MMRDA, MSRDC will jointly build sealink to Nhava

he 22km road bridge will now have eight lanes instead of six

The Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (MTHL) will be jointly executed by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation. Deciding on the financial model of and raising funds for the Rs7,600 crore project will be the MMRDA’s responsibility. The MSRDC will build the 22km road bridge, which will now have eight lanes instead of the earlier proposed six.
The state cabinet took a decision to this effect on Wednesday. Public works minister Anil Deshmukh said the project would be completed within five years of the date of starting work as major permissions have already been taken. The sea link has environmental clearance from the Centre as well as security clearance from institutions like the BARC.

The other options that the cabinet considered were to set up a special purpose vehicle for the project or to allot it entirely to the MSRDC. But given the MMRDA’s fund-raising ability, the cabinet decided to involve it in the project to ensure its early completion. The MMRDA is likely to raise funds through debt from the World Bank or the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. Deshmukh said it could recover the money in three ways - “toll charges levied on vehicles plying on this corridor, improvement fees levied in Uran and Khopate, and development rights taken from the government for the Nhava belt.

Deshmukh tries, and fails, to project MSRDC plan: MSRDC’s attempt to make a presentation to the cabinet on skywalks came a cropper as the projector refused to work. MSRDC is executing 18 skywalks in the city, including one between Churchgate and CST. MSRDC has claimed that its skywalks will be far superior to those being erected by MMRDA. When PWD minister Anil Deshmukh tried to prove this with the presentation, the projector failed to work. The cabinet waited for 10 minutes while Deshmukh and MSRDC officials tried to get the projector going again. The meeting was adjourned an hour ahead of schedule.

Strong market breadth

The market ended a volatile session on a mixed note. The Sensex ended in the red while the Nifty ended unchanged. All sectoral indices on BSE barring BSE Metal index and BSE PSU index, were in the negative region. India's largest aluminium producer by sales Hindalco surged. Volatility was caused by uncertainty as to whether the government will be able to win vote of confidence in the parliament. Reports suggest that government may hold a special session of parliament on 20 July 2008-21 July 2008 to seek vote of confidence following withdrawal of support to the government by Left front this week. The government is confident of retaining power due to backing from Samajwadi Party, a regional party in Uttar Pradesh. Samajwadi Party (SP) yesterday, 8 July 2008, said it will vote with the government in support of the nuclear deal with the United States. Cues from global markets were mixed. In Europe, key benchmark indices in UK, France and Germany were down by 0.97% to 1.64%. Asian markets were mixed. Key benchmark indices in Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan were up by 0.07% to 1.19%. Key indices in Singapore, and China were down by 0.55% to 1.54%. As per provisional closing, the 30-share BSE Sensex lost 58.13 points or 0.42% at 13,906.13. It shed 200.32 points at the day’s low of 13,763.94 hit in afternoon trade. At the day’s high of 14,047.43, the Sensex gained 83.17 points in early trade. The broader based S&P CNX Nifty was unchanged at 4156.70. The BSE Mid-Cap index was down 0.10% at 5,465.17, while the BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.29% at 6,809.82. The market breadth was strong on BSE, with 1431 gainers as against 1194 losers. 71 stocks remained unchanged. BSE clocked a turnover of Rs 4807 crore as against Rs 5,093.01 on Wednesday, 9 July 2008. India's largest aluminium producer Hindalco surged 4.84% to Rs 152.75 and state-run National Aluminium Company jumped 9.07% to Rs 361.90 tracking London Metal Exchange aluminium futures which surged to a record high of $3,350 a tonne. ACC (up 3.51% at Rs 553), Ambuja Cements (up 2.46% at Rs 79), and Reliance Infrastructure (up 2.25% at Rs 854.90), were the other prominent Sensex gainers. World’s sixth largest steel maker Tata Steel rose 3.11% at Rs 698.20 on reports the company plans to list a holding firm for steel and raw material assets outside India, on the London Stock Exchange to raise funds for acquiring iron ore and coal mines. India’s largest real estate developer by market capitalization DLF rose 1.40% to Rs 456.60 after the company today said it has set aside Rs 1100 croer for buyback of shares at a maximum price of Rs 600 a share. India's second largest software exporter by sales Infosys Technologies fell 0.61% at Rs 1810. The company will declare Q1 June 2008 results on Friday, 11 July 2008. The key thing that analysts and market men will be looking at is whether Infosys revises its year ending March 2009 (FY 2009) guidance given at the time of announcing the year ended March 2008 (FY 2008) results in April 2008. Some analysts expects Infosys to revise the guidance upwards due to good Q1 June 2008 results and also to factor in sharp fall in rupee against the dollar. Infosys had given FY 2009 guidance based on a rupee/dollar rate of 40.02. Rupee is currently hovering at below 43 a dollar. India’s largest private sector bank by market capitalization ICICI Bank fell 1.43% at Rs 613. India’s largest private sector firm by market capitalization and oil refiner Reliance Industries declined 1.97% at Rs 2039. Real estate developer DS Kulkarni Developers surged 5.04% to Rs 100.10 after the company said it has sold 50% in a unit that is setting up a premium Bangalore residential project to ICICI Prudential PMS Real Estate Portfolio, for Rs 35 crore. Engineering and construction firm Petron Engineering Construction spurted 6.74% to Rs 209.90 after the company said on Wednesday, 9 July 2008, it has received letters of intent for four power project works in Uttar Pradesh, totally worth Rs 14.07 crore. Aluminium producer Madras Aluminium Company jumped 11.41% to Rs 741.50 after the company fixed 24 July 2008 as record date for a 5-for-1 stock split. IT services firm Allied Digital Services moved up 7.02% to Rs 890 after company acquired 80.5% in infrastructure management business of US-based EnPointe Technologies for $30 million. Paint maker ICI India rose 1.94% at Rs 538 after the company said its board will meet on 17 July 2008 to consider extending the share buyback scheme, at a price of up to Rs 575 each. Tyre maker JK Tyre & Industries slipped 2.44% to Rs 92 on reports that it has raised truck tyre prices by 6% effective yesterday, 9 July 2008, in the wake of rising input costs. Two and three wheeler maker Bajaj Auto gained 14.23% to Rs 515. The company reported 4.37% fall in net profit to Rs 175 crore on a 9.24% rise in total income to Rs 2340 crore in Q1 June 2008 over Q1 June 2007. As per reports, Bajaj’s quarterly figures were higher than expectations. US stocks plunged yesterday, 9 July 2008 with financial stocks taking the biggest hit as concerns over the credit crisis took the spotlight again, sending cautious investors to the sidelines. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 236.77 points, or 2.08%, to 11,147.44. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 29.01 points, or 2.28%, to 1,244.69, while the Nasdaq Composite index declined 59.55 points, or 2.60%, to 2,234.89.

Source: Capital Market