The government would establish an authority named 'Expressway Development Authority' to deal with the activities related to expressways, Port and Highways Deputy Minister Nirmala Kothalawala said in Parliament yesterday.

He also revealed that the construction of the Southern Expressway from Galle to Matara and the outer circular road of Colombo, would be completed by 2013.

Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL), the flagship company of the Adani Group, on Thursday announced its decision to exit the real-estate business. The company felt that the move to divest its holding in the real-estate business, which is largely spread in the property markets of Ahmedabad and Mumbai will help it focus on its core business of coal mining, ports and power generation.

New Delhi: The government’s ambitious national urban development plan will ease up on the reform agenda for state and municipal governments. This is a major departure from the take-it-or-leave-it set of reforms that stymied them from dipping into the R60,000-crore corpus of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The revised mission due to be rolled out before the end of March after a five-year experience with the first one will instead offer two options for reforms to states. The first is a base-level reforms agenda that states will find easier to qualify for.

KOLKATA, 8 FEB: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation will allow parking for a maximum 180 cars on Park Street and the stretch on Jawaharlal Nehru Road opposite Oberoi Grand, the member, mayor-in-council in-charge of drainage, Rajib Deb, said today. The decision has been taken for faster movement of traffic along Park Street and opposite Oberoi Grand.

The KMC has demarcated the area on both thoroughfares where parking ~ 100 vehicles opposite Oberoi Grand and 80 cars on Park Street ~ will be allowed and boards have been put up to this effect.

Some interesting insights into what citizens think of the Delhi Master Plan-2021(MPD-2021) and how it impacts them, its errors and failures, and ways to improve and streamline it can be gleaned from the 500 suggestions received from the public that have now been uploaded on the Delhi Development Authority's website as part of the ongoing review of the Master Plan.

As the current financial year is coming to an end, the Almora district administration has stressed on the need to complete all the pending developmental projects in time with proper utilisation of the allotted funds for them. Reviewing the progress of various developmental projects in the district, DS Garbyal, district magistrate, Almora, informed that out of Rs33.93 crore released by the State Government against Rs 37.38 lakh proposed under the district plan, about Rs31.76 crore has been utilised which is about 76.23 per cent of the total amount released.

In an effort to boost tourism, Madhya Pradesh will convert seven government-owned forts and around 20 private heritage properties into hotels. The Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Department Corporation (MPSTDC) will invite private parties to invest in tourism infrastructure. At the first ever tourism conclave organised by MP Tourism and FICCI in Khajuraho last week, government and private stakeholders converged to discuss ways to attract tourists to the state.

In face to face, an election special programme by sister publication Navshakti, we spoke to local residents regarding the issues in the ward as well as what promises the contestants have to make. Ward profile : Ward name : Kamgar Krida Kendra - Dadar Railway Station Ward No. 184 Reservation : OBC Sitting corporator : Snehal Jadhav ( Shiv Sena) Population : 52781 ( SC : 4980, ST : 121) Teething issues : Local residents face a inconvenience due to the fish market located outside Kamgar stadium. Heaps of garbage are found lying around and cleanliness issues are unaddressed.

KOLKATA, 6 FEB: Kolkata Municipal Corporation will set up a separate cell comprising borough executive officers to oversee development work that are carried out in the slums, member, mayor-in-council (health and bustee), Mr Atin Ghosh, said today. The new cell will prepare a list of the amount spent on slums. Once the KMC has the actual figure of the money spent, it will be easier to prepare schemes, Mr Ghosh added.

As many as 172 roads in the new areas of Chennai Corporation will be taken up for integrated redevelopment. Stormwater drains, pavements, streetlights and ducts for electrical cables would be provided besides re-laying of the roads under the project.

The new initiative would cover 112 km of roads in the Tiruvottiyur, Manali, Madhavaram, Ambattur, Valasaravakkam, Alandur, Perungudi and Sholinganallur zones of the civic body.