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Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) will prepare a project report for setting up of a mega food park at Malipada near Khurda, about 30 km from Bhubaneswar. It will study the feasibility, plan for infrastructure within the park, formulate promotional and marketing strategies among others. …

The latest initiative of the state government assumes importance as the Union government is encouraging establishment of food processing parks and has already announced a grant of Rs 1500 crore for 30 mega food processing parks in the country by the end of 2008.

Though none of the proposed mega food parks in the country has been notified yet, the state government will send a proposal to the Union ministry on setting up of a food processing in Orissa, said the sources. In case the Union government does not approve the state’s proposal, the state government intends to go on its own to set up a mega food park at Malipada, sources added.

The state government has already identified 80 acres of land at Malipada for this purpose. It will be handed over to the state owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idcol) by the district collector of Khurda and the process will be completed within 45 days.

The Union minister for food processing will be invited by the state government to visit the identified location towards the end of November. Besides, steps will be taken to develop a chain of cold storage between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

This was decided at a review meeting on the food processing industries in Orissa chaired by the Development Commissioner (DC) R N Bohidar recently.

As per the Government of India (GoI) scheme, the mega food park need to be built on a minimum area of 100 acres and maximum area of 100 hectares and the grant can be availed in two installments.

Khurda will be a preferred location as it will be closer to the bio-technology park being set up at Andharua near Bhubaneswar which will add synergy to the project.

Sources said, the plans for the development of terminal market or distribution centres at key locations like Choudwar, Berhampur and Sambalpur along with the supply chain of horticulture products in the catchment areas are being worked out by the department of horticulture.

That apart, multi-product cold chain network and the Inland Container Depos (ICDs) at Kalinganagar and Jharsuguda by CONCOR and similar facilities proposed at other places like Rourkela, Bhadrakh and Angul are likely to give a fillip to the sector.

In view of the potential in the food and the agro-processing sector, some sub-sectors have been identified by the state government for development. This includes rice, cashew, spices, mango, marine and fishery, diary and maize.

… According to the official figures, there were 92,417 micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in the state by the end of 2006-07 with an investment of about Rs 2825.16 crore. Out of it, 21,298 units were in the food and allied sector with an investment of Rs 803.78 crore. While the MSE sector accounted for about 5,56,908 employment, out of it the food processing sector engaged 1,10,329 persons.

 

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

With more than 1,050 species of finest and richest varieties of cacti and succulents grown in an area of 20,000sqft, the centre — established by the state government — has been evolving many new inter-generic and inter-specific hybrids adding new names to the existing list.

Continuing with the effort to popularise the collection, curation and propagation of cacti among the public, the centre would soon open a new cacti house.

The house is likely to be opened by the last week of this month, the centre’s chief executive officer, A.K Mahapatra said.

The centre already has a series of poly-houses covering an area of 20,000sqft. The new addition would house 500 t0 600 varieties of cacti, he added. Apart from collecting samples from different parts of the world, the centre has many indigenously developed varieties. Out of several varieties of cactus found across the world, Echinocactus grusonii, Gymnocalycium, Mammillaria, Melocactus, Ferocactus, Astrophytum, Sulcorebutia, Opuntia, Parodia and Hildwintera are prized possessions of the centre

In http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/1616 we discussed a report regarding auctioning of minerals. The following article in Sambada illusrtates with numbers that the best way to go would be to decide the winner of the auction based on evaluating the financial and technical bid together and determining which one offers the state the maximum revenue. (Later when time permits I will translate the article into English.)

The following excerpts from a news item from tathya.in illustrates the difference between the state’s income due to only royalties and through auction.

In 2002 the IDCOL made an abortive attempt to give away the mines to Jindal Stainless at a throw away considerations ignoring higher bids by Tata Steel and Visa Industries.

The ill-conceived move by the bureaucrats was foiled by the Orissa High Court, which passed adverse comments regarding the Government of Orissa attempt to compromise public interest in the deal.

Both the State Government and IDCOL appealed before the apex court to get relief with considerable cost and time.

Supreme Court’s order for re-bidding how ever has now materialized.

To the amazement of every one Jindal Stainless which had offered a sum of Rs.38 per ton has now come up with a bid of Rs.3000 per ton for ore having 48 per cent chromium.

And on average they have offered per ton Rs.900.

Visa Industries has out bid Jindal Stainless with an offer of Rs.7000 per ton of chrome having 48 per cent of chromium content.

Even assuming the changes in the commodity prices which have taken place in last 5 years is too much than the price offered earlier.

The colossal loss to the flagship Public Sector Undertaking (PSU), IDCOL can be well imagined if the Jindal Stainless had succeeded in 2002.

Now with opening the financial bids of the participants, it underscores the point that the State Government’s Policy for leasing out the mineral resources of the state is faulty and not at all in the best interest of the state, said a financial analyst.

To take the advantage of high price in demand of metals and minerals in the international market, corporate giants and multinationals like POSCO, Arcelor- Mittal, Essar, Vedanta, Jindal, Bhusan and many others are flocking to Orissa to corner mining leases.

The State Government  … Yet they do not learn from the Tangarpada experience.

… Under the MMDR Act, mines can be reserved for the PSUs and leased out to the State owned companies like IDCOL and OMC.

These PSU can auction the mines among the credible parties after floating world tender for value addition and derive bonanza.

Till date no body knows about the “Policy of Value Addition” of the Government of Orissa.

The Policy should come up immediately and it should be implemented in letter and spirit for the interest of the state.

The positive changes of Policy will not effect industrialization, but it will give substantially higher rate of revenue to the state exchequer as demonstrated in case of Tangarpada.

The state’s entire requirement of funds for eradicating poverty and developing the state can be generated with the policy change, said a former Union Minister.

However there is no effort in this direction.

…  Instead of Centre bashing the State Government should make efforts to maximize revenue from mineral resources through PSU mode, observed a former Secretary of the Government of India.

Definitely the state can earn much more on just the minerals by leasing it to state companies like OMC and IDCOL and then letting those companies auction the mineral. The possible negative of completely following that approach, especially with respect to iron ore, is that the winner of the auction can then take the ore and set up plants in other states. If that happens Orissa will lose out on the side developments associated with plants such as infrastructure building, jobs and the tax that the state can get from the companies.

What the state should do is to try for the best of both worlds. I.e., offer other facilities and enticements to keep the companies in the state but go the route of auction. What other facilities and enticements can the state offer?  Orissa being on the coast, availability of ports nearby is an important factor and it is good that the state is working on the development of many ports and railway lines to those ports. Easy availability of land for the companies will help. More thoughts need to be put in this direction.

There is a chance that some companies will not set up shop in Orissa under these conditions; but these days there seems to be a lot of companies who want to set shop. So perhaps the time has come for the state to change its approach of leasing mines to attract companies to auctioning minerals via IDCOL and OMC and using other methods to attract value addition companies.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

The Gitanjali Group, one of the oldest leading names in gems and jewellery, has proposed to set up a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the State. The group’s infrastructure arm, Gitanjali Infratech Limited (GIL), has approached Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to set up its eighth SEZ for gems and jewellery.

The company’s chief executive officer Ajit A Vaidya has requested the State Government to allocate land for the purpose. If allowed, it will be the first of its kind in the State, said an officer of the Industries Department. The Gitanjali Group is known for its jewellery brands, Nakshatra, Gili, Desire, Asmi, Sangini and D’dmas in both domestic and international markets. GIL’s existing seven SEZs are spread over Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.

While the gross size of the Indian gem and jewellery industry is 20,889.21 million dollars, the country’s jewellery manufacturing is currently only a fraction thereof.

This is predominantly due to lack of availability of organised infrastructure, structured manufacturing and exporting environment, said Vaidya.

Therefore, setting up of more SEZs for this sector would promote export of the Indian products, he said.

The gems and jewellery sector, which is labour-intensive, currently generates more than 3 million jobs with the setting up of SEZs.

As there are more than 2 lakh workers from Orissa engaged in the diamond cutting and polishing industry in Surat, this will help them find jobs in their homeland, feels a senior official.

Following is an excerpt from a report in the Statesman.

The CapEx database of The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, which provides project-wise information of new and ongoing capital expenditure projects in the country, has ranked the state first in terms of value of total envisaged projects for the period ending December 2007.

With an estimated investment of Rs 59,9181 crore the state ranks ahead of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.

The state also ranks first in terms of value of total projects under implementation in the country at Rs 308,589 crore. The other top ranking states in this category are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Haryana.
Orissa also holds the number one position in the country in terms of value of total envisaged projects since the last three years.

At present there are 483 projects being carried out in the state out of which 52 per cent are under implementation stage while 48 per cent are in the announced stage.

The investment projects in the state include sectors like aluminium, airport, mining, port, power, steel, railway, road and tourism. In the manufacturing sector aluminium, ferro-alloys, steel and refinery are the main sectors attracting investments. Electricity sector has also attracted major investments.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

While the volume of envisaged projects in Orissa was Rs 5,99,181 crore, ahead of many developed provinces including Maharashtra and Gujarat, the state also tops the list of places in terms of prorject implementation.

Stating that majority of investment proposals came in aluminium, air port, mines, port, energy, steel, railway and tourism, the state government claimed that Orissa also led the states in project implementation. About Rs 3,08,589 crore investment was being implemnted in the state.

"The state continues to top the list of project implementation in 2005, 2006 and 2007," an official said quoting the study report of Capex Database Centre.

He pointed out that as much as Rs 5,99,181 crore investment was proposed in 483 projects of which 52 per cent (rs 3,08,589 crore) were in implemntation stage.

However, the official said that rest 42 per cent which amounted Rs 2,90,592 were in announced stage.

The state government also claimed that a large number of investors were in queue for putting their money in power sector.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The Anil Agarwal-owned Vedanta group has made substantial headway in land acquisition for its three projects in Orissa which entail a combined investment of over Rs 30,000 crore.

The group needed 11,700 acres for its university at Puri, an alumina refinery at Lanjigarh, and its smelter and power project at Bharkhamunda near Jharsuguda. It has already acquired about 7,515 acres.

The total land needed for the Rs 15,000-crore university is 6,000 acres. The company has to date acquired 3,155 acres and taken possession of 2256.49 acres, which includes 385.15 acres of government land and 1871.34 acres of private land.

… Vedanta Aluminium has acquired the 2,000 acres it needed in Lanjigarh in the economically-backward Kalahandi district for its one-million-tonne-per-annum (MTPA), Rs 4,000-crore alumina refinery. Besides, it has got 80 per cent of the 200 acres needed for a rail corridor for the project.

“About 80 per cent of the 200 acres needed for the railway link has been acquired. We hope to complete the process very soon”, said Mukesh Kumar, chief operating officer, Vedanta Aluminium.

In a relief to the company, the Supreme Court recently cleared the diversion of 660.749 hectares of forest land for mining bauxite in Niyamgiri hills in the Kalahandi district.

While the mining plan has been approved by the Indian Bureau of Mines, the company hopes to start operating the mine in the next four-six months. However, it will have to get clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

Update: See also http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/arcelor-mittal-plans-captive-port-in-orissa/354536/.