests are ranged against big corporates. Mr Ramesh insisted his visit was part of his agenda to visit all 39