Following is an excerpt from a report in Kalinga Times.

National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), the flagship PSU of the Ministry of Mines and India ‘s largest manufacturer and exporter of alumina and aluminium, has been granted the Navratna status.

Navratna status is conferred on select Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE),on becoming significant players in the economic development of the country.

On achieving the status, certain powers are delegated to those CPSEs that had comparative advantages and capacity to become global giants.

As per the wikipedia entry on Navratna:

The ‘Navaratna’ status offers a company enhanced financial and operational autonomy and empowers it to invest up to Rs. 1000 cr or 15% of their net worth on a single project without seeking government approval. In a year, these companies can spend up to 30% of their net worth not exceeding Rs. 1000 cr. They will also have the freedom to enter joint ventures, form alliances and float subsidiaries abroad.

 

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

The District administration on Sunday formally issued a notification for the proposed Rs 45,000-crore ship building plant at Chardia on the banks of the Baitarani river mouth. Surendra Kumar Group of Companies (Ocean Sea port Company, Kolkota) is the promoter of the plant.

Sources said the company has deposited Rs 1 crore with the district administration for land acquisition to be done by IDCO. More than 939.36 acre of land is to be acquired. The Government has issued a notification under Section 4(1). Fiver villages of Chardia, Harispur, Rajendrapali, Kanakpali and Rajrajeshwarpali are going to be affected by the land acquisition said district land acquisition officer Suryakanta Padhi.

See also http://tathya.in/story.asp?sno=1800.

Following is from Dharitri.

The list from the article below are: (See also this and this.)

• POSCO SEZ in Paradeep: 4004 acres
• TATA SEZ in Gopalpur: 1173 acres
• Hindalco SEZ in Sambalpur: 855 acres
• Saraf Agencies SEZ for Titanium in Chhatrapur: 131.5 acres
• Wellspun garments SEZ in Choudwar: 200 acres
• Jindal SEZ in Choudwar: 400 acres
• Vedanta SEZ in Jharsuguda: 185.62 acres
• IDCO Knoweldge Park near Bhubaneswar: 600 acres
• Infocity in Bhubaneswar: 202 acres
• IDCO Mahakalpada area in Kendrapada district: 2700 acres

Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=37077.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today gave its approval to the proposal to create Information Technology Investment Regions (ITIRs). These ITIRs would be endowed with excellent infrastructure and supported through investor-friendly policies. ITIRs were conceptualized keeping in view the need to boost the growth of both IT/ITES and Electronic Hardware Manufacturing (EHM) Units.

These regions would become major magnets for investment creating employment opportunities and economic growth in the area. Simultaneously, it will reduce the pressure on existing urban centers by enabling growth of new townships and dispersal of industry.

The regions would be a combination of IT/ITES and Electronics Hardware Manufacturing Units; Public uitilities, residential area, social infrastructure and administrative services. Such regions could include new integrated townships, SEZs, industrial parks etc. In the ITIR, there would be a clear delineation between the IT/ITES areas and Electronic Hardware Manufacturing areas. The ITIRs would generate direct and indirect employment during the construction and operational phases.

Each ITIR is expected to be a specificlly notified investment region with minimum area of 40 sq.kms. planned for IT/ITES and EHM Units. The minimum processing area will be 40% of the total area of the ITIR. The ITIRs will be developed in a phased manner.

The State Government would ensure that all physical infrastructure and utilities within its jurisdiction (power, water, roads, transportation, sewerage and effluent treatment facilities) are provided. The Central Government will facilitate development of National Highways, Airport and Rail links to the ITIRs.

The Public-Private Partnership (PPP) route is advocated for the development of ITIRs. State Government will select the developers/co-developers through a transparent process.

Following is from Sambada:

Following is from Samaja:

The following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=37272.

The Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation has approved 15 projects under the Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP) and 5 projects under the Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) in Orissa so far. These projects have been approved by the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee and Central Sanctioning Committee.  The details of the projects approved under IHSDP  are given below: 

INTEGRATED HOUSING AND SLUM DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (IHSDP)

Under the IHSDP, 4884 new dwelling units have been approved for construction at the total project cost of Rs. 83.63 crore.  Out of this, the Central share of Rs. 59.13 crore and State share of Rs.  24.50 crore have been approved.  The Total Additional Central Assistance of Rs 14.92 crore has been released by Ministry of Finance.

The details of the projects approved under BSUP are given below:

BASIC SERVICES TO THE URBAN POOR (BSUP)

            Under the BSUP, the projects worth amounting to Rs. 67.17 crore have been approved to construct  2316 dwelling units in the two mission cities in the State.  The Central share of Rs. 48.77 crore and State share of Rs. 18.40 crore have been approved. The total Additional Central Assistance of  Rs. 12.19  crore has also been released by the Ministry of Finance . 

            The Integrated Housing & Slum Development Programme was launched by the Prime Minister in December 2005 with a view to ameliorate the conditions of the urban slum dwellers who are residing in dilapidated conditions.  The existing Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY) and the discontinued National Slum Development Programme (NSDP) are subsumed in the IHSDP, to strive for holistic slum development with a healthy and enabling urban environment by providing adequate shelter and basic infrastructure facilities to the urban slum dwellers.  The programme covers all the towns except the 63 mission towns/cities covered under the Basic Services for the Urban Poor (BSUP) under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). 

The Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP)  was launched by the Prime Minister in December 2005 with a view to ameliorate the conditions of the urban slum dwellers who are residing in dilapidated conditions in the identified 63 mission cities.  The basic objective of the scheme is to strive for holistic slum development with a healthy and enabling urban environment by providing adequate shelter and basic infrastructure facilities to the urban slum dwellers.

Following is from http://teamorissa.org/water.asp.

Ground Water Resources: 

The natural recharge of ground water takes place through percolation from land after rain events. The quantum of dynamic ground water, which can be annually extracted, is generally reckoned as ground water potential. As per assessment made in 2001, the total annual replenishable ground water resource of the state is 21.011 BCM, out of which 60% i,e 12.607 BCM is safe and usable.

Water has always played an important role in providing livelihood, hygiene and environmental securities since the dawn of civilization. The demand pattern is changing rapidly with increase in population, urbanization and rapid industrialization. Keeping in view the constraints of water availability and the variety of its uses, water allocation issues need to be addressed in a wise manner. Considering this, the present and future requirement of water for all purposes have been assessed, which is given in the table below. 

Water requirements for different uses ( Qty. in BCM)

Water     Storage: 

A storage capacity of 17.00 BCM has so far been developed through completed major, medium and minor(flow) projects. Besides, the projects under construction will contribute to an additional 1.47 BCM. The details are given in the following table.

Reservoir Storage Status as on 31.03.2007 ( Qty. in BCM)

Following is from http://teamorissa.org/IPR_2007.zip. There is a lot of other useful information for industries looking for a home in the teamorissa web site.

Overview of Fiscal incentives offered by the Govt. of Orissa-IPR2007
(to eligible New units and existing units on substantial expansion which commence commercial production)

1

Source- Industrial Policy Resolution 2007

NM- Not mentioned; FCI-Fixed capital investment P&M-Plant and Machinery

* “Thrust Sector” means new industrial units in the following categories which commence fixed capital investment on or after the effective date and full fill the criteria stipulated as under.

Note – Government may, by notification modify the above list and criteria as and when necessary.

“Priority Sectors” means – New Industrial units where fixed capital investment commences on or after the effective date and fall within the following categories. 1) Information technology and IT enabled service 2) Tourism related (hotels shall not be eligible for any fiscal incentive other than land at concessional industrial rate) 3) Bio-technology 4) Petroleum, Chemicals & Petro-chemicals 5) Pharmaceuticals 6) Handicraft, Handloom, Coir and Leather products 7) Gem stone cutting and polishing 8) Sea food Processing 9) Fly ash & Blast furnace slag based industries utilizing a minimum of 25% by weight as base raw material 10) Any industry other than mineral extraction and mineral based industries, which export more than 50% of its total turnover, duly certified by the Director, Export Promotion and Marketing. 11) Units not qualifying for “Thrust Sector” status for not meeting minimum capital investment criteria. Note – Government may, by notification modify the above list.

2

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

Taking into consideration the growing demand for an airport at Jharsuguda, the Union government has decided to renovate the existing one …

The government has decided to opt for a public-private partnership for the work. SREI, a Calcutta-based finance company, has expressed interest and is negotiating with the government in this regard, sources said. “No final decision has been taken. A confirmation has been sought from Airport Authority of India. Their decision will be final,” said works secretary S.K. Ray.

Following is an excerpt from a report in odishatoday.com.

"I have already talked with BCCI president Sharad Pawar requesting him to release funds for the infrastructure development of the Railway Cricket Stadium here in Orissa ," Railway Board Chairman and BCCI member Kalyan Coomar Jena said after inaugurating the Stadium here on Monday.

With inauguration of the Stadium, OCA and other cricket bodies could now host Ranji Trophy and other domestic cricket matches in the stadium. And after the expansion work got over, the Stadium could be a venue for the One-Day Internationals.

Railway sources said that the gallery would be made on lines of gallery that are being available in New Zealand.

"We have planned to make the Stadium as world class and facilities would be available on standards of other International venues," Jena, who is one among the policy maker of BCCI, said.

"I also discussed the matter with BCCI Treasure N Srinivasan and I hope, the country’s apex cricket body would release funds under its infrastructure development sachems, he added.

The Stadium is spread over 25 acres of land near here at Railway Workshop having a cricket ground with a boundary of 81 meters radius.

The Railway officials claimed that it would the biggest ever cricket ground in the world. The out field of the ground is planted with baramunda grass. In the first phase, Railway had released Rs 1.5 crore and in the second phase, the Ministry has sanctioned Rs 3 crore for the expansion of the Railway Stadium.

Meanwhile, OCA has announced to release a sum of Rs 1 crore in the initial phase, which will be spent on infrastructure development.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu.

The Indian Railways on Monday finally spelt out its plan of action to bring the Khurda-Bolangir new broad gauge line, which was sanctioned 13 years ago, back on track here.

Addressing a press conference, Chairman of Railway Board Kalyan Coomar Jena said the Orissa government had been approached to provide land required for the 290-kilometre-long stretch Khurda-Bolangir line free of cost.

Moreover, funds available in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) with the State should be diverted to take up earthwork needed for laying the new line, Mr. Jena said.

“If the state government responds positively to our idea, the Khurda-Bolangir project would move much faster,” Mr. Jena said.

… The proposed Khurda-Bolangir line is a vital railway link, which would connect coastal Orissa with the western part. Though people had started demanding the railway link more than two decades ago, it was sanctioned in the year 1994-1995.

The projected cost of the project has now reached Rs. 1,000 crore.

The East Coast Railway (ECoR) said 52 per cent of cumulative physical progress had been achieved while work was in progress up to 36 km distance. Till March 2007, only Rs. 67.83 crore had been spent on the project.

The Indian Railways also sought the State government’s cooperation on land acquisition for the Puri-Konark railway link. 

Sharing the progress on the proposed world-class railway station at Bhubaneswar, Mr. Jena said the railway was scouting for suitable land for the project.

He said Chinese expertise had been sought to prepare concept of the station, which would require at least 200 acres of land.

Subsequently, an expression of interest would be floated inviting interested firms to execute the project.

A high-level Chinese railway delegation headed by W.U. Wei, Director of Sino-India Railway Co-operation Working Group along with 12 members had visited the city for conducting a survey for developing a world class station here.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Kalinga Times.

… Jena said the gauge conversion of 90 km Naupada-Gunupur would be completed during the current fiscal.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

RITES, a central government enterprise and consultancy organisation working in transport, infrastructure and related sectors, has planned the introduce “mass rapid transit system” in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack at an estimated cost of Rs 2,246 crore.

Disclosing this at a Bhubaneswar seminar on traffic status today, transport secretary Priyabrata Patnaik conceded that the Union ministry of urban development is considering the proposal.

If the RITES plan gets the Centre’s nod, it will be implemented within five years and is expected to take care of the traffic problem of the twin cities, Patnaik added.

He said RITES had formulated the plan keeping in mind the demands of the two city’s projected population of 40 lakh by 2031.

The mass rapid transit system will include a light, monorail system in Cuttack stretching from Bidanasi to Central Rice Research Institute and a high-capacity bus system for both the cities.

These buses will run between vantagepoints in both Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.

Police commissioner B.K. Behera said the traffic police wing has identified as many as 73 parking places across Bhubaneswar. Once these parking spaces are complete, the problem of traffic congestion on the arterial roads would be reduced considerably, he added.

… On the crowded Rajmahal Junction, an eight-lane road is being planned. The tender for the project will be floated within a month, said the chief engineer. Director of estates P.K. Mohanty said 30 vending zones had been created across the city to prevent roadside vending which leads to traffic congestion.

Vice-chairman of Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) N.B. Dhal said his organisation would be bringing out a new building norm for high-rises, which would earmark 60 per cent of floor area as mandatory parking space.

BDA is also planning a satellite city on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar on a public-private partnership mode, which will also ease traffic load on the main city.