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conStrUction TICKEr TAPE Multilateral funding agency Asian Development Bank has
ADb CLEArS `1095 CrOrE LOAN FOr UrbAN POOr
HOUSING PrOJECT IN TAMIL NADU

approved about `1,095 crore loan for a sustainable housing
project for the urban poor in Tamil nadu.
Tamil nadu is vital to India’s economic growth, contributing
8.54 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Economic opportunities have increased rural–urban migration
in the state, which already has one of the highest urbanisation
rates in India. Tamil nadu’s housing shortfall accounts for 6.66 per
cent of the national deficit, and when mapped against income
levels, low-income households bear most of the shortage. The
aim is to provide vulnerable and disadvantaged households
JSW STEEL TO CrEATE DIGITALLY CONNECTED SMArT access to inclusive, safe, and affordable housing infrastructure
STEEL FACTOrIES IN INDIA bY FY25 and services.Tamil nadu has a population of more than 72 million
JSW Steel plans to create a network of digitally connected (7.2 crore), nearly half of which are living in urban areas.The rapid
smart steel factories in India by FY25 by deploying advanced urbanisation and growth in the urban population will require
technologies such as enhanced AI, machine learning & robotics adequate urban infrastructure and services, including housing.
and connected cloud capabilities.
JSW Steel began its pilot digital initiative in 2017 through The project
implementation of Athena project. These digital pilots have With this `1095 crore loan, through the Tamil nadu Slum
helped JSW Steel drive an EBITDA impact of over `1,200 crore Clearance Board, the project will construct housing units in
as of March 2021. nine different locations and relocate about 6,000 households
As part of its Digitally Connected Smart Steel Factory Roadmap, vulnerable to natural hazards to safer locations.
JSW Steel’s first smart factory to go operational will be JSW Steel It will also help Tamil nadu’s Directorate of Town and Country
Vijayanagar Works in FY23. This will be followed by its steel-making Planning develop regional plans to map the State’s economic
facilities at JSW Dolvi Works in Maharashtra, JSW Salem Works at and infrastructure development including affordable housing,
Tamil nadu followed by its downstream facilities and those under environmental protection, disaster risk management, and
Joint Control. gender.
JSW Steel is collaborating with Indian and Global companies for A portion of ADB’s assistance will be invested by the State
its Digitization initiatives including Boston Consulting Group (BCG). government as equity into the Tamil nadu Shelter Fund to
As the Company moves towards its target of achieving 37.5 catalyse private sector financing and support investments mainly
MTPA steel-making capacity by FY25, its digital roadmap now in industrial housing and working women’s hostels for low-income
takes a strategic turn to cover manufacturing operations, mining and migrant workers.
operations, supply chain, HR, and Finance processes. JSW Steel’s In addition, ADB will provide a nearly `10.95 crore technical
transition to digitally connected smart steel manufacturing assistance (TA) grant from its Technical Assistance Special Fund
includes creating a smart iron zone, creating a smart steel to support the capacity building of government agencies
zone, and developing smart milling zone. The overall objective responsible for delivering affordable housing and regional
of creating the Smart Iron Zone is to ensure highest possible planning in the state. The TA will document successful approaches
throughput while maintaining lower costs and reducing wastage to affordable housing delivery, including the graduation
/ emissions. programme for vulnerable relocated beneficiaries, that can be
In its smart steel zone, JSW will deploy IoT, implement Machine adopted in other cities and countries.
Learning algorithms and leverage the power of Connected Cloud
capabilities to achieve additional throughput (by lowering cycle GODrEJ PrOPErTIES SAYS SOLD APArTMENTS WOrTH
time), optimize operational costs, minimize defects, increase `575-CrOrE IN NOIDA PrOJECT II PHASE LAUNCH
machine availability as well as enhance safety at the steel zone. Mumbai-based realty developers Godrej Properties has
announced clocking sales of `575 crore in a single day at the
APOLLO PIPES bEGINS COMMErCIAL PrODUCTION AT launch of the second phase of its project Godrej Woods in noida.
NEW UNIT IN rAIPUr With this, the Godrej Group’s real estate development company’s
Apollo Pipes has commenced commercial production at its total sales at the project Evergreen in noida sector 43 has
newly set-up unit in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. Apollo Pipes is a piping touched around `1,140 crore in the last 6 months. The developer
solution provider. The company’s product profile includes over said it has sold 340 homes with an area of over half a million
1,000 product varieties of cPVC, uPVC, and HDPE pipes, water square feet on the first day of launch. noida is an important
storage tanks, PVC taps, fittings and solvents. The products cater city for the company and hopes to build on this momentum in
to an array of industrial applications such as agriculture, water the years ahead. Godrej Properties entered the national Capital
management, construction, infrastructure, and telecom ducting Region (nCR) market in 2010 and has until now added 17 projects
segments. across 5 cities and has delivered 6 projects.

32 COnSTRuCTIOn OPPORTunITIES|OCTObEr 2021