Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Sunday, Oct 03, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Sunday, Oct 03, 2004 |
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Corporate
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Announcements Jamshedpur Utilities to offer civic services in other towns Ambar Singh Roy
Jamshedpur , Oct. 2 JAMSHEDPUR Utilities & Services Company Ltd (JUSCO), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Steel, which provides civic services in the Steel City, has expressed its "national aspirations" and plans to extend select services to other municipalities and towns across the country. The company will focus on three niche areas: water and waste water management, electricity distribution and steel-based construction. While in the water and waste water management business, JUSCO has "national aspirations", in electricity distribution and steel-based construction it's aspirations are "regional", at least for now. Mr Sanjiv Paul, Managing Director of JUSCO, told Business Line that the company - which was the erstwhile Town Division of Tata Steel - had already demonstrated its capabilities in providing municipal services such as supply of electricity, water & waste water management, solid waste management, maintenance of roads & buildings and parks. "The Town Services division of Tata Steel, and now JUSCO, have provided municipal services efficiently in Jamshedpur for the last 100 years. The time has now come to extend our expertise to other towns and cities which demand better municipal services," he said and added that, in several countries in the world, the private sector is involved in the management of municipal services. Mr Paul said that, to begin with, JUSCO would limit its national aspirations to a few core areas. The first was water and waste water management. "Water is the worst-managed national resource. The developed world has recognised this and has involved the private sector in this area. We want to offer our services to any municipality in the country which wishes to leverage upon our experience of 100 years in the distribution of clean water and collection of waste water". JUSCO, he said, was already in talks with some municipal bodies in this regard. According to him, there were about 10 multinational companies globally which are in the water & waste water management business. In India, the Union Ministry of Urban Development has prepared a draft set of guidelines for reform in the water sector at the urban local body level. The draft guidelines mention the involvement of private companies with a view to ensuring professional services. "The intake will be slow because the country is not quite ready for radical reforms in the water sector. However, this is the direction that the nation will take and we want to position ourselves as a major player in this area," Mr Paul said. JUSCO also wants to position itself as a major private sector player in electricity distribution. On behalf of Tata Steel, JUSCO already manages the distribution of electricity in Jamshedpur. The company has already applied for a licence for distribution of electricity in the adjacent Adityapur and Mango areas. A public hearing in this regard was held on September 27. The third area where JUSCO wishes to offer its services beyond Jamshedpur is in steel-based construction. "Our focus in this regard will be on housing and commercial buildings," Mr Paul said.
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