MONEYMAKERS

JOINT NETWORKING: Oracle Corporation of the US has entered into an
alliance with the Philippine Long
Distance Phone Company (PLDT) to
build a telecommunications and
computer network in the Philippines.
The project called Phil-Net will initially put Oracle's low-cost network
Computers on college students' desks
giving them access to the Internet as
well as satellite educational programmes. Oracle and PLDT expect to
start work on the network later this
year with students getting on-line in
1998. Oracle will sell the computers
for about US $500 per piece.

POLLUTION-FREE BIKES: A Canadian
firm it looking for an Indian partner
to manufacture 100 per cent pollution-free motorcycles which would
run on kerosene, butane, natural gas
or electricity. Rodeo, the US $20 million company, has also made presentations in Singapore and Malaysia to
manufacture the two-stroke motor-cycles. Setting up
the joint venture would require an
investment of US$
80-100 million. Rodeo also has in its
proposed range of products a self-luminous lighting system which
requires neither electricity nor cells
but relies on tritium, a radioactive element.

GARBAGE VENTURE: A German waste
disposal company, Abfallentsorgungs
GmbH (AGR), will collaborate with
two Japanese firms to dispose of
industrial waste in the Nagasaki
Prefecture. The new company, AGR
Japan, will design and build waste-dumping facilities and provide
advice to local governments. Local
sites are likely to reach full capacity
for industrial waste by AD 2008. Of
the US $81,300 of the capital in the
venture-, 50 per cent will come from
agr, whereas Mitsubishi Nagasaki
Machinery Mfg Co and Pal Corp will
invest 30 per cent and 20 per cent
respectively.

BONE THERAPY: Procter & Gamble (P&G)
of the US have
formed a global
alliance with Hoechst Marion Roussel, the pharmaceutical company of Hoechst, AG of Germany, to commercialise P&G's
bone health therapy Actonel, a
biphosphate therapy. The two companies would work together to complete clinical studies, obtain regulatory approvals and develop sales and
marketing plans to launch Actonel
for osteoporosis and other bone
diseases in all countries except Japan.
The companies would share future
revenues and costs for Actonel.

COOL WINDOWS: Sintex Industries of
Ahmedabad, makers of the popular
Sintex water tanks, have developed
energy-saving windows for the first
time in India in association with the
Indian Institute of Technology,
Delhi and the Energy Management
Centre of the ministry of power.
These ensure effective cooling from
low-capacity air conditioners and
save energy up to 30 per cent. The windows consist of heat insulating framing material, double glass glazing and proper sealing between walls and windows.

ASH TO CEMENT: With a view to
improving their environmental credentials, Nihon Cement Co and
Tokuyama Corp of Japan have decided to increase the amount of waste
used in making cement. Nihon, the
country's third largest cement company, plans to use
4,000 metric tonnes of industrial waste.
It has also started using ash from
burnt sewage sludge collected from local
municipalities as a substitute for
clay. Tokuyama uses waste plastic
mixed with coal in its cement plant.
The company plans to double the
amount of plastic to 400 tonnes in
this fiscal year.