The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) is reconsidering its clearance for the controversial Kalu Dam in Thane district.

New Delhi: Months after stopping Adani Group from setting up an 1,840-hectare special economic zone (SEZ) in Mundra, the commerce department is set to re-notify the enclave and let the edible oils-to-electricity conglomerate make it contiguous with an existing 6,500 hectare zone.

Sources told TOI that the proposal for re-notification has received the bureaucratic green light and is awaiting a final go ahead from commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma. In the first stage, the plan is to let Adani set up the SEZ. Subsequently, the group will seek “de-notification” of a part of the zone for which approval is in place and then the two would be made contiguous.

Consortium partners will sign memorandum of understanding on March 18

A consortium led by the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) will do a feasibility study on setting up a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Regasification Terminal at the New Mangalore Port. The proposed terminal will have an initial capacity of 2-3 million metric tons per annum (MMTPA), which can be expanded to 5 MMTPA.

The row surrounding transfer of land for industrial park proposed at Gopalpur in south Odisha has seemingly affected starting of construction activity by Tata Steel which is the anchor tenant for the project.

With state government officials still in a dilemma on whether the land transfer deed needs to be executed in the name of Tata Steel or Gopalpur Special Economic Zone (SEZ), work on project has suffered a delay. This is despite the fact that the steel maker has taken advanced possession of land and is almost through with boundary wall construction.

Faced with environmental hurdles in pushing vertical growth in the state, the Kerala government last month amended its municipal building rules to change the very definition of 'high-rise' buildings to get around the stringent new requirements for a green nod.

Kerala and some other states have strongly opposed the union environment ministry's 'Guideline for High Rise Buildings' brought in through a February 7 notification on the recommendation of its Expert Appraisal Committee on Building/Construction, Infrastructure and CRZ Projects.

New Delhi: The environment ministry is likely to ease green norms for the real estate sector, giving a boost to developers wanting to construct high-rise buildings. The relaxation is expected to allow builders to put up higher buildings on smaller roads and lanes in cities.

In February 2012, the environment ministry had laid down rules linking the height of a building with the width of the road it was to be built on as well as the distance from the nearest fire station. The rules had the realty sector up in arms.

Ethiopia plans to sign agreements with some of the textile associations here to attract investments and expertise from the Indian textile industry.

Sisay Gemechu Edo, State Minister in Ethiopia’s Ministry of Industry held a meeting with members of the Southern India Mills’ Association (SIMA) here on Wednesday. He also visited the vendor development programme organised by Coimbatore District Small Industries’ Association and the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Institute.

Paradip: Legally speaking, the state government cannot acquire lands for the Posco project, nor can construction work be started at the designated site as the project has no environment clearance in hand, official sources said.

"The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification, 2006, forbids activity of any nature at the site without environmental clearance," a senior official in the industry department said on Wednesday, quoting the existing law. He described the latest episode of the state government demolishing betel vines of farmers in the proposed plant site as 'highly illegal' and 'unconstitutional'.