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Welcome to the IUP Journal of Infrastructure

March'12


Previous Issues


The IUP Journal of Infrastructure is a quarterly finance journal focusing on Urban Infrastructure, Transport Infrastructure, Health and Tourism, Education, Power and Port. IJI deals with the issues relating to regulations, bid and tender process, financing and/or actual operations and many more issues for the benefit of practitioners and academicians.

  • Urban Infrastructure
  • Transport Infrastructure
  • Health & Tourism Education
  • Power & Ports
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A Management Approach to Addressing Power Sector Issues in India
Affordable Housing for Urban Poor in India: Prospects and Challenges
Stakeholders’ Perception on the Buildability Practice in the Nigerian Building Construction Industry
Millennium Development Goals and Infrastructure for Sustained
Economic Growth: A Contemporary Quandary for the Indian Economy
Performance of Power Sector in Andhra Pradesh: A Study of APGENCO Limited
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Contents
(March 2012)

A Management Approach to Addressing Power Sector Issues in India

-- Ipshita Basu and Renuka Garg

Power sector in India is an essential infrastructural element necessary for robust economic development but is plagued by multifarious issues. The perpetual poor condition of the sector calls for a proactive result-oriented system to address the issues and not resort to committees, policies and aimless bureaucratic deliberations. This study presents the findings of an empirical survey listing the main issues affecting the sector, and concludes that many of the power sector issues are interrelated, the solutions to which do not lie with only the power ministry. It suggests the employment of a practical management approach to tackle these issues.

Affordable Housing for Urban Poor in India: Prospects and Challenges

-- B L Rajput

Housing is considered as one of the basic human needs. According to the Government of India, the total housing requirement during the 11th Plan period would be 26.53 million dwelling units. Further 99% of this shortage pertains to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and Lower Income Groups (LIG). Inspite of the necessary steps taken by the central, state and local governments, there exists a large gap between the demand and supply of houses. If suitable measures are not taken, this gap will again increase and further aggravate the urban housing shortage problem. The growing urban housing shortage is mainly because of the exponential growth of population, fast rate of urbanization and inadequate addition to the existing housing stock. At present, India needs to build many million homes at the right location with affordable prices and adequate quality, especially for EWS and LIG class of people. This paper mainly discusses the background of urban housing shortage in India and the necessary steps needed to reduce the urban housing shortage.

Stakeholders’ Perception on the Buildability Practice in the Nigerian Building Construction Industry

-- Shehu Ahmadu Bustani, Kabir Bala, Yetomiwa Kabirat Smith,
Nasiru Idris Medugu and M Rafee Majid

The paper highlights the relevance of integrating construction knowledge with design at the pre-construction stage. The extent to which construction knowledge is factored into the design of building to facilitate ease of construction and achievement of the project objectives has always been a subject of debate. Against this background, this paper examines the perception of stakeholders of building projects, namely, the owners, designers and contractors on the buildability practice in Nigeria. A questionnaire was designed and administered to the selected stakeholders. Results of the response from 42 questionnaire surveys revealed that the stakeholders ranked functionality/client satisfaction as the most important design consideration. In the same way, standardization was considered as the most important buildability attribute. Stakeholders’ overall ranking also showed that design and build is the most favored method in terms of support to buildability. Furthermore, joint design review by designers and builders/constructors at the early design stage was ranked as the most effective means of enhancing ease of construction among some suggested methods. The outcome of the research would assist in understanding the critical issues impacting buildability improvement within the context of the building construction industry in Nigeria.

Millennium Development Goals and Infrastructure for Sustained Economic Growth: A Contemporary Quandary for the Indian Economy

-- Sujit Kumar Roy

The stellar performance of the Indian economy, being widely publicized as the success of the democratic setup of the country, has drawn admirable attention from the rest of the world. But vis-à-vis this tinsel growth story, its democratic deficit also makes itself manifest in the rising number of the underclass who have not benefited from this growth. Even with 11 Five Year Plans, India is still to ensure food, drinking water, basic education and healthcare for all. On the other hand, despite a near double-digit growth, the Indian economy is on the throes of infrastructural deficits, posing serious threat to its growth potential. Sustained economic growth requires investments in critical infrastructure such as roads, railways, airports and even swanky malls and hotels for its super rich. Which way should India go? This paper explores the contradiction of India’s economic growth which has failed to touch the lives of its poor and suggests that much of its policy dilemma can be resolved in the light of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)—the widely accepted benchmark for acceptable level of poverty, hunger, child mortality and other parameters of human well being.

Performance of Power Sector in Andhra Pradesh: A Study of APGENCO Limited

-- G Shailaja and K Rajender

Power sector plays a predominant role in the economic development of a country. To maintain the average growth rate of the Indian economy at 7%, the country has to increase its energy consumption by at least 4% annually. India is not only the world’s 11th largest energy producer (24%) but also the 6th largest energy consumer (3.4%); however, the growth is not commensurate with the increasing demand for power. Though the Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGENCO) Limited is one of the biggest power generation corporations of Andhra Pradesh, it has also been facing some problems, such as increasing cost of production and target achievements in the process of fulfilling the needs of households, and industrial and agricultural sectors. This paper attempts to evaluate the performance of APGENCO, focusing on the key areas of Plant Load Factor (PLF), sector-wise consumption, installed capacity, cost of generation as well as targets and achievements for the study period.

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Automated Teller Machines (ATMs): The Changing Face of Banking in India

Bank Management
Information and communication technology has changed the way in which banks provide services to its customers. These days the customers are able to perform their routine banking transactions without even entering the bank premises. ATM is one such development in recent years, which provides remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the development of this self-service banking in India based on the secondary data.

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is playing a very important role in the progress and advancement in almost all walks of life. The deregulated environment has provided an opportunity to restructure the means and methods of delivery of services in many areas, including the banking sector. The ICT has been a focused issue in the past two decades in Indian banking. In fact, ICTs are enabling the banks to change the way in which they are functioning. Improved customer service has become very important for the very survival and growth of banking sector in the reforms era. The technological advancements, deregulations, and intense competition due to the entry of private sector and foreign banks have altered the face of banking from one of mere intermediation to one of provider of quick, efficient and customer-friendly services. With the introduction and adoption of ICT in the banking sector, the customers are fast moving away from the traditional branch banking system to the convenient and comfort of virtual banking. The most important virtual banking services are phone banking, mobile banking, Internet banking and ATM banking. These electronic channels have enhanced the delivery of banking services accurately and efficiently to the customers. The ATMs are an important part of a bank’s alternative channel to reach the customers, to showcase products and services and to create brand awareness. This is reflected in the increase in the number of ATMs all over the world. ATM is one of the most widely used remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the growth of ATMs of different bank groups in India.
International Scenario

If ATMs are largely available over geographically dispersed areas, the benefit from using an ATM will increase as customers will be able to access their bank accounts from any geographic location. This would imply that the value of an ATM network increases with the number of available ATM locations, and the value of a bank network to a customer will be determined in part by the final network size of the banking system. The statistical information on the growth of branches and ATM network in select countries.

Indian Scenario

The financial services industry in India has witnessed a phenomenal growth, diversification and specialization since the initiation of financial sector reforms in 1991. Greater customer orientation is the only way to retain customer loyalty and withstand competition in the liberalized world. In a market-driven strategy of development, customer preference is of paramount importance in any economy. Gone are the days when customers used to come to the doorsteps of banks. Now the banks are required to chase the customers; only those banks which are customercentric and extremely focused on the needs of their clients can succeed in their business today.

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