In the biggest-ever civic contract to concrete 400 km of road for Rs 6,080 crore, the BMC has finalised five big construction firms experienced in national highway construction to execute the work and has weeded out small road contractors

The railways is readying a plan to build elevated tracks for running semi-high speed passenger trains on popular sectors such as Delhi-Jaipur, Mumbai-Pune, Bangalore-Chennai and Delhi-Amritsar via Chandigarh. This will require investment of Rs 150-160 crore per kilometre through direct budget support

The India Infrastructure Finance Company (IIFCL) has approved a loan of Rs 6,630 crore for the development of six major airports. In addition, IIFCL has given preliminary approval of Rs 638 crore for the development of a greenfield airport in Andhra Pradesh.

Indian Railways has included 90 railway stations in the southern railway for modernisation under Amrit Bharat Scheme. About 15 railway stations in each of the six divisions - Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchchirappalli, Salem, Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram will be modernised with a long-term vision, said official sources from the railways.

Hubballi Airport will be upgraded as an International Airport soon with the extension of the current runway by an additional 600 metres to facilitate the landing of the bigger aircrafts and the construction of a new terminal building.

TriVeda Capital plans to raise a Rs 200-crore AIF corpus to invest in plotted development projects. The fundraising involves retaining an additional Rs 50 crore through a green-shoe option. A Category II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF), Bangalore Opportunity, focuses on plotted development and residential assets in major South Indian metropolitan areas.

The Jammu and Kashmir government has launched an ambitious project targeted to revolutionise the food processing sector and transform the lives of farmers in the UT. The "UT Level Food Processing Programme for Development of Clusters for Specific Products of J&K" is a Rs 879.75 crore initiative that aims to maximise farmer income and minimise post-harvest losses.

The state cabinet gave its approval to new planning areas of 10 towns to pave the way for the constitution of corresponding planning authorities and drafting the master plan for future development.

Pou Chen Corporation is planning to set up a new manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu. The Taiwan-based footwear giant is in advanced stages of finalising the location for the unit, which is likely to attract an investment of over Rs 500 crore.