Sri Lanka gives nod to $442-million wind project of Adani Group

Sri Lanka gives nod to $442-million wind project of Adani Group Clearance comes barely a month since the Indian multinational conglomerate’s stocks plummeted following U.S.-based short-seller Hindenburg’s damaging report on the Group

• Crisis-hit Sri Lanka has approved a $442-million wind power project of Adani Green Energy, barely a month since the Indian multinational conglomerate’s stocks plummeted following U.S.-based short-seller Hindenburg’s damaging report on the Group.
• “Adani, a leading Indian company” received the project approval “to start two wind power plants in Mannar and Pooneryn areas of [northern] Sri Lanka,” the Board of Investment (BOI) of Sri Lanka said. The project would likely create 2,000 jobs, and in two years, generate about 350 MW of power, the Board said in a statement.
• The BOI’s approval effectively takes the Adani Group’s total investments in the island nation over the $1 billion-mark. It has already committed to pumping in $700 million at a strategic port terminal in Colombo, and work on the West Container Terminal began in November 2022.
• Last year, the Adani Group’s projects triggered controversy in Sri Lanka, with government critics raising questions over transparency and due process in clearing the projects. The Opposition accused the Group of making a “backdoor entry” into the country’s energy sector, and within months, Sri Lanka amended its energy laws to eliminate competitive bidding in the energy sector.

Char Dham Yatra - Yamunotri to get a ropeway

• The government has deployed SRM Engineering and FM Pvt. Ltd. for constructing the 3.38-km-long ropeway
• The Uttarakhand government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) worth ₹167 crores for a ropeway to Yamunotri temple from Kharsali. It will reduce the travel to the temple to 15 minutes from three to four hours that pilgrims trek to the holy shrine.
• The government has deployed SRM Engineering and FM Pvt. Ltd. for constructing the 3.38-km-long ropeway. It has given a deadline of three years to finish the project.
• State Tourism Minister Satpal Maharaj said that the ropeway to be constructed from Kharsali to Yamunotri temple will connect the summer and winter abodes of goddess Yamuna and will open another new chapter in the possibilities of religious tourism in Uttarakhand.
• According to the government, the ropeway will be of monocable detachable type. It will be able to carry 500 passenger in an hour. The capacity of one coach of the ropeway will be to carry eight people. This ropeway will work on the public private partnership (PPE) model.
• The lower terminal of the ropeway will be built at a cost of about ₹166.82 crore. It will be built on 1.787 hectare land in Kharsali, while the upper terminal will be built on 0.99 hectare land.

‘Nine guest countries’ to summit will be ultimately guided by ‘continuity’ of G20

• The meet comes in a year when G20 is struggling to strike a balance between the agenda of western countries and that of the Global South
• The “nine guest countries” to the G20 summit and ministerial meetings are expected to bring their own plans to the events but they will be ultimately guided by the “continuity” of G20, a source familiar with the planning of the summit has informed.
• Under India’s Presidency, nine countries — Bangladesh, Egypt, Mauritius, Netherlands, Nigeria, Oman, Singapore, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates — have been invited to be the “guest countries” in a year when the G20 is struggling to strike a balance between the agenda of the western countries and that of the Global South.
• “The invitee countries are like any other participants of G20. This is an opportunity for these countries to come and be apartners partner in the G20 process. We will not create preconditions for countries saying ‘don’t bring this or that’ but G20 has a certain agenda.
• G20 has a continuity as the summit represents a continuous process that has run through many Presidencies,” said the source emphasising that the G20 lays seeds for actionable policy and therefore the “invitee countries” are also expected to play an important role in the summit without in anyway derailing it.
• The agenda of this year’s G20 summit is in the early stage and the ideas are being “socialised”, said the official. The evident caution regarding the ideas is partly fuelled by the intense differences that have been generated by the division among the leading members of the group because of the Ukraine crisis.