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Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer on this.

The Puri railway station would be expanded and the platforms would be laid afresh to facilitate easy access to passengers to board the train. This apart the Puri Railway Station washing lines would also be developed and the station would be given a new look with an estimated cost of over Rs 100 15 crore and the station would be designed in the lines of the Jagannath Temple, he said.

The incomplete Puri-Khurdha road double tracking would be completed soon, he said. The Ministry was ready to allocate 50 per cent of the total cost of the new tracks to Konark if the State agrees to bear the rest, the Minister informed.

Following is an excerpt from Livemint on this.

India’s largest manufacturer of power generation equipment Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (Bhel) has begun negotiations to set up joint ventures with state government institutions in Maharashtra, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh, which will not only generate steady orders for the firm but potentially block out emerging rivals.
The so-called ‘supercritical’ thermal power projects, with a capacity of 4,800MW, are expected to need Rs20,000 crore in investments.

“We are in talks with the SEBs (state electricity boards) and are exploring opportunities on the lines of our joint venture with Tamil Nadu Electricity Board in a 50:50 ratio. We are looking at setting up 1,600MW projects with each SEB,” said a senior Bhel executive who did not want to be named.

Each venture will require two units with a capacity of 800MW. Bhel is the only company in India that has the capability of manufacturing boilers and turbines of 800MW size and above. But, several companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, Toshiba Corp., Hitachi Ltd, Dosan, Dongfang Electric Corp., Siemens AG, Alstom SA, Russia’s LMZ and Technoprom have said they would be interested in setting up manufacturing facilities in India.

Government officials of Maharashtra, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh confirmed the conversations with Bhel.

One state government official, who did not wish to be identified, noted that “supercritical power projects burn less coal and their large economies of scale help in delivering cheaper power.”
Each of the 1,600MW will require an investment of Rs6,400 crore, with a maximum debt to equity ratio of 70:30. This would entail an equity of Rs1,920 crore with Bhel and the state board chipping in Rs960 crore each.

…
A government working group report, submitted as an input into the preparation of the 11th Plan for the power sector, noted that about 3,960MW could not be commissioned in the current plan period due to delays by Bhel. India currently has a power generation capacity of 135,000MW and aims to add 78,577MW of capacity by 2012.

The Bhel executive said that with capacity being raised by 10,000MW per year, the company will be able to manufacture equipment totalling 56,000MW by 2012. It has an order book position of 31,923MW and 9,775MW of extra equipment from unused stock.

“This leaves us with a lot of capacity to manufacture,” the executive added.
Bhel has technical collaboration with Alstom and Siemens, who are both pioneers in the field of supercritical technology for manufacturing boilers and turbines, respectively. The company posted a net profit of Rs2,385 crore on revenue of Rs18,702 crore in 2006-07 and ended the year with an order book position of Rs35,633 crore.

Bhel aims to become a $10 billion-plus (Rs39,500 crore) company by 2011-12 with a 15,000MW power equipment manufacturing capacity by the end of next year. The company has a current manufacturing capacity of 10,000MW.

Following are some excerpts.

Business Standard:

Non-ferrous metals giant Vedanta Resources is planning to enter the Indian steel sector with a 5 million tonne plant at an investment of about Rs 24,000 crore in Keonjhar district of Orissa and envisaging its commissioning by 2012-13.

"We are impressed at the growing consumption of steel in India and are keen to enter its steel sector. We are planning to build a 5 million tonne steel plant at Keonjhar district of Orissa. If we find a suitable partner, we should be able to commission it by 2012-13 at an investment of about Rs 24,000 crore," company sources said.

Sify.com:

Vedanta Resources is planning to make an initial public offer (IPO) to raise $1 billion for Sterlite Energy, a subsidiary of its group company and Indian non-ferrous metals producer Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd.

"We are planning for a $1-billion IPO for Sterlite Energy in the next few months," Vedanta Resources Chairman Anil Agarwal told reporters here Wednesday.

… Agarwal said the London Stock Exchange-listed Vedanta Resources is also considering options to sell shares via a pre-IPO placement.

He added that the company plans to participate in coal-based power generation projects through the subsidiary, Sterlite Energy Ltd.

"We are looking at 10,000 MW commercial power generation by 2012," he said. The power plants are likely to be set up in Orissa and Jharkhand, he said.

Following is an excerpt from a report in itvarnews.net.

Acer, one of the world’s top 3 branded PC vendors, has opened its exclusive brand store, the Acer Mall, in Bhubaneswar. Targous Technology, Acer’s retail partner, showcases the entire range of Acer Desktops, Notebooks and Display products, which would include the Aspire series of consumer PCs, the Travel Mate and Aspire notebook series and also the Acer range of Monitors and Projectors.

… The Acer Mall is located before Ravi Talkies Square near Indian Oil petrol pump has a catchment area of 450 sq feet. The mall has an “Acer Lifestyle Products Experience Zone”, which helps customers in choosing the right product for their requirements by having a hands-on experience with the product.

Update: New Indian Express reports that Air Deccan has plans to connect Bhubaneswar with Tirupati.

Following are excerpts from a report in New Indian Express.

The State Tourism Department has prepared a comprehensive plan for boosting the 480 km-long vast coastline of Orissa to increase tourist flow.

Talking to this website’s newspaper, Tourism Minister, Debi Prasad Mishra said, “Nearly Rs 100 crore will be spent on tourism sector in 2008 and the main focus will be on beach tourism. Besides the budgetary support, we would also develop some pristine beaches in the State with the help of aid agencies. Infrastructure development will also be made through public-private-partnership.”

In the preliminary stage, nearly 3,000 acres patch named as “Samuka peninsula” between Puri and Satapada will be developed as a tourist resort of international standards.
“With a six-km-long sea frontage, the Samuka peninsula would be designed on the lines of different peninsulas in the world. It would be dotted with the waterfront restaurants and cafes which will be set in beautifully landscaped gardens,” Mishra said.

He added that deals with the aid agency has reached final stage and the work would probably start from April. Initially, 1,000 acres with a two-km-long frontage will be developed.

This apart, plans for erection of tourist resorts on 200 acres between Chandipur and Balaramgadi fishing harbour in Balasore, 40-km-long beach in south Orissa along with Tampara lake complex near Rushikulya mouth, 80-km-long beach between Dhamra to Paradip and beaches in Balasore and Bhadrak districts have been put forth.

…
Announcing a clear-cut plan for Balasore district, Mishra said Rs 12 crore will be spent for Balasore. “Around Rs 3 crore would be spent for beautifying Chandipur sea beach and developing accommodation facilities for the tourists. The rest would be for eight other major tourist spots in the district including Talasari- Udaypur beach, Panchalingeswar and Khirachora Gopinath at Remuna,” he added.

Without reading the caption, try to guess where this picturesque setting is? It is not in Koraput, Similipal or Satkosia!

It is in Deras, Chandaka.

Kudos: I traveled several legs on Indigo (Bhubaneswar-Hydearabad-Bangalore, Bangalore-Kochi, Kochi-Goa, Goa-Hyderabad-Kolkata). All of its flights were in time and some reached destinations before time. Excellent service. Free food is not given but one can buy food on-board. Very happy with this airline and am  glad to see they will be connecting Bhubaneswar with Mumbai and Kolkata from Jan 29th. My best wishes to this airline.

mini-Kudos: Used the site http://www.ezeego1.co.in/ to book ticket two days before a flight. They were offering great deals.

Mega disaster: I had booked Bhubaneswar-Bangalore flight on Jetlite through a travel agent from Bhubaneswar, who I thought I knew well. When I called Jetlite the day before the travel (a) first they told me that my reservation was canceled because the travel agent did not do something in time. (b) later I found out that they had just canceled the Bhubaneswar -Bangalore flight altogether and neither the airlines nor the travel agent informed me about that.

So-so: I am familiar with three main travel sites for booking tickets in India.

• http://www.ezeego1.co.in/: Has great deals. Does not seem to accept international credit cards.
• http://makemytrip.co.in/makemytrip/MMTHome.do: Accepts international credit cards. Has software issues: When I booked a ticket with me as the booking person and my wife as the traveler it booked the ticket in my name and I ended up having two tickets on my name on the same flight. Great customer service over email and phone in correcting mistakes. It did not inform me about the cancellation of Kolkata-Bhubaneswar flight. But after I told them, they issued an immediate refund.
• http://www.cleartrip.com/: Does not seem to accept international credit cards.

Disappointment: Indian canceled Kolkata-Bhubaneswar flight that I was booked on  and I had to make alternative arrangements just 2-3 days before my travel date.

Dealing with a local Bhubaneswar travel agent with office in Jayadev Vihar: I thought since I knew this person well, he will give me better service. It was somewhat of a disappointment; but I am not sure how much I can blame the agent for this. Following are the good and bad parts.  (a)  Jetlite claims that  the main travel agent (Eastern travels) that this travel agent went through did not do some thing in time so they canceled my booking. The local travel agent (Orissa travels) responded that Jetlite often finds flimsy reasons to do such cancellation. I don’t know whom to believe. (b) His deals for a Kerala package was Rs 22000 (instead of the Rs 23,800 that I paid to the Bangalore agent)  but involved worse hotels. (c) Did not inform me about Jetlite flight being canceled; but did promptly inform me about the Indian flight that got canceled. (c) While makemytrip refunded me completely for the Indian flight that got canceled this travel agent says Indian only gave him a coupon to be used in 1 year. There is no way I can use this coupon.  (d) The tickets in Indigo that I bought from this agent were all fine. (e) Paying him for the tickets was convenient as his people came and picked up the money from my parents. They also refunded to my parents, albeit not so promptly.

Travel agents on the net: Came across two very good travel agents to arrange my Kerala trip and my Goa trip. (Did have to spend time in finding them. Also, may be I was lucky.) They both gave good deals and things went pretty well. I sent money to their ICICI account from mine; it was easy and quick. The two agents and the various companies involved in these trips were:

• http://www.malabarholidays.indiatourism.com: Mr. Shekar based in Bangalore 09448230450 / 09343835483 (Kerala Trip) is the agent I communicated with initially and Tours India International, Cochin, really took care of the reservations locally.
  • Avenue Regent Kochi: Wonderful hotel, will stay again here if I am in Kochi.
  • Backwater Resort, Kumarakom:  Decent resort in Kumarakom. Will stay here if in Kumarakom.
  • NAS group house boat: Not as great looking as the other house boats. (It may not have been a NAS group house boat, but a temporary rental.) Had a deck which many don’t have and view from the deck is even better. A/C control not in the room so the night spent was not as nice as it got cold and noisy and there was no way to turn it off. The overall experience was marvelous, but next time I will make sure about the particular boat I am in and solve the a/c issue beforehand.

• www.amchogoa.com and http://www.samsantravels.com: Summaiya.91-98694 25430 (Goa hotels)
  • Longuinhos Beach Resort Colva, Goa: Right on the beach. Nice people. Great restaurant. A/C in the room old style; one has to turn it off and on by hand.

Indian Railways: Was able to buy e-ticket on the net using International credit card. Could get 3 a/c Kolkata-Bhubaneswar  ticket in Coromondal 2 days before the trip. (A/C chair car tickets in Janashtabdi were not available. But as my wife told me, regular sleeper tickets are better than a/c chair car seats as one can sit as well as sleep on a sleeper ticket.)

Jet airways: Unlike the disastrous experience with its subsidiary Jetlite, the Bangkok-Kolkata-Bangkok flights in Jet airways were very good. The food was great, the entertainment available in the seat back sets were very good, the flights were on time and the tickets were the least expensive in that route. I hope they fix the problems with Jetlite asap; otherwise the negative impression that Jetlite will make will harm the overall brand name.

Lessons:

• Have an ICICI account. It is very useful in sending money to make reservations.
• Have access to rupee based credit card as many airlines in India do not accept international credit cards.
• Avoid small local travel agents for out-of-state travel. They have less clout, so they may not be able to do the best for you, even if they want to.
• Avoid Jetlite and Indian.
• Patronize Indigo.
• For Kolkata-Bhubaneswar leg, good old Indian Railways is the most reliable means.
• For hotel rooms make sure what kind of a/c it has. Does the a/c have an automatic temperature control or you have to manually turn it on and off.
• For visits to particular part of India look for travel agents in that part of India.  You may get lucky and come across good ones.
• For air travel within India check out the three sites http://www.ezeego1.co.in/, http://makemytrip.co.in/makemytrip/MMTHome.do and http://www.cleartrip.com/  and see who has the best deal.
• Airlines change their schedules frequently. Check often.

Its schedule is as follows: