K'taka govt clears 18 industrial projects worth over Rs 34,000 crore investment
Bengaluru, Aug 5: The Karnataka government on Friday approved 18 industrial projects worth Rs 34,432.46 crore that is expected to generate jobs for over 48,000 people in the state.
The State High-Level Clearance Committee (SHLCC) of the government under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai met here and gave the clearance for the investment proposals. The meeting was attended by senior ministers and officials.
Among the projects approved are automaker Toyota Kirloskar Motor's plan to invest over Rs 3,600 crore to produce hybrid vehicles along with traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles at its facility here.
"The High-Level Clearance committee has considered and approved eight new projects and 10 additional investment projects that are expected to further push the industrial growth and generate direct and indirect employment opportunities in Karnataka," an official release said.
Major investment or project proposals approved in today's meeting include -- an ethanol plant of 2,000 KLPD capacity by Trualt Bioenergy Limited, Bengaluru, with an investment of Rs 1,856.47 crore.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Limited with its passenger cars and diversified product profile of hybrid technology vehicles along with ICE vehicles will invest Rs 3,661.5 crore.
Project proposals with additional investment include Applied Materials India Pvt Ltd, Bengaluru for showerheads or capital equipment manufacturing for semiconductors, with an investment of Rs 1,573 crore and Rs 977 crore investment by Carl Zeiss India (Bangalore) Pvt. Ltd.
Also, Rs 2,500.09 crore investment by Prakash Sponge Iron and Private Limited, Bengaluru for an integrated steel plant of 0.2 Million Metric Tonne Per Annum (MMTPA).
Emmvee Photovoltaic Power Private Limited, Bengaluru's investment of Rs 232.15 crore for solar photovoltaic module and solar cells unit; Rs 775.35 crore investment by Shree Renuka Sugars Limited, Belagavi for distillery/ethanol plant; and Chidanand Basaprabhu Kore Sahakari Sakkare Karakhane Niyamit Chikodi, Belagavi's distillery/ethanol plant with an investment of Rs 270.36 crore, were among those cleared by the government.
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Los Angeles county wildfires could be costliest in US history, early estimates say
Los Angeles, Jan 11: The wildfires that erupted this week across Los Angeles County are still raging, but already are projected to be among the costliest natural disasters in US history.
The devastating blazes have killed at least 11 people and incinerated more than 12,000 structures since Tuesday, laying waste to entire neighbourhoods once home to multimillion-dollar properties.
While it's still too early for an accurate tally of the financial toll, the losses so far likely make the wildfires the costliest ever in the US, according to various estimates.
A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between USD 135 billion and USD 150 billion. By comparison, AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic losses caused by Hurricane Helene, which tore across six southeastern states last fall, at USD 225 billion to USD 250 billion.
“This will be the costliest wildfire in California modern history and also very likely the costliest wildfire in US modern history, because of the fires occurring in the densely populated areas around Los Angeles with some of the highest-valued real estate in the country,” said Jonathan Porter, the private firm's chief meteorologist.
AccuWeather factors in a multitude of variables in its estimates, including damage to homes, businesses, infrastructure and vehicles, as well as immediate and long-term health care costs, lost wages and supply chain interruptions.
The insurance broker Aon PLC also said Friday that the LA County wildfires will likely end up being the costliest in US history, although it did not issue an estimate. Aon ranks a wildfire known as the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, in 2018 as the costliest in US history up to now at USD 12.5 billion, adjusted for inflation. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed about 11,000 homes.
The LA County wildfires, which were fuelled by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds and an extreme drought, remained largely uncontained Saturday. That means the final tally of losses from the blazes is likely to increase, perhaps substantially.
“To put this into perspective, the total damage and economic loss from this wildfire disaster could reach nearly 4 per cent of the annual GDP of the state of California,” AccuWeather's Porter said.
In a report Friday, Moody's also concluded that the wildfires would prove to be the costliest in US history, specifically because they have ripped through densely populated areas with higher-end properties.
While the state is no stranger to major wildfires, they have generally been concentrated in inland areas that are not densely populated. That's led to less destruction per acre, and in damage to less expensive homes, Moody's noted.
That's far from the case this time, with one of the largest conflagrations destroying thousands of properties across the Pacific Palisades and Malibu, home to many Hollywood stars and executives with multimillion-dollar properties. Already, numerous celebrities have lost homes to the fires.
“The scale and intensity of the blazes, combined with their geographic footprint, suggest a staggering price tag, both in terms of the human cost and the economic toll,” Moody's analysts wrote. The report did not include a preliminary cost estimate of the wildfire damage.
It could be several months before a concrete tally of the financial losses from the wildfires will be possible.
“We're in the very early stages of this disaster,” Porter said.
