Development Watch – Week #3 July ’23
Development News
New airport terminal at Port Blair
A new airport terminal has come up in Port Blair at a cost of Rs. 710 Crores. The Veer Savarkar airport was inaugurated on July 18. An apron suitable for two Boeing 767-400 and two Airbus-321 aircrafts has also been constructed. The airport can park 10 aircrafts at a time. The design resembles a shell-shaped structure depicting sea and islands. It has a total built up area of 40,800 sqm. The terminal building can handle 50 lakh passengers annually. It has double insulated roofing system to reduce heat gain.
July 3 hottest day in history
Climate scientists have declared July 3, 2023, as the hottest day ever recorded worldwide. This data has been provided by US government’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction. Average global temperature on July 3 reached 17.01 degrees celsius. Previous record if of 16.92 in August 2016. The scorching heat was attributed to climate change resulting from burning of fossil fuels and emerging El Nino weather pattern. Dr. Robert Rohde, lead scientist at Berkeley Earth, a non-profit climate research organization, explained that global temperature milestone was a clear consequence of climate change. Across the globe, various areas grappled with extreme heatwaves, wildfires, and other climate-related challenges. North Africa faced scorching temperatures up to 50 degrees celsius.
Programme for improving air quality in 10 cities
Accelerator for Clean Air Actions (ACAAS) is an initiative to extend technical support to cities looking to improve air quality management practices. It was launched by World Resources Institute (WRI) India. The program will be operational in 10 cities such as Surat, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Indore, Mumbai, Pune, Jalandhar, Agra, Gorakhpur and Chennai. ACAAS will help participating cities build local capacity, data-based understanding, clean air action planning. It will offer the cities a platform to engage with critical stakeholders to drive informed policy making. It will also aid in project preparation and on-ground implementation. Government of India launched National Clean Air Program (NCAP) in 2019 to reduce particulate matter. City-specific air-quality management plans have been prepared. The initiative is supported by Open Philanthropy, Bloomberg Philanthropies and Clean Air Fund.
300 trains cancelled due to waterlogging
More than 300 mail and express trains, and 406 passenger trains have been cancelled due to waterlogging on tracks. Northwest India saw incessant rainfall over 3 days in J&K, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, UP & Rajasthan. They recorded “heavy to extremely heavy” rains. As a result, overflowing rivers, creeks and drains massively damaged the infrastructure and disrupted essential services in these states. Due to heavy waterlogging, Northern Railways also cancelled 406 passenger trains, diverted 28 trains, short-originated 56, and short terminated 54 trains.
Small towns around Delhi to get makeover
Smaller towns around Delhi are set to get a New Jersey-style makeover. With a noticeable increase in the number of corporates and a rapid rise in Delhi’s organized sector working population, several micro-markets are seeing traction in outlying areas of NCR. There is demand for both residential and commercial properties. Towns like Alwar, Sonepat, Meerut, etc are being provided with new-age rapid commuter trains and interference-free motorways. This has given incentive to top property companies to take up self-sufficient sub-urban living to the formerly remote locations. New rapid train corridors will be connecting Delhi and Noida to Meerut, Karnal and Alwar. Palwal, Bahadurgarh and Sonepat have already been linked by peripheral expressways and access-controlled motorways.
Energy transition to become a $23 trillion market
The ministerial meeting of US-India Strategic Clean Energy Partnership (SCEP) recently took place in New Delhi. The US Secretary for of Energy has stated that the global energy transition is estimated to become a USD 23-trillion market by 2030. This involves the shift from fossil-based fuels (oil, coal) to renewable sources like wind and solar. On account of this various American companies are seeking closer ties with Indian firms to tap the opportunity.
Local Feedback
LocalFeedback.org aims to track and document actionable parameters that help improve urban and rural infrastructure. The founder, Susmita, has juggled diverse roles in real estate, project budgeting, valuation and execution on construction sites. Having traveled to more than 20 countries, she has worked across 4 regions in India. Her areas of interest include sustainable buildings, electric mobility and urban development. She visited top-ranking cities on livability indices and has presented published papers at international conferences.