Thursday, November 29, 2007

history of city

Kakinada pronunciation district in the is a city and a municipal corporation in East GodavariIndian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is also the headquarters of East Godavari district.the city has a population of about 800,000(504,920) as per 2001 census. This coastal city is witnessing rapid growth thanks to the recently granted Special Economic Zone status. It is one of the largest tier-2 cities of India. The city also has a deep-water port which is expanding rapidly.

Contents

[hide]
  • 1 Origin of the name
  • 2 Geography
  • 3 Demographics
  • 4 Religion
    • 4.1 Hinduism
  • 5 Industry
  • 6 Information technology
  • 7 Education
  • 8 People
  • 9 Food
  • 10 See also
  • 11 References
  • 12 External lin

Origin of the name

  • The name of the city was originally 'Kaki Nandiwada' The name was truncated to Kakinada over the passage of time.
  • The first settlers in this port city were the Dutch, followed by the British and then the missionaries of the Canadian Baptist Mission and the name was anglicised to Co-Canada probably due to this Canadian connection.
  • After Independence, it was renaturalized to Kakinada, although a few organisations established during the British colonial rule retain the old name (e.g., Cocanada Chamber of Commerce).
  • Also Kakinada is known as Second Madras. The main roads are straight, planned and are parallel which run across the city.
  • Kakinada is famous for the sweet named "kakinada kaja"
A file picture of the Port Town of Kakinada (earlier Cocanada - so named by the Canadian Baptists).
A file picture of the Port Town of Kakinada (earlier Cocanada - so named by the Canadian Baptists).

Geography

Kakinada is located at 16.93° N 82.22° E[1]. It has an average elevation of 2 metres (6 feet).

The 82 1/2 degrees east longitude with respect to which IST (Indian Standard Time) is calculated passes through Kakinada.

Distances to other cities

  • Anaparthi 43 km
  • Bangalore 856 km
  • Chennai 684 km
  • Guntur City 248 km
  • Anantapur City 685 km
  • Kolkatta (Howrah) 1028 km
  • Hyderabad 523 km
  • Mumbai 1234 km
  • New Delhi 1848 km
  • Rajahmundry 65 km
  • Vijayawada 223 km
  • Visakhapatnam 162 km

Demographics

As of 2001 India census[2], Kakinada had a population of 504,920. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Kakinada has an average literacy rate of 66%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 71%, and female literacy is 61%. In Kakinada, 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Religion

The city is predominantly Hindu.

Hinduism

  • Bhavanarayanaswami Temple, in Sarpavaram village, is dedicated to Vishnu. The architecture of this temple is a blend of the Chalukya's, Dravida's and Chola styles.
  • The Venkateswara Swamy Temple located near ontimamidi junction is very famous temple for the locals.
  • The Shivalayam located in Ramarao Pet is very famous temple.
  • The Bhanugudi in Bhanugudi junction is very famous Surya devalayam.
  • The Bala Tripura Sundari temple situated near pindala cheruvu is one of the well known temples in kakinada and visited by more than 1 lakh devotees during the festival of Dussera.

Industry

Kakinada is the "Fertilizer City" of Andhra Pradesh. Nagarjuna Fertilizers is the biggest Urea manufacturer in coastal Andhra. Another company, Godavari Fertilizers, produces DAP (Di-Ammonium Phosphate). Kakinada has been in the news recently after several oil companies decided to use it as a transit point for oil and gas shipments. The economic value of these investments has increased considerably after the recent gas finds by ONGC [Oil and Natural Gas Commission], Reliance in the KG basin.

The Murugappa Group-owned EID Parry (India) Ltd and Cargill International SA have announced their plans to enter into a joint venture to set up a port-based stand-alone sugar refinery in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh. EID Parry vice-chairman A Vellayan said the investment was estimated at Rs 325 crore. The plant was expected to be commissioned by December 2007, with an initial refining capacity of 6 lakh tonnes and ultimately 1 million tonnes.[3] Reliance is also planning to set up a sugar mill.

An oil and natural gas corporation is getting ready to set up a refinery in Kakinada. In 2002 lot of edible oil refineries established themselves in Kakinada and the refining capacity has touched 3000 tons per day. Kakinada port is facilitating the imports of crude palm oil, crude soyabean oil. Kakinada is having an edible oil per day refining capacity of more than 3000 MTS Major refineries are Acalmar Oils & fats limited, Ruchi In frastructure, Nikhil refineries ltd, etc. By mid 2007, kakinada will have 3 to 4 biodiesel units in operation namely Universal Biofuels , Naturol biofuels.

Andhra Pradesh has entered into a formal agreement with Reliance Industries for Jatropha planting. The company has selected 200 acres of land at Kakinada to grow jatropha for high quality bio-diesel fuel.[4]

In the next four years, Kakinada will need 20,000 mechanical engineers.


Kakinada Port

Kakinada Deep Sea Water Port:

The Port of Kakinada is on the Southern Part of East Coast of India at 16.59' (North) & Longitude 82.19'.(East). It is the principal sea port amongst the minor ports in INDIA and is under the control of the government of the State of Andhra Pradesh. The maritime history of the Port dates as far back as the year 1805, when the port of "Coringa" nearby had to be closed due to shoalir.g. The port activities for handling sailing ships of those days took place near about the present Jagannaickpur Bridge. In order to prevent silting in the navigational channel groynes were built extending them from time to time towards the sea, to a length of about 5 Kms. Thus the present commercial canal with a length of about 5 Kms. and width of about 70 Mts. had been formed for maintaining depths for boat navigation.

This port is classified as an intermediate port and is all weather sheltered anchorage port. Kakinada Bay, with water spread of about 2.5 Sq.Km. is encircled and protected upto three quarters of its perimeter by the mainland and the Godavari sand spit, also known as "Hope Island". This Island had originated about 200 years ago from the mouth of the river littoral drift along the shoreline and had extended to a length about 11 nautical miles so far, thus forming into a natural breakwater protecting the entire eastern portion from the fury of the sea and providing tranquility and shelter to the ships which are berthed at anchor in the Kakinada Bay. Thus, the port of Kakinada has become one of the safest natural harbours on the east coast of India.

Potential and Efficiency of Kakinada Port:

In the case of Kakinada Port, we can find easily that its potential from the view-point of cargo generation capacity of its hinter-land is being under-utilised.

The level of infrastructure available at the port is found to be far short of the requirements for handling export/import cargoes belonging to the industries that have come up or are proposed to be set-up in the port's hinter-land.

Hence, for meeting the requirements of handling liquid cargoes like GFCL raw materials, POL or Hindusthan Petroleum Ltd., Etc., and for meeting the future requirements of growth and modernisation, the Deep Water Port facility is being created with 150 crore ADB financial assistance.



[edit] Information technology

  • ForeTell Technologies Private Limited - ForeTell Technologies Private Limited is a Leading Software Development company in Kakinada, India
  • Nyros Technologies - NYROS Technologies is the first in offshore, outsourcing software company based in Kakinada, India

Recently Software Technologies Park of India has started an IT Park in Kakinada. A software gaint, Infotech and Nyros Technologies has started their services in Kakinada STPI.

Education

Kakinada is a major hub fulfilling the growing educational demand of people within the district. The past decade has witnessed exponential growth and many residential colleges have established themselves to offer quality secondary education. There are also several professional colleges in and around the city offering courses in Engineering, IT and Management at the graduate and post graduate level. Education in the town has received further impetus of late, with the arrival of IT majors such as Infosys, Wipro and Satyam to recruit bright students from their campuses.

  • Gandhi Nagar Municipal High School, Gandhinagar, Kakinada (one of the oldest school in Andhra Pradesh)
  • Mohan Convent High School&Degree College,Eswar Nagar,Kakinada
  • Pragati Little Public School,Venkata Nagar& Gandhi Nagar,Kakinada
  • Pragati IIT Talent School,Venkata Nagar,Kakinada
  • Pragati Junior College,Venkata Nagar,Kakinada
  • Pragati Degree College,Venkata Nagar,Kakinada
  • Pithapuram Raja Government Degree College (known as P.R. College) established by the Kings of Pithapuram, a local dynasty
  • Pithapuram Raja Government High School (known as P.R.G.H) established by the Kings of Pithapuram, a local dynasty
  • Mc Lauren High School
  • JNTU Engineering College is one of the oldest engineering colleges in Andhra Pradesh. It is a part of the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University system. Other JNTU colleges being at Hyderabad, Anantapur and Pulivendala (as of 2006).
  • Tagore Convent Educational Institutions - Established in 1975.
  • Nehru Convent educational institutions
  • Ideal Degree college
  • Rangaraya Medical College [www.rmc.ac.in] [1]
  • Andhra Polytechnic
  • Hamsavahini Vidyalaya http://www.hamsavahinividyalaya.com
  • MSN Charities educational institutions
  • Kakinada Public School. This is one of the CBSE schools started in early 80's and has been very successful in providing caliber students who later graduated in premier institutes of India ( IIT, IIM and REC's). The school initially was led by Anglo-Indian lady principle Ms Brown during 80's.
  • St Joseph's Convent School
  • Ashram Public School
  • Gandhi Centenary School (This is one of the oldest schools in kakinada started in 1969 by Kakinada Educational Society. At that time it was only for boys and it was famous for its educational standards and produced one of the best engineers and doctors who were graduates from IITs, IIM and AIIMS. This school is still active and started admitting girls beginning from 1993.
  • Nava Bharat Public High School
  • Canan Ankita Hotel Management Academy
  • Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Management and Sciences [www.rimsedu.in] [2]
  • Kakinada School of Preaching - www.ksop.org
  • St. Anthony's group of schools
  • Aditya Educational Institutions
  • Blue Bells school, Sreeramnagar
  • Pragati engineering college
  • V.S.Lakshmi Women's Degree College
  • Andhra University Post-graduate Extension Center
  • Akshara School
  • MSN English medium school aka Nehru convent, Meher nagar
  • Aditya educational group of institutions
  • Sea Horse Academy of Merchant Navy (www.seahorseacademy.com)
  • St. Xavier's High School ---Jagannaickpur Kakinada-533002,
  • Sama Public School, Jagannaickpur, Kakinada (Sama Suryanarayana Murthy Educational Society)
  • Z.P.High school, vakalapudi,kakinada
  • A. S. Degree College for Women
  • P V R Trust Degree College
  • Ideal Degree College
  • Rajiv Ghandi Institute of PostGraduate & Sciences.

Engineering colleges

  • Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (ESTB-1946)
  • Andhra Politechic (APT)
  • Pragati engineering college (ESTB-2001)
  • Aditya engineering college (ESTB-2001)
  • Chaitanya engineering college (ESTB-2006)
  • Kakinada institute of engineering and technology (KIET) (ESTB-2002)
  • Sai Aditya engineering college (ESTB-2004)
  • Sri Aditya engineering college (ESTB-2007)
  • Regency institute of technology, near Kakinada, Yanam, UT of Puduchery (Pondichery) (ESTB-2000)

Medical College

  • Rangaraya Medical College(ESTB-1954)

People

People from Kakinada can easily be identified by their characteristic East Godavari Telugu accent. They have gained a reputation for being hospitable, polite and cultured in their interaction with people. Education has spread its tentacles and a large part of the younger generation are migrating to the cities and out of the country in search of opportunities that meet their scale of ambition. However, there are significant parts of the society that ride the boom by expanding their businesses and investments. The local population is supplemented by immigrants who leave their villages to seek work and opportunity in this bustling town.

Food

East Godavari is famous for traditional Andhra cuisine and Kakinada is no different - mouth watering pickles (Aavakaaya) made from mango, vegetables (e.g. Caulifower Aavakaaya), chicken, shrimp, mutton and even fish. Interestingly, a few people here swear by the pungent taste of dried fish (Endu Chepa) and shrimp (Endu Royya). People arrive here from distant towns on business, and consider their trip incomplete when they fail to fit in a lunch or dinner at Sri Krishna Vilas, popularly known as Subbiah Hotel. This town is also famous for its unique Kotiah Kakinada Kaaja (Kotiah Sweets was founded in the year 1900), a sweet made from maida and dipped in sugar syrup. The locals frequent the innumerable carts strategically located at populous street corners to get their share of bhajis and a delightfully tasty mixture of onions, toasted rice, and sev (Pidatha Kindha Pappu). Kakinada is also one of the few regions in the entire Andhra Pradesh where Chekkarakeli aratipandu (banana) and Kothapalli kobbari maamidipandu (mango) are available.

at last

–Kakinada is also famous for its delicious pesarattu, a breakfast or brunch item formed into crepes from moong daal (pesara pappu), green chillies, ginger and cumin. These are sold in restaurants as well as street stalls.—

more

n old and very small native settlement by name "Kakavandivada" was said to exist before the foreigners had set their foot somewhere around the place where the present Kakinada city had developed. The present name 'Kakinada', it is said, is derived from 'Cocanada' the name given to their new settlement by a few merchants of Dutch origin. The Dutch connection with the towns is evident from the peculiar Dutch Character of the architecture and design of some of the old buildings here. Till then and for some years later, 'Korangi' the present small sea side village about 15 Kms. south of the present Kakinada town was a place of greater importance than 'Cocanada' from the view point of overseas trade and otherwise. Around the year 1905 the Cocanada Port facility was started to be made use of for export of some natural commodities. Mainly because of the transquil anchorage available in the shelter of the Godavari Sand Spit (also known as Hope Island) which is a nature's gift to this Port-the town had also grown consistently (from the sixe of small foreigners settlement) keeping even pace with the growth of merchantile activity at the Port.

The manificience and far-sigbtedness of Sri Suryarao Bahadur, the illustrous Raja of Pithapuram was perhaps the most important factor that contributed to the later growth of the city. Most of the Institutions, Organisations and Associations which covered the fields of education, culture and social reform were started either with his personal initiative or with the help of his liberal donations and grants. Each of the Institutions and Organisations were to become, in the later years, the nucleie around which the development and growth of the Town tookplace. Greatmen of letters and men with intense zeal for social and political reform, even from outside the Andhra area, got attracted towards these Institutions.

The Cosmopolitan atmosphere that is built-up here, as a consequence, gave a rare and unique opportunity to atleast two generation of students and youth of this city and around to get exposed to new winds of liberal thought which were then blowing over the country. Sri Raghupati Venkataratnam Naidu, Maharshi Sambamurty, Sri Devulapalli Krishna Shastry, Smt. Durgabai Deshmukh, Sri. Gora and Sri Uppala Laxmana Rao were a few among the luminaries whose association with the town we can ever be proud of. All this made Kakinada one of the centres of Andhra cultural and intellectual rennaissance. The Brahma Samaj and the Theosophical movements naturally found Kakinada to be a highly fertile ground for their consolidation and spread. The city also had a tradition of high political consciousness right from the days of the freedom movement. The Late Maharshi Bulusu Sambamurty, Sri Mallipudi Pallam Raju, Sri Mosalakanti Tirumala Rao, Dr. Vedantam Krishnayya and his wife Kamala Devi, Sri Rangayya naidu and Sri Prativadi Bhayankarachari (of the Kakinada Bomb case fame) were some of the many who had inspired and led the movements here. The meeting of the Indian National Congress was held here in the year 1923 under the presidentship of the famous Mohammed Ali. The meetings were attended by Kasturba Gandhi, Vallabhai Patel, Motilal Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajagopalachari and other national leaders. Also, as part of the student and youth antiimperialist movement led by the Student Federation of India, the city had the fortune of hosting the Netaji Subhashchandra Bose in the year 1939. From the Trade Union view-point also, Kakinada was perhaps the first city in the area where municipal scavanging workers and the stevedore workers at the Port were organised for their collective struggles.

With this tradition for the city, Kakinada had developed as a cultural, educational and political centre. Pithapuram Raja's Government College is now more than 100 years old. The men's Polytechnic and the Women's Polytechnic, when they were established here, were the first such Institutions in the Telugu Speaking area. At the commencement of the II World War, the Engineering College at Visakhapatnam had to be shifted to this place on a temperory basis and the college had to be regularised here after the end of the war when the public had agitated against it shift back to Visakhapatnam. In the year 1959, under the sage leadership of Dr. Col.Raju - ably assisted by Dr.M.V.Krishna Rao and Dr.P.V.N.Raju - Medical Education Society, Kakinada, was formed and the Society had (with the liberal donation received from the Rangaraya Trust, Tanuku) started Rangaraya Medical College, Kakinada. Subsequently the college was takeover by the Government. Malladi Satyalingam Naicker's Charities had established a group of educational institutions right rom the elementary school to a degree college and also a Vedic Pathasala to make the campus almost resemble a mini-university now. The Town Hall which was registered in the beginning of the Century; K.R.V.K.Library which was started in the year 1916 with the liberal donation of about 16,000 books from Sri K.R.V.Krishna Rao, Xamindar of Polavaram and the East Godavari Association the parent body for the Town Hall and the K.R.V.K.Library - have been centres for cultural activity here. The Youngmen's Happy Club - another cultural association here gave its ranks some of the past and present top ranking artistes to the Telugu stage and filmdom. Srirama Samajam (founded in 1894 by the late Sri Munuganti Sriramulu), Sangeeta Vidwat Sabha and Saraswati Gana Sabha - are three local registered organisations serving the cause of classical music over the long years to the pleasure of the connoissseur. The Cocanada Chamber of Commerce exclusively representing the shipping and foreign trade interests and the Godavari Chamber of Commerce representing the general trade are the two local Trade Associations having a record of over 100 years of useful service to the trading and commercial circles.

Against this predominently cultural and educational back-ground, a conscious and sincere effort was made by two individuals Sri Nakka Suryanarayana Murthy and Sri V. Sathi Raju to put the city on the Industrial Map of the country. They have together started Sri Ramadas Motor Transport Company - now a gainst in the automobile industry manufacturing a wide range of auto parts of high quality. S.R.M.T. has also encouraged establishment and development of some ancillary units to itself. Sarvaraya Textiles (manufacturing cotton-yarn) is another industry that has put the city on the Industrial Map of the Nation. But, inspite of all this, industrial activity in the city had been tardy for a few decades mainly because of the lack of atleast one major industry in or around the city.

Establishment of Godavari Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (manufacturing phosphatic fertilizer) and Nagarjuna Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (manufacturing nitrogeneous fertilisers) at the above position and with the setting-up of the above fertiliser units, Kakinada is now aptly being called the "Fertiliser City".

Kakinada Port which has been functioning as an Anchorage Port till now, is presently being developed as a Deep Water Berthing Port with the 250 crores financial assistance from the Asia Development Bank. Kakinada deep Water Port is expected to be commissioned with three shore-connected berths shortly.

The New Port facility that is comming up along with the availiability of petroleum and natural gas from the nearby offshore and on-shore locations for the Krishna-Godavari Basin, are presently opening up immense possibilities for establishment of port-based and gas-based heavy industries around Kakinada city. Any person endowed with a rational perspective vision into the conglomorate (covering atleast the four Municipal towns & cities of Kakinada. Pithapuram, Samalkot and Peddapuram) in the vast area surrounding Kakinada city.

It is very rare that any area gets such sudden and sure opportunity for development of Industry around as Kakinada city and its surrounding areas have fortunately got at the moment.

The Government, the municipal authorities, political parties and enlightened citizenry of city have to react positively and in time to provide a good push to this process of inudustrial development around the city of-course, taking simultaneously all the necessary precautions to avoid the un-desirable effects of un-planned sudden industrial growth over the socio-economic life of the city and its surrounding areas.

EID Parry teams up with Cargill for sugar E

Special Correspondent

Rs. 325-crore investment for unit in Kakinada


  • Co-generation plant proposed
  • Refinery will have an initial capacity of 6 lakh tonnes
  • Project to go on stream by December 2007
  • EID board recommends dividend of Rs. 4.50 per share

    — Photo: Bijoy Ghosh

    GLOBAL REACH: A. Vellayan (left), Vice-Chairman, EID Parry, and Daudi Lelijveld, Project Manager, Cargill Sugar, Geneva, at a press conference in Chennai on Monday.

    CHENNAI: EID Parry (India) Ltd. has teamed up with Cargill International S.A.

  • to float a joint venture to establish a port-based stand-alone sugar refinery in Kakinada in

  • Andhra Pradesh.

    EID Parry will hold 51 per cent in the joint venture and Cargill the balance. It may come

  • up either as an EoU (export-oriented unit) or located in a special economic zone (SEZ).

    The project will have an investment outlay of Rs. 325 crore ($72 million) with a debt equity

  • ratio of 1:1. The joint venture will have an ultimate refining capacity of one million tonnes.

  • Initially, it will have six lakh tonnes of refining capacity.

    To import raw sugar

    The project is expected to go on stream by December 2007 and it will have a payback period

  • of four years. The joint venture project will import raw sugar and process it for onward export as white sugar. Basically, the joint venture will service the white sugar requirements of the neighbouring

  • countries. It will also have an integrated co-generation system to take care of the steam and

  • power needs of the refinery.

    Addressing a press conference here on Monday, A. Vellayan, Vice-Chairman, EID Parry, said

  • the finer details of the joint venture were still being worked out. He said the Murugappa group

  • had a significant presence in Andhra Pradesh. EID, which had pioneered sugar production

  • in the country, would bring to the joint venture table its expertise in managing port infrastructure and superior technical skill. Cargill, one of the largest sugar traders in the world, would bring to the joint venture its well-known sourcing, marketing, trading and networking abilities, he added.

    Daudi Lelijveld, Project Manager, Cargill Sugar, Geneva, pointed to the SCM (supply chain management) and risk management skill of the overseas partner.

    P. Ram Babu, Managing Director of EID Parry, said the joint venture with Cargill would not in any way affect EID's own domestic market-led sugar import-export programme. To a question, Mr. Babu said EID had enough internal generation to fund the joint venture.

    Mr. Vellayan said EID had been working on a long-term plan for the last four years. As a consequence, it had de-merged its fertilizer division, sold the confectionery unit and got out of trading business. Today, EID was a pure play sugar and bio-product company, he added. The sugar division fetched EID revenue of Rs. 729 crore for the year ended March 2006 with earnings before interest and tax of Rs. 80 crore.

    For 2005-06, the company reported a turnover of Rs. 978.46 crore (Rs. 765.56 crore) and a profit after tax of Rs. 115.84 crore (Rs. 104.26 crore). The board of the company has recommended a dividend of Rs. 4.50 per share of Rs. 2 each. This includes a one-time dividend of Rs. 1.80 per share.

  • Kakinada pipeline feasible: Regulator

    Rakteem Katakey / New Delhi November 21, 2007



    But who gets to construct it will be decided through competitive bidding.

    The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulator has said that the proposed 1,600-km gas pipeline from Kakinanda to Dadri, which will be the longest in the country, is “prima facie feasible.”

    The pipeline, estimated to cost Rs 14,000 crore, has been proposed by Reliance Natural Resources Ltd (RNRL), an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group company.

    According to the proposal, it will be used to feed gas from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh to group company Reliance Energy Ltd’s proposed 7,000-Mw power plant at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh.

    “The project seems feasible as there is a market for gas along the route of the pipeline, besides the demand from the proposed Dadri power plant. However, according to the new draft pipeline policy, pipelines will be set up by companies that win the project in competitive bidding,” said a member of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB). The board is in the process of finalising the draft cross-country pipeline policy. An RNRL official declined to comment.
    PROPOSED MAJOR GAS PIPELINES

    Length
    (in km)

    RIL
    Kakinada-Chennai-Bangalore-Mangalore652
    Kakinada-Bengal1100
    RNRL
    Kakinada-Dadri1600
    Major approved gas pipeline projects
    (before the PNGRB was set up)
    GAIL
    Dadri-Bawana-Nangal610
    Chainsa-Gurgaon-Jhajjar-Hissar310
    Jagdishpur-Haldia876
    Dabhol-Bangalore730
    Kochi-Kanjirkkod-Bangalore/Mangalore840
    RIL
    Kakinada-Bharuch1385
    Source:Industry

    RNRL had earlier sought the board’s approval for laying the pipeline to transport its share of gas from Reliance Industries’ D6 block in the K-G basin to Dadri.

    The board official said the pipeline would not carry gas only for the Dadri plant and added the company laying it would also be able to sell to customers along the route under the open access policy. “Pipelines will come up wherever there is a market,” said the official.

    The draft policy comes at a time when other companies, like RIL, are also planning to lay new pipelines.

    While RIL is building a 1,400-km pipeline from Kakinada to Bharuch in Gujarat, it is planning to lay two other pipelines, from Kakinada to Mangalore in the south and from Kakinada to West Bengal in the east.

    RIL had, in early 2006, before the Reliance group was split between the Ambani brothers, agreed to sell 28 million cubic metres per day (mcmd) of gas from the K-G basin to RNRL for $2.34 per million British thermal unit.

    Petroleum Minister Murli Deora had, later that year, rejected the gas price agreement saying it was not arrived at through the arm’s-length bidding process.

    “We have to wait and see if gas is available for the pipeline. If that is tied up, we will call for competitive bidding according to the policy we have drawn up,” said the board official.

    He said since gas pipelines were a national property and were given a 10-year tax holiday in the last Budget, ensuring competition and transparency was a must.


    Work on Kakinada refinery to start in Jan

    Prasad Nichenametla & Rakteem Katakey / New Delhi November 12, 2007



    Work on the proposed Rs 24,000-crore crude oil refinery at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh is set to begin in the next couple of months, according to Andhra chief minister YSR Reddy.

    This is despite the builder of the refinery — Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) — expressing concerns about the feasibility of the project.

    “The oil refinery at Kakinada will be initiated in January. We have got an assurance from petroleum minister Murli Deora that all the studies on the refinery have been completed and it has been found feasible,” Reddy told Business Standard.

    The refinery, initially planned with a capacity of 7.5 million tonne per annum (mtpa), was found to be economically unviable, according to a pre-feasibility study conducted by government-owned Engineers India Ltd.

    However, continued pressure from the Andhra Pradesh government has forced ONGC, which is to build the refinery along with its subsidiary Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL), to take a re-look at the feasibility of a larger 15 mtpa refinery.

    ONGC Chairman and Managing Director RS Sharma said that a final decision on the export-oriented refinery would be taken by the end of this month.

    Reddy said that if the 15 mtpa capacity was also found unfeasible, then the refinery would be expanded to 30 mtpa. “The refinery is definitely coming,” he added.

    ONGC has already floated a special purpose vehicle, Kakinada Refinery and Petrochemical Ltd, for setting up the refinery. It is also in talks with the UK-based Hinduja group for selling part of the stake in the SPV.

    ONGC officials, however, maintain that the Kakinada refinery is not a feasible project as a Hindustan Petroleum Corporation-operated 7.5 mtpa refinery already exists nearby in Vishakapatnam. “Moreover, another 15 mtpa refinery is being planned in Vishakapatnam. This could make the Kakinada refinery economically unfeasible,” a senior ONGC official said.

    Officials in the petroleum ministry also echoed a similar sentiment. “The Kakinada refinery can only come at the expense of the proposed new refinery at Vishakapatnam. However, the government is very keen on the Vishakapatnam refinery. Also, global majors such as the LN Mittal group and French company Total have signed an agreement for the refinery in Vishakapatnam,” a senior official said.

    One analyst, however, added that the refinery sector in the country was booming and it did make sense to set up a new refinery with refining margins expected to remain strong.

    “Chennai Petroleum Corporation, in the half year ended September 2007, almost equalled the net profit it recorded in the entire last financial year. MRPL has also done extremely well. A strong rupee against the dollar is pushing up performance of standalone refineries,” the Mumbai-based analyst said.


    AE Biofuels builds biodiesel plant, begins work on glycerin refinery

    Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal

    AE Biofuels Inc. said Monday it built a new biodiesel facility in Kakinada, India.

    Cupertino-based AE Biofuels (OTCBB:AEBF) said the facility has a capacity of 50 million gallons per year, and the company has also begun an adjacent glycerin refinery.

    The additional refining processes will ""significantly increase the value of the glycerin by-product to be sold into Indian markets, the company said.

    Crude glycerin is the main by-product recovered from the separation phase of the biodiesel refining process, comprising about ten percent of volumes produced. AE Biofuels' expansion at Kakinada will upgrade the current glycerin refining process, enabling the company to produce, sell, and market pharmaceutical grade glycerin in India. Refined glycerin currently sells at up to an 80 percent premium over crude glycerin in the Indian market, the company said.


    Tuesday, 18 December , 2007, 10:18
    Last Updated: Tuesday, 18 December , 2007, 10:39

    Visakhapatnam: The Catholic Syrian BANK is planning to open 11 more branches before the end of the financial year, in addition to the existing 352, said R. Venkataraman, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.





    He was speaking after the inauguration of the first branch in the vicinity of Diamond Park here recently. Venkataraman said the bank would open another branch at Kukkatpalli in Hyderabad before the end of March and "we are also planning a branch at Kakinada, for which the licence is yet to be obtained." K.S. Shankar, Director (Finance) of the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), inaugurated the branch. Francy Davy, manager of the local branch, proposed a vote of thanks. The first ATM card was given to G. Philip, chief executive of Hotaco Pvt Ltd