London, June 4 : Construction sector in Britain rebounded moderately in May as boosted by fast increases of residential building work, said a market survey report released Tuesday.

The Construction Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) jointly issued by Markit and the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS) rose to 50.8 in May from 49.4 in the previous month, hitting the highest since October last year.

A PMI reading of 50 or greater indicates expansion, while below 50 indicates contraction.

Infrastructure major, Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has said that it has secured orders worth an impressive Rs. 2,542 crore in different sectors during April and May of 2013.

The company said in a statement that, "The Building & Factories Business has bagged new orders worth Rs. 1,021 crores for the construction of residential towers, a cement plant and a factory at various locations across India, including additional orders from operating projects."

Reliance Infrastructure has said on Tuesday that its net profit has risen by an impressive 76 per cent to Rs. 726.12 crore during the quarter till March 31, 2013.

The company had recorded a net profit of Rs. 411.46 crore during the same period of the previous financial year, it said in a statement. The company's total operating income stood at Rs 6,187 crore during the quarter from January to March 2013 compared to Rs 7,135 crore in the same quarter of the previous financial year.

Global rating agency Fitch's Indian arm will soon start rating infrastructure debt funds (IDFs) that would make them a more credible option for investors, Department of Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram announced on Monday.

Getting their own investment rating would help IDFs in winning trust of foreign investors as they would be able to assess whether or not their investments in a particular IDF would give them the kind of return they expect.

Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) on Friday reported yet another quarterly loss, mainly due to long delays in realization of payments and clearances of projects.

HCC, one of the leading infrastructure companies in India, announced that it suffered a consolidated net loss of Rs 502.6 million in the quarter ended Mar 31, 2013. In the March quarter of the previous fiscal, the company had suffered a net loss of Rs 541.7 million.

The Haryana Government on Thursday allowed Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to opt for industrial colony licence, a move that will benefit developers of as many as two dozen SEZs in the state.

The SEZ scheme had collapsed in Haryana as farmers refused to sell their lands and it was not feasible for promoters to purchase land at very high market rates.

Following the state government's approval, the promoters of SEZs can now develop residential and industrial sites.

Griffin Coal, an arm of infrastructure giant Lanco Infratech, has finally reached an out-of-court settlement with Perdaman Chemicals over disputed supply of coal.

As part of the settlement, Griffin will pay A$7.5 million (nearly Rs42 crore) to Perdaman, plus legal costs to be determined by the Supreme Court of Western Australia.

The dispute had erupted when Griffin reneged on its commitment to supply coal to Perdaman's upcoming fertilizer plant. The case was filed in 2011.

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has warned that funding restraints for highway developers would make it hard for it to go ahead with Build Operate Transfer (BOT) projects in the sector.

The NHAI pointed out that a total of 13 highway projects received no financial bids during the financial year of 2012-13, even when some of those projects were offered more than once.

After seeing some key exits over the past two months, infrastructure giant GMR is on the verge of losing another senior executive.

GMR has announced that its chief financial officer (CFO) Amarthaluru Subba Rao would step down sometime in July this year to pursue his career interests elsewhere.

In a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the infrastructure group said, "Mr Subba Rao Amarthaluru, group chief financial officer, has decided to pursue his career interests elsewhere."

New Delhi, April 22 : Andhra Pradesh has 30 national highways having a length of 6,759 km, parliament was informed Monday.

Road Transport and Highways Minister S. Sathyanarayana told the Lok Sabha that work on improving 56 of the highways was in progress in the state.

He said some of the projects had got delayed due to various reasons including land acquisition, shifting of utilities and slow progress of work by the contractor.(IANS)

New Delhi, April 22 : The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has offered to invest $2 billion on infrastructure development in India, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said Monday.

Sharma said the Gulf country made the proposal for investment during the first meeting of the India-UAE joint investment task force held in February this year.

"The issues relating to promotion and facilitation of investments between the two countries and the modalities to address issues associated with existing investments between the two countries were discussed," Sharma said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

The government has plans to award highway contracts worth nearly Rs 90,000 crore this financial year, people familiar with developments at the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways revealed.

An official from the ministry said the government would award national highway contracts spanning 7,300 kilometers this financial year, and 52 per cent of the total length (3,800km) would be awarded from April to September.

Lucknow, April 2 : Uttar Pradesh will soon set up an infrastructure development fund (IDF), Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav announced here Tuesday.

Speaking in Lucknow while launching projects worth Rs. 3,337 crore for Noida, Greater Noida and the Yamuna Expressway Authority, Yadav said the fund would ensure all-round development in the state.

"Development has become the fiefdom of a few districts and cities like Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and Lucknow. Our government wants development to be all inclusive," he said.

Addis Ababa, March 28 : Two Indian companies have been awarded contracts worth over 2 billion Br (over $100 million) to build roads in Ethiopia.

Ethiopian Roads Authority (ERA) has signed the contracts with the Indian firms.

JMC Projects Indian Limited Company, which participated in Ethiopia's road construction for the first time, was awarded a 109 km project for 1.1 billion Br earlier this month.

The agreement was signed between Monmohan Sawheni, vice president of JMC projects, and Zaid Woldegbriel, director general of ERA, at its headquarters.

Durban, March 26 : South African companies can play a major role in India's plans to pump $1 trillion over the next five years in infrastructure development, almost half of which is envisaged by the private sector, including firms from overseas, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma has said.

South African companies have respectable experience, expertise and technical skills in handling infrastructure development in emerging economies, said Sharma, who is here as part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's delegation at the 5th BRICS Summit.

The shares of Housing Development and Infrastructure Ltd fell significantly after credit agency Credit Analysis and Research Ltd (CARE) downgraded the company’s non-convertible debentures issue.

The real estate developer’s shares fell 19.65 per cent to Rs 48.85, which is its lowest level ever, on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) after the research agency downgraded the issue. The shares of the company fell 19.83 per cent to a one year low of Rs 48.70 on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The company’s market capitalisation fell from Rs 423 crore to Rs 2,124 crore.

Global financial body, the World Bank has imposed a six month sanction on Infrastructure giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) alleging that the company was involved in fraud by committing forgery.

India's union Finance minister P Chidambaram has said that low cost capital through infrastructure debt funds (IDF) might help in reducing the costs and the tariff charges for infrastructure services in the country. Chidambaram said that the lower cost funds might help costs as well as tariffs for services like roads and airports and others.

Authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have said they are planning an initial investment of $2 billion in infrastructure projects in India.

The two countries reached the agreement at the first meeting of the India-UAE task force on investments, which was held in the Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi today. India's Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said that UAE will provide support to the Indian authorities for establishing strategic oil reserves in India.

Bangalore-based infrastructure giant GMR, the operator of the airports in New Delhi and Hyderabad, has reportedly hired consulting firm McKinsey & Co to find a plan to cut costs.

A person with direct knowledge of the development said, on the condition of anonymity, that GMR Infra expects to cut costs by 5 per cent to 10 per cent from implementing the suggestions to be made by McKinsey.

The plan, which will involve control of capital spending via redesigning of projects and improvements in the engineering processes, is expected to take effect within the next few weeks.