___________

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The Planning Commission today suggested the Orissa government to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for three projects for availing of assistance under the viability gap funding (VGF) of the Centre.

These three projects are Rs 3200 crore Samuka Special Tourism Project, Rs 1500 crore Sambalpur-Rourkela road project and the Rs 1500 crore worth Bhubaneswar Solid Waste Management Project.These projects worth about Rs 6200 crore will be implemented on a pilot basis.

"A new format has been developed for availing of the assistance from VGF and the Orissa government will have to prepare a DPR keeping in view the new format and submit it to the Planning Commission", Subash Pani, secretary, Planning Commission said.

After reviewing the projects taken up in the Public-Private-Partnership ( PPP) mode by the Orissa government, Pani told media persons that the Centre can provide upto 20 percent of the project cost under the VGF. So the state government can take advantage of it.

He said, the Centre introduced the VGF last fiscal and no state has availed of the assistance from this fund created with the objective of bridging the gap in funding viable projects taken up in PPP mode.

Pani said, the Orissa government plans to execute 35 important infrastructure projects in PPP mode. While 25 projects are in the pipeline, 10 projects are on going.

The on-going projects include Rs 68 crore Palasapanga- Bamberi road, Gopalpur port, Dhamra Port, Rs 480 crore international convention centre, Rs 146 crore IT and Corporate Tower (Bhubaneswar), Rs 500 crore Info Park(Bhubaneswar), Rs 35.67 crore Knowledge park, Rs 352 crore SEZ-BPO at Mancheswar, Rs 76 crore Commercial and IT Complex at Rourkela.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to slow down the process of awarding contracts for new highway projects. This would further delay the process of modernisation and expansion of the national highways by a few months.

The slowdown has happened following a writ petition filed by the National Highway Builders Federation (NBHF) in the Delhi High Court, challenging the new Model Concession Agreement (MCA) introduced by the finance ministry. The agreement restricts pre-qualified bidders from participating in the final bidding process.

The NHAI has already invited pre-qualification applications for around nine projects worth Rs 6,700 crore, but is yet to award the final contracts.

Major projects include four laning of the Hyderabad-Vijayawada section on NH-9 in Andhra Pradesh at a cost of about Rs 1,460 crore, four laning of the Panikoili-Keonjhar-Rimuli section on NH-215 in Orissa at a cost of Rs 1,086 crore, and four laning of the Chandikhole- Dubari-Talcher section on NH-200 in Orissa.

The NHAI has also invited pre-qualification applications for around 27 projects worth Rs 30,000 crore, which will be submitted by June.

Following is from a report in Pioneer (Note: It may be in response to http://www.orissalinks.com/?p=1134.):

National Aluminium Company (Nalco) has so far spent more than Rs 100 crore towards various social sector development activities. Creation of infrastructure in the surrounding villages for communication, education, healthcare and drinking water gets priority in the periphery development plans of the company.

Nalco sources said community participation in innovative farming, pisciulture, social forestry and sanitation programmes apart, encouragement to sports, art, culture and literature are all a part of Nalco’s involvement with the life of the community. Successful operations of the company have led to employment and income generation for the local people in many significant ways.

These apart, during natural calamities, Nalco has been donating to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund. Soon after Super Cyclone in Orissa in 1999, Nalco created 197 primary school-cum-cyclone shelters in the coastal districts. Besides, illuminating Lord Lingaraj Temple, Nalco has set up Mahatma Gandhi Park and Biju Patnaik Park in Bhubaneswar and Gandhi Ghat Park at Puri. The company has also committed Rs 2 crore for renovation of Ananda Bazar in the premises of the Jagannath Temple.

"In education, our focus is on primary education, for which we have been extending financial assistance in remote tribals-dominated places of Orissa. But, despite our best of intentions, it is not possible to fund all such projects. As a result, at times, some aggrieved persons do turn to media to tarnish the image of Nalco," a senior officer of the company remarked.

As for the rehabilitation of the 635 families displaced due to the Nalco project in the Damanjodi and Angul sectors, the company sources said employment has been provided to 629 nominees. The nomination status of balance six families has been taken up at appropriate level. Besides, 1,530 families were substantially affected (parting with one-third or more of their lands) in Angul. Even from these, jobs have been provided to 1,160 persons. Nalco has also been sponsoring ITI training to such persons, with 543 having been technically trained so far.

Nalco CMD CR Pradhan said, "As a corporate policy, Nalco has been allocating 1 per cent of its net profit of the year for social sector activities in the succeeding year. During the 2006-07 fiscal, Nalco made a net profit of Rs 2,381 crore and, accordingly, for the 2007-08, the company allotted Rs 23.81 crore for various developmental activities. "Today, in any investment plans in Orissa, the interested companies are cited Nalco’s role as a responsible corporate citizen."

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pragativadi.

The state government has set an ambitious target on collecting commercial taxes to the tune of Rs 6,100 crore during the current fiscal.

… the target collection would be about 16.81 per cent more than the last year’s collections.

… The state government was able to collect Rs 5,222 crore during 2007-08, including Rs 380 crore received from the Centre towards the compensation for reduction of Central Sales Tax (CST).

The collections from value added tax (VAT), central sales tax (CST), entry tax, entertainment tax and professional tax was Rs 4,842 crore during last fiscal. The target fixed for collection for 2007-08 was Rs 4,641 crore.

More details at http://www.idcoindia.com/idco/rpfbbsr.asp.

Following is copied from there:

Following is a news item in Sambada about IL & FS meeting Orissa government on Inchudi port in Balasore.

Following is from http://darpg.nic.in/arpg-website/bestpracticesingovt/bestpractices.asp.

1.         Communitization of Public Institutions and Services of Nagaland            

2.         e-Registration in –

–  Maharashtra (SARITA)

–  Punjab (PRISM)

–  Tamil Nadu (STAR)

3.         Gyandoot: Community owned Rural Internet Project in Madhya Pradesh

4.         Slum Sanitation in Pune

5.         Resettlement and Rehabilitation of the Urban Poor : the Mumbai Urban Transport Project

6.                  Innovations in primary education –

–  ‘Nali-Kali’ in Karnataka

–  Primary Education for all Village Children, Shishu Shiksha –       Karmasuchi, West Bengal

7.         e-Braille in W.B.

8..        Koshwahini in Maharashtra

9.         Treasury Information System in Karnataka

10.       Treasury Information System in Tamil Nadu

11.       e-Treasury Mission Mode Project

12.      Innovative Strategies for Tribal Development –

–  Attappady Wasteland Comprehensive Environmental Conservation Project

–  BAIF Development Research Foundation, Pune

            13.       Innovations in Health Sector

–  Telemedicine Project in West Bengal

–  Health Call Centre in Andhra Pradesh

            14.      Innovations in Transport Sector

                                    – Indore City Transport Services Ltd.

                                    – Computerization in Transport Department in Punjab

            15.       Empowerment of Women

                              –Stree Shakti (Govt. of NCT of Delhi)

                   –   Franchisee Arrangement entrusted to Local Self Help Groups

          In Uttarakhand Power Corporation Ltd.

             16.      Augmenting Drinking Water Supply

                             – Aapani Yojnna- A Success Story of Rural Water Supply Management

                             – Government of Uttarakhand,  Project Management Unit, Swajal

Following are the presentations available at http://darpg.nic.in/arpg-website/ChiefSectConf/list_of_PPT.htm.

1. Implementation of National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) (0.6MB)
   

    

2. Department of Rural Development (6MB)
    
3. Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission (34 MB)
    
4. Implementation of Major Initiatives in Higher Education in the XI Plan (0.5 MB)
   

Following is an excerpt from a report in sify.com. (This report is reasonable; the tall claims about making Naraj like Jamshedpur is reported in Sambada, which is given at the end of the excerpt.)

Optimistic about completion of land acquisition for its 1,000 MW power plant near Cuttack in five months, Tata Power has allayed fears that it may cause air, water and noise pollution and said the thermal unit would adopt latest environmental safety technology.

"We expect the whole process of land acquisition for the Naraj Marthapur coal-based power project to be completed by October, this year," Project Director (eastern region) of Tata Power, Praveer Sinha said.

Maintaining that the company was for fair and just compensation for land, structures and trees, Sinha, who visited the proposed plant site with other company officials, said price for land would be settled through ‘direct win-win negotiations with sellers’.

Rates offered would be higher than benchmark rates fixed by Orissa government, Sinha and other company officials pointed out, adding most advanced technologies would be used in the Rs 5,000-crore project to minimise plant emission.

… Ruling out any adverse impact on the air quality of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar due to the plant, he said water spraying would be undertaken in coal yard area to suppress the dust, while high efficiency electrostatic precipitator would be installed for removal of fly as from the flue gas.

"All these measures would keep emission of ash and coal dust to well below the statutory norms," a senior official at Tata Power’s Jamshedpur plant said, adding flue gas would be released through 275 metre tall stack, three times taller than Qutub Minar.

Explaining the steps to check water pollution, Sinha said fly ash generated from the plant would be stored within the plant premises and it would not be dumped into Mahanadi river or Puri canal.

Fly ash, said another senior executive, would be directly utilised by the cement industry, brick manufacturing, road and pavement construction, fertilisers and for bund preparation in farms. "Therefore, the quality of water in Puri canal or Mahanadi river or Puri canal will not be affected and will not impact marine life at all," he said.

Similarly, he said waste water generated from the plant would be reused within the plant and discharge, if any, was likely to take place only during rainy season when excess water is available.

"Such water will be discharged only after treatment of effluents and its quality will comply with the applicable effluents standards," he said.

Sinha said steps would be taken to ensure that no pollutant material is discharged into the river. Ash would not pollute ground water due to impervious lining of the ash pond into which the ash would be disposed.

Ruling out noise pollution due to the power unit, company officials also made it clear that the machinery and equipment would meet all the national standards of noise limits.

Further, thick green belt would be developed around the project site to minimise the impacts of noise created by transport of coal by railways. Around two lakh trees would be planted in the green belt to absorb dust and noise.

Following is an excerpt from a news report in howrah.org.

Union tourism minister Ambika Soni has identified 20 top tourist destinations in the country, with an eye on wooing the potential foreign and domestic tourists. Under this new initiative, financial assistance up to Rs 25 crores would be provided for development of a mega destination and Rs 50 crore for a mega circuit. Apart from this financial assistance, ministry of tourism is also working with other Central ministries and concerned state governments to achieve convergence and synergy with other government programmes, so that the impact of investment on these destinations is maximised. Ms Ambika Soni’s policy initiative is aimed at developing tourist destinations/circuits of national importance in a holistic and integrated manner. The objective is to ensure that the infrastructure of these mega destinations/circuits is developed to the extent that it can cater to the future tourist inflows so that visitors get a satisfying and memorable experience.

… So far 20 such destinations/circuits have been identified in consultation with the state governments on the basis of data indicating potential arrivals.

These include: Taj in Agra (UP), Varanasi-Sarnath (UP), Bodh Gaya-Rajgir-Nalanda (Bihar), illumination of monuments in Delhi, Mahabalipuram (Tamil Nadu), Puri-Bhubaneshwar-Konarak-Chilka Lake (Orissa), Haridwar-Rishikesh (Uttarakhand) etc.

For identified destinations/circuits covered by the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, convergence of resources is being ensured so that the tourism related infrastructure and urban civic infrastructure complement each other.

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

An environment regulatory committee set up by the Supreme Court has recommended a stringent mechanism for granting mining lease to Sterlite Industries, the parent company of the London-based Vedanta Alumina Ltd, to mine bauxite from the eco-sensitive Niyamgiri hill area for its proposed Rs 4,000 crore aluminium project in Orissa.

As against the plea by the Sterlite India, the Central Empowered Committee suggested that the majority 51% share in the special purpose vehicle — ‘Lanjigarh Scheduled Area Development Foundation’ — should be with the Orissa government and 24.5% each should be with the Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) and Sterlite.

The Sterlite had suggested that its own share should be 49%, while the Orissa government and OMC should hold 26% and 25%, respectively.

A bench of chief justice K G Balakrishnan, justices Arijit Pasayat and H S Kapadia directed Sterlite and the Orissa government to file affidavits on the formation and constitution of the special purpose vehicle.

…
Sterlite has sought direction from the court to accord clearance of the forest diversion proposal submitted by Orissa Mining Corporation for diversion of 660.749 hectare of forest land to undertake bauxite mining on Niyamgiri Hills in Lanjigarh for its Rs 4,500 crore Alumina plant in Orissa.

Sterlite has agreed to give 5% of the annual profits before tax and interest from the Lanjigarh project, consisting of bauxite mining and alumina refinery, or Rs 10 crore per year, whichever is higher, to the Foundation every year from April 1, 2007.

Sterlite also said it would make a payment of the net present value (NPV) of Rs 55 crore and Rs 50.3 crore towards wildlife management plan for conservation and management of wildlife around the Lanjigarh mine and Rs 12.2 crore towards development for the tribal people.

The committee said there has to be a balance between conservation and development. “The balance between these two would thus lie in permitting conservation not merely for private profit but in a manner that maximises the public interest component in the activity,’’ it said. …

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

Orissa Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) has planned to set up an international convention centre through a public-private partnership model. BK Patel, head (SEZ & Infrastructure Projects) at IDCO, said, "The convention centre will be spread over 25 acres in tie-up with private developers. We have started inviting tenders for the project and expect to reach a decision to begin the project in the coming months."

The convention centre is to be built at a whopping Rs 500 crore and expected to be completed in the next three years. 

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pragativadi.

… the new Director of Posco-India, Yong Keun Kim, is however, optimistic about his plans for downstream industries.

… His recent meeting with IPICOL managing director, Ashok K Meena, has unfolded the road map of Posco on downstream and ancillary industries.

Talking to reporters here on Tuesday, he said that Posco’s greenfield project near Paradip would create enormous opportunities for developing ancillary and downstream units close to the steel plant.

Some of the units that are likely to come up, include automobiles, shipbuilding, fishing vessel, heavy fabrication and downstream heat and coil processing, reveals the document.

There is a vast scope of indirect employment opportunity once the ancillary industries are set up in the area, the document says.

Posco has requested the state government for a piece of land near Paradip to set up the facilities.

A detailed project report (DPR) is being prepared by the company, in which investors from South Korea would join for setting up downstream and ancillary projects.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard. The six suggestions are:

• taking up entry point activity,
• providing employment to the affected and the displaced persons,
• promotion of local employment to the extent possible,
• initiative for protection of environment,
• enthusing and engaging the people and
• empathising with the local people.

… Tripathy said, the steel units have been advised to take up various entry point activities to fill the infrastructural gap in their area of operation.

Similarly, they also need to take care of employment of the project affected and the displaced persons either through setting up Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) or through adoption of the existing ITIs in the state.

It will help those units to meet their requirement of skilled man power in the trades they require. The industries have further been advised to promote local employment to the maximum extent possible.

He said, the industries have been told to take up afforestation and ensure protection of social and economic environment. Efforts will have to be made for enthusing and involving the people in the industrialisation process to attain the objective of inclusive development.

Besides, the industrial units will have to empathise with the local people considering them as stakeholders in the industrialisation process. To further supplement these efforts the industries need to educate and empower the local people so that they can get jobs on merit.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

National Aluminium Company (Nalco) is exploring the possibility of setting up a greenfield aluminium smelter and captive power plant near Jharsuguda, western Orissa at an investment of more than Rs 14,000 crore.

The capacity of the proposed smelter is pegged at 5 lakh tonnes per annum with a captive generation facility of 1,250 mw. The alumina required for the project is likely to be sourced from Nalco’s existing refinery at Damanjodi.

Engineer’s India (EIL), which has been appointed the consultant, has found the project technically feasible.

Jharsuguda is being chosen as the possible site for the plant as it is in the vicinity of the IB valley coal reserves. While the company has the required technology, land acquisition is expected to be trouble-free as most part of the identified patch is government land and barren.

… "Yes, we have plans to set up a smelter and captive power plant in Jharsuguda to add about 9 lakh tonne alumina capacity which is exported annually now. The project’s fate does not hinge on the availability of water," B L Bagra, director (finance), Nalco, told Business Standard.

Meanwhile, the state-owned Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa (Ipicol) has forwarded the company’s application for water from IB river to the water resources department.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business standard.

Global steel major ArcelorMittal, who is proposing to set up a 12 million tonne greenfield steel plant at Patna tehsil in Keonjhar district of Orissa, plans to spend about $300 million (about Rs 1,200 crore) on rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R). …

ArcelorMittal has presented its R&R plan to the Keonjhar district administration. It plans to spend the earmarked amount over a period of more than five years.

"We plan to spend about $300 million for the R&R plan over a period of more than five years. The R&R plan has already been submitted to the Orissa government," ArcelorMittal India chief executive officer (CEO) Sanak Misra said.

After meeting Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik along with Sudhir Maheshwari and Vijay Bhattanagar, the members of ArcelorMittal’s group management board, in the state secretariat today, Misra told the media that their steel plant will come up in two phases of 6 million tonne each. He said the R&R plan of the company was in conformity with the R&R policy of the Orissa government.

The plan envisages dwelling units for each of the displaced family with common facilities. The rehabilitation colonies will have water supply, educational institutions and primary health centres (PHCs).

As per the R&R plan, the company will set up a state-of-the-art industrial training institute (ITI) beside the steel plant. It is in discussion with three leading institutes of the country having previous experience in handling ITIs.

The model, including student strength and the cost of setting up of the ITI, is being worked out. Misra, however, made it clear that the ITI would come up before the commissioning of the plant. The company was in discussion with the state government for the required land, he said.

Official sources said, the company planned to apply the highest standards of corporate social responsibility (CSR) for the Orissa project and intended to make the R&R policy the backbone of the CSR strategy.

Misra said a detail project report (DPR), prepared by M N Dastur & Company (P) Ltd (Dasturco), was being finalised. It would be submitted in June, 2008, he added.

The DPR includes captive mining facilities, captive power supply, water supply infrastructure and other required facilities. It also includes setting up of townships for the company’s employees.

The ArcelorMittal CEO also expressed his satisfaction over the land acquisition, saying that it was making good progress.

The company had signed an MoU with the Orissa government in December 2006 for setting up a steel plant at an investment of about Rs 40,000 crore.