India’s goal to achieve 20,000 MW of solar power by 2022 is proving to be a challenge as the industry awaits tweaks to a draft policy that will determine the tariff and allow the country to import photovoltaic cells—a technology that is not established in the country. But the road bumps haven’t stopped the development of some solar facilities in the country. The grid is underpowered, but PV sector is gaining turf. While the country currently has almost no grid-connected solar power, a recent McKinsey& Co. survey ranks India as the most attractive destination in the world for solar PV

India plans to build 15, 600 kilometers of expressways by 2022 at a cost of more than $100 billion, and the concrete industry needs to be prepared for increasing demand, says the country’s transport minister. Starting in April, India’s daily average construction rate of 9 km of roads may increase to 20 km, says Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath. Mumbai-Pune Expressway is one of few India roads with some concrete paving Nath spoke at the National Seminar on Concrete Highway Projects, held in New Delhi last month, at which sponsors emphasized sustainability and quality. According to Sumit Banerjee,

The Indian government is considering adopting a new rating system for all new planned government and public-sector buildings. The Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA), developed by the Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in New Dehli, was first introduced in mid-2008 as a way to rate buildings’ environmental performance in a variety of climates. It rates buildings on a scale of one to five, with five being the highest performance rating. GRIHA has been developed for all types of buildings in different climatic zones of the country, said Deepak Gupta, secretary of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

Though work is expected to resume in about five weeks, the Dec. 24 collapse of a 50-meter-long portion of an unfinished, 1,100-m-long cable-stayed bridge, some 50 m above the river Chambal near Kota in Rajasthan, has left the National Highway Authority of India baffled. The accident killed more than 45 people. Many others still are missing. Crews are removing more than 8,000 tonnes of concrete that fell, killing more than 45 people. The $65-million project, 310 miles from New Delhi, consists of a 700-m-long cable-stayed structure with a 350-m main span and an access viaduct on either end. Hyundai Engineering

Environmentalists were disappointed by the two-week United Nations-sponsored Copenhagen climate- change summit, which failed to set binding emissions targets. But the Danish conference, attended by 119 government heads, has helped stimulate engineers to promote themselves as low-carbon champions. Indonesian floods are thought to be tied to climate change. Global summit in Copenhagen produced only an outline of how countries may address the issue, but engineering firms see clients who believe “decarbonizing” is going to happen. Related Links: Head Sees Climate Change Chances: Arup Group Gears up to Low Carbon 'Suffering and Economic Collapse' Atkin's Keith Clarke on Global Warming Regardless

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is close to completing tunneling for its second phase of construction, with less than 2 kilometers left out of 35 km, following the completion of India’s longest tunnel in an urban area built using the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM). The 2.85-km-long tunnel is part of the 22.7-km Airport Express Line, which will connect the Delhi city center to the international airport when completed in the summer of 2010. Photo: Neelam Mathews / ENR Delhi Metro rail cars are delivered by Russian Antonov cargo plane earlier this year. Photo: Delhi Metro Rail Corp. New

Exasperated with neglect from the government of India’s eastern state of Bihar, two remote villages on top of a hill have built a 4-kilometer-long road using the most basic tools, including hammers, chisels and trowels. Barwan Kala and Barwan Khurd, located in the forested Kaimur Hills, have a combined population of 3,000. most of whom are farmers. Photo: Prashant Ravi Villagers used muscle-powered levers to remove boulders from road’s path. “We are cursed,” says Chandrama Yadav, a local resident involved in the construction work in an exclusive to ENR. “Over 100 men between 30 and 60 years are not married

An investigation has been launched into why 1,000 sq m of roof was blown off Indira Gandhi International Airport’s six-month-old domestic terminal during a storm on Aug. 21 that had winds of over 90 kilometers per hour lasting 10 minutes. The section comprised about 5% of the 20,000 sq m high-tensile steel roof on the $100-million terminal. Photo: Manoj Kumar Investigators want to find out why new terminal roof section succumbed to wind. Delhi International Airport Ltd. (DIAL), the concessionaire that holds a contract to develop, manage and operate the airport, has formed a team to look into whether there

The global financial downturn has not passed over Macau, the world’s biggest gaming market. But work on four hotels of the 70% complete Las Vegas Sands development, stalled in November, is on course to begin again by the end of the year if the developer obtains financing to complete the $12-billion project, which includes an 1,800-room Sheraton and three casinos on reclaimed land known as the Cotai Strip. Rival Melco PBL Entertainment has raised $200 million in the U.S. to repay debts and accelerate repayments due on a $1.75-billion construction loan for the partially built $2.1-billion urban entertainment resort development,

A design flaw and inadequate concrete curing in a cantilevered segment of an elevated rail track being built in Delhi, India, caused the July 12 collapse that killed six people, according to a government report released on July 28. The rail agency Delhi Metro Rail Corp. (DMRC) may ban from further work the design-build contractor that holds several other contracts on the system. DMRC also is inspecting 87 piers previously constructed for the project. Photo: AP/Wideworld Report points to detailing flaws and concrete curing issues in girder collapse. A 4.2-meter-long cantilevered segment collapsed when crews with Gammon India, Mumbai, used