In December 2007, ProjectsToday monitored 429 new projects entailing a total investment of Rs.13,630 crore. Of the major sectors, projects in the services and utilities sector accounted for nearly twothird of the total number of new projects and about half of the fresh investments.

Within the services sector, roadways sector saw a number of projects being firmed up by NHAI and state governments. Of the 57 new roadways projects announced in December 2007, five were large in size with investment outlay of more than Rs.500 crore.

On 8 and 20 December 2007, NHAI floated two tenders for implementing six road projects under the NHDPIII phase. The tendered road projects are:

Apart from a number of roadways projects, the service sector also saw announcement of 13 new star hotel and 9 new hospital projects.

In the electricity sector, 33 new power projects were announced during the month. Among the large power projects were a 2x800 MW imported coal based power project of Pipavav Energy at Pipavav in Gujarat; a 1,320 MW Barh super thermal power project of NTPC near Patna, Bihar and a 1,000 MW thermal power project of Jain Energy in Chhattisgarh.

In the manufacturing sector, Food processing, Pharmaceutical and cement industries saw a number of new projects being announced. Raghuraji Agro Industries announced its intention to set up a sugar unit with a capacity of 5,000 tccpd supported by a 25 MW captive power plant at Jalalpur in Ambedkar Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh at a total cost of Rs.250 crore.

Esai Pharmaceuticals India announced its plans to set up a Rs.500 crore bulk drug facility at Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City Special Economic Zone in Vishakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh.

Of the six new cement projects announced in December, the 4.5 mln tpa project of ABG Cement at Kachchh in Gujarat and the 2.5 mln tpa of Wonder Cement at Chittaurgarh in Rajasthan were large ones.

In the construction sector, around 22 new commercial complexes and shopping malls were announced, across India. In addition, ProjectsToday collected information on 99 Real Estate projects, which are presently at different stages of development. Among the large real estate projects announced in December 2007, the residential township - 'Obili Mygreen City', being developed by Obili Infrastructure on 200 acres of land at Kandawada in Hyderabad was the largest. The township will have 400 villas, 500 duplex houses, IT Park, golf course, helipad, business and commercial complexes.

During December 2007, commencement of developmental works on six new SEZs were announced. The six SEZs are:

Four important project MoUs were signed in December 2007. Parsvnath SEZ (PSL), a subsidiary of Parsvnath Developers signed an MoU with Rajasthan government for setting up a SEZ for gems and jewellery in Jaipur. On 17 December 2007, Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) signed an MoU with South City Merlin consortium to form a joint venture company to develop commercial and residential projects. Sarovar Hotels & Resorts has signed an MoU with Vipul Hospitality to open five new hotels in the country. GAIL (India) signed an MoU with Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers for setting up a coal gasification project at Talcher in Orissa.