___________

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard by Nageshwar Patnaik.

… All these projects will create employment opportunity for nearly six thousand people

The investment proposal includes setting up of five new thermal power projects and expansion of two existing power plants.

.. The new power projects cleared by the committee include 3200 MW plant National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) at Dharanipali in Sundergarh district (Rs 18,000 crore), 2000 MW plant by Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL) at Rengali (Rs 8,250 crore), 1320 MW plant by BGR at Bhapur in Nayagarh district (Rs 6,300 crore), 1980 MW plant by JR Power Gen Private Limited at Bainda in Angul district (Rs 8,000 crore) and 1320 MW plant by Adhunik Power Company Limited at Birmaharjpur in Sonepur district (Rs 8000 crore)

The existing projects which were given permission to go for expansion are Chambal Infrastructure Limited (from 1200 MW to 1320 MW and GMR Limited (1050 MW to 1400 MW).

Chambal Infrastructure Limited – which has its plants at Siria in Dhenkanal district will invest Rs 5000 crore while GMR Limited will put in Rs 6000 crore at its Kamalanga plant in the same district.

(Thanks to futureberhampur for the pointer.)

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard by Hrushikesh Mohanty.

Japanese auto major Toyota Motor Corporation has evinced interest in setting up a processing plant for rare earth chloride, one of the intermediate products of monazite.

The auto major is in advanced stage of negotiations with Orissa Sands Complex (OSCOM), a unit of Indian Rare Earths Ltd, for setting up the plant near OSCOM’s site at Matikahal, near Chhatrapur, about 30 km from here. …

The rare earth metals used in manufacturing several electronics items, magnet and automobile tools are in high demand in the international markets.The officials of IREL have anticipated several other companies to come forward to set up their plants to process the individual rare earths in the area.

It may be noted that OSCOM is setting up a 10 million tonne per annum monazite processing plant within its existing unit in Orissa.

…  The monazite processing plant is expected to start production from next year. Presently the Mining and Mineral Separation (MMS) plant of OSCOM is producing ilmenite and associated minerals by processing the rare earth minerals which are abundant in the Ganjam coast. The present capacity of the MMS plant of OSCOM is 2,20,000 tonnes per annum and the capacity utilization of the plant is almost 100 per cent.

The Greater Rourkela Forum at http://www.rourkelacity.com/rdf/index.php is gaining momentum. There are vibrant discussions happening there in many subjects. Some of the hot topics there are:

• Higher Education in Rourkela
• Development of Rail connectivity and Infrastructure in Sundergarh and Rourkela
• Healthcare and medical facilities in Rourkela

I like the way discussions are going on there focusing on how to develop the greater Rourkela area. Hope more people will join that forum and work together towards Rourkela’s development. 

With this forum there are now four regional forums and Blogs that I know of and that are regularly updated. 

1. Rourkela Development Forum – in a discussion group format visible to all
2. Future Berhampur – a blog
3. Kalahandia – a blog
4. Western Odisha discussion and development forum – a blog

Hope soon there will more regional forums/blogs watching over the development and interest of other areas of Odisha such as Northern Odisha (Balasore-Baripada), Koraput-Jeypore area, Sambalpur-Jharsuguda area and Angul-Talcher area.

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

JK Paper plans to invest around Rs 1,500 crore to set up a new pulp mill at Rayagarh Rayagada, Orissa. “The amount would be raised through a mix of debt and equity in the ratio of 1.5:1,” JK Paper MD Harsh Pati Singhania said. He said the company will raise the money through external commercial borrowings, debt instruments such as foreign currency convertible bonds apart from internal accruals. The new pulp mill will come up with a capacity of 2 lakh tonne per annum and paper a capacity of 1.5 lakh tonne per annum. It is likely to be commissioned in the second half of 2012.

For the new plant, the company will also ramp up its captive power unit from existing 35 mw to 55 mw.

(Thanks to kalahandia for the topic idea.)

The following is from the press release at http://www.assocham.org/prels/shownews.php?id=2303. 

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Undeterred by economic slowdown, the domestic investment announcements of India Inc. registered a growth of 16 per cent during calendar year 2009 over 2008 with Gujarat, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh emerge as frontrunners, according to an analysis of ASSOCHAM Investment Meter (AIM) Study on Corporate Investments.

As per the annual AIM assessment report for Corporate Investments across States and Sectors, total investment plans of India Inc. increased significantly from Rs 13,80,099 crore in 2008 to Rs 15,94,203 crore in 2009; out of which Gujarat, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh carved out a majority share of 15.4 per cent, 12.6 per cent and 8.1 per cent respectively.

The intensity of corporate investment activity during the period of economic downturn has proved the relative resilience of Indian economy.

“The robustness in corporate investment activity on the Indian soil shows how competently the economy has managed to weather the storm of unprecedented global financial crisis” said Mr. D S Rawat, ASSOCHAM Secretary General

In this context, Mr. Rawat, however points out the fact that the implementation of these investment projects has been hampered by a slew of hurdles. These include, land acquisition problems, bureaucratic inertia, ongoing economic slowdown and depressed expat market conditions. The government needs to address these issues on priority basis in order to realize the fruits of these investments.

Among the top investment attracting states, Gujarat registered the highest share in domestic investment plans during the January to December period of 2009. The state witnessed Rs. 2,45,352 crore worth of investment plans. Helped by the investor friendly policies of the state government which led to a smooth relocation of the Tata Nano project, the state attracted majority of investment plans in the real estate, power and infrastructure sectors.

Orissa stood at second position after Gujarat and recorded investment proposals worth Rs. 2,00,846 crore during the last year. The availability of rich mineral resources such as coal and iron ore along with cheap availability of manpower attracted massive investments in Orissa. Steel and power were among the sectors which attracted maximum investments in the state.

Successful commencement of gas production from the D6 block of KG basin helped Andhra Pradesh to rank amongst the top three states in attracting corporate investors in 2009. The state recorded investment plans to the tune of Rs. 1,29,157 crore. Energy and the real estate were among the major sectors that attracted maximum investments.

Karnataka and Maharashtra stood at fourth and fifth position by attracting investment plans worth Rs. 1,06,092 crore and Rs. 91,824 crore respectively during 2009. Karnataka has cashed in its investor friendly image by attracting a proposal of setting up a six-million-tonne integrated steel plant by Arcelor Mittal whereas benefitted by its financial infrastructure; Maharashtra has also been among the leading investment destinations in the country.

In terms of sectoral analysis, the ASSOCHAM Study shows that the power sector was the major investment attracting sector for 2009. The sector attracted investment plans worth Rs. 4,14,327 crore with a share of 26 per cent in the overall investment plans across the country.

Following the power sector, real estate and energy sector were amongst the top investment attracting sectors during the year. Real estate sector witnessed proposed investment plans worth Rs. 2,57,314 crore whereas energy sector attracted proposed investments to the tune of Rs. 1,98,565 crore.

Other sectors which recorded high flowing corporate investments during the last year were metals & mining (Rs. 1,59,534 crore), infrastructure (Rs. 74,210 crore), hospitality (Rs. 43,746 crore), auto/auto components (Rs. 38,150 crore) and telecom (Rs. 34,461 crore).

Following are excerpts from Suchismita Sahoo’s report in orissadiary.com.

… the idea to set up a state of art hospital at Bhubanheswar has recently been discussed between Chief Minster Mr Navin Patttanik and Mr Anil Agarwal, Chairman of the Vedanta Group in his last meeting, and off late the Vedanta management reviewed it seriously and Government has agreed to extend their support to make the best in class .

Realising the need of proper provision to handle the ever-increasing trauma cases, Vedanta has come forward to set up a 100-bed Level I, state-of-the-art Trauma Care Centre in Bhubaneswar. Revealing Vedanta’s plans regarding this novel initiative, the Vice President of Vedanta Group, Ajit Kumar Samal said, "This centre will be established on 10 acres of land involving a proposed investment of Rs 75 crore. As a Level I trauma care centre, it will have facilities that will cater to patients of all income groups at any point of time. We have handed over the responsibility of designing and construction to HOSMAC, an internationally reputed professional group involved in hospital making and research." Informing about the facilities that will be available at this centre, Mr. Vivek Desai, Head of HOSMAC Consultancy Services said, "The centre will have facilities like highest level of surgical care, specialists and equipment available 24 hours, education programme, preventive and outreach programs, program of research in trauma education and injury prevention. This will become a referral resource for communities in nearby regions. Both the clinical and non-clinical facilities will be of international standard. Besides the integrated trauma care facilities including General Medicine, General Surgery, Reconstructive surgery, Orthopedic surgery, Neurosurgery, Vascular surgery, Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Nephrology, ENT and Radiology and Imaging diagnostic services, this centre will also have Emergency Care Services, Ambulatory Care Services and blood bank. The proposed centre is expected to come out as an unmatched proposition in trauma and burns which will include bone bank and skin bank facility. Currently there is no same line dedicated trauma hospital in Orissa or even neighboring state like West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh or Andhra Pradesh." "The institute is the first level-I trauma and burns facility in Orissa and will act as leading trauma centre in the country. The bone bank and skin bank is an unparallel facility in the country which will be available here. The centre will be backed by an integrated life saving road and air ambulance service. The hospital will ensure maximum patient safety and quality of care and will operate in line of NABH / JCI standard," he adds. 

Following are excerpts from a report in tathya.in.

Odisha’s Power sector gets a relief as the first Unit of 2400 Independent Power Plant (IPP) at Jharsuguda would be commissioned in coming Summer’, he said to the media after meeting the Chief Minister.

This will add 600 MW to the state’s power production capacity and can help the State Government in facing the current power crisis. 

Mr. Agarwal revealed that construction work of world class Vedanta University near Puri has already started. 

At the first stage, the University will have a 1000 bed super specialty hospital and Medical College, also academic building. 

Vedanta Boss also informed the meeting that Lanjigarh refinery is fully operational by sourcing bauxite from other states, incurring a huge opportunity loss for both states as well as company. 

State Government has assured to look into the issue seriously and try to work out for an immediate solution. 

Construction activities for a specialized burn and trauma care centre at Bhubaneswar would begin very soon.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

After committing an investment of Rs 60,000 crore on various projects in Orissa including an aluminium smelter plant, an alumina refinery unit and a mega university project, London-based Vedanta Resources Plc has now evinced interest in setting up a steel plant in the state.

Vedanta plans to set up the steel plant in collaboration with engineering and construction major Larsen and Toubro (L&T).

… However, he did not provide details like capacity of the proposed steel plant, location and investment. It may be noted that in October 2004, Sterlite Iron and Steel Company, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources, had inked an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the state government for setting up a five million tonne per annum steel plant. The steel plant was to set up at Palasponga in the state’s Keonjhar district at an investment of Rs 12,502 crore. However, the project is yet to take off.

On bauxite supplies, Agarwal said, he has informed the state chief minister that Vedanta’s alumina refinery plant at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district is operational and the company is sourcing bauxite from other states to run this refinery.

The chief minister has assured that us that bauxite supplies would not be a problem in Orissa which has the fourth largest deposits of the mineral ore in the country, Agarwal informed.

He further said the company is adhering to the environmental norms in running the Lanjigarh refinery, adding, “Our refinery at Lanjigarh is a world class refinery and it is a zero discharge and zero waste unit. …"

He pointed out that the company would commence mining operations at Niyamgiri hills in Kalahandi district after getting the environmental clearance.

Agarwal said, Vedanta has already invested Rs 39,000 crore on various projects in Orissa and these projects have generated direct and indirect employment for about two lakh people.

Vedanta Aluminium has also decided to set aside five per cent of its net profit or Rs 10 crore every year on welfare activities of the tribals of Lanjigarh. The amount will be spent on meeting the needs of the tribals in areas like education, livelihood and health.

The company will also build the hostel for the proposed engineering college of the state government at Bhawanipatna.

On the 2400 MW (6×400) power plant at Jharsuguda, Agarwal said, the first unit of the independent power project (600 MW) will be operational from the ensuing summer.

Talking on the company’s proposed university project, he said, “We have huge local support for our university project and at first we will set up a 1000 bed state-of-the-art hospital as a part of the project.” Apart from the 1000 bed hospital, Vedanta has also firmed up plans to set up a 100-bed burn and trauma care centre at Gangapada on the outskirts of the city. Construction work on this centre wold take off very soon, Agarwal stated.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

Tata Group today proposed to set up a coal-to-liquid plant in Orissa with an investment of $10 billion in joint venture with South African company, Sasol.

… “We had preliminary discussions with the chief minister about the Tata-Sasol project for converting coal into liquid,” Muthuraman said later.

The proposed project would be a large one with an investment of $10 billion, he said, adding that its exact location had not been identified yet.

The proposed plant will generate 1,600MW of power besides producing diesel, naptha and LPG. The byproducts will be tar, phenol, sulphur, ammonium, fertiliser and mining explosives.

According to sources, the proposed plant will have a capacity of 80,000 barrels per day which comes to around 3.6 million tonnes per annum.

The plant, which is scheduled to be commissioned in 2018, will require 28 to 31 million tonnes of coal per annum.

It will need 3,000 acres of land for the proposed plant and 24 million gallons water per day.

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

The Army is proposing to set up a full-fledged military hospital at Gopalpur in Ganjam district and upgrade Kalinga School in Bhubaneswar, which is up to Class V, to an Army Public School from next session. The proposal to set up six polyclinics has been agreed in principle by the Government of India and they are going to be functional shortly at Sambalpur, Angul, Dhenkanal, Puri, Koraput and Ganjam districts. All veterans should get their registration done through respective station headquarters to avail of the diagnostic facilities.

… Orissa will be the first state to have two Sainik Schools after opening of the Sainik School at Sambalpur for the people of Western Orissa. He said 70 acres of land has been identified for the school along the Goshal-Chiplima road and Sainik School Board will visit the place soon. This apart Sainik School, Bhubaneswar, has been given enhanced financial assistance for its upkeep and all existing scholarships have been doubled.

… Revealing that process of identification of 700 acres of land in Jharsuguda or Sundargarh district is on for location of an Army unit keeping in view rail and air connectivity, Jha said ad hoc Station Headquarters to meet the administrative requirements of the veterans in Sambalpur, Bhubaneswar, Balasore and Gopalpur have been upgraded into fullfledged Station Headquarters.A transit home in Bhubaneswar and a holiday home in Puri for serving soldiers as well as veterans are also on the cards, he added.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Financial Express.

The Orissa government is proposing to develop a special corridor for coal transportation from the state’s coal-bearing district Angul. The 137 km long corridor, which would be developed with an investment of Rs 5000 crore, will connect coal deposits in Talcher, Angul, Meramundali, and Chendipada.

A state government official in the commerce and transport department said the corridor will be developed with rail and road networks with a view to facilitate coal supply to various industries and also transportation to ports for exports and coastal shipments.

Orissa has proven coal deposits of 6,53,53 mt. The Mahanadi Coalfield Ltd. (MCL), a subsidiary of Coal India (CIL), is currently raising about 70 to 90 mt per annum. However, as many private and public sector companies are expected to make their allotted coal block operational, coal traffic from the Angul district is expected to increase manifold.

The state has lined up power plants by 21 IPPs (independent power producers) of a total capacity of 25,000 MW. Besides, a power plant of 4000 MW is coming up under the Ultra Mega Power Project(UMPP) scheme and another 4000 MW is being installed by NTPC. In brown field expansion, the AES-owned Orissa Power Generation Corporation and NTPC are adding 1,320 MW each to their facilities at Ib Valley and Talcher respectively. To add to it, several captive generating plants are being set up by aluminium, steel and ferro-alloys plants in the state. To feed these power plants, at least 142 mt of coal will need to be transported from the pit head to power stations every year. 

Following is an excerpt from a report in Orissadiary.

“With in coming 6 months the 32 seated Aero-service to commence from Jeypore”, declared by MP Shri. Jayaram Pangi along with some Administration Officials at Jeypore Airport. …

During past 1962 the said Airport was established by Ex-Chief Minister Biju Pattanik. During 1980 the service commenced on those days from Jeypore to Vishakapatnam and Bhubaneswar. But now days the said Airport get activated during the VIP visits only. After establishing HAL at Sunabeda the said Airport was established, but the importance found raised after the establishment of NALCO at Damanjodi.

Bishnu Das’s article in Business Standard lists many of the solar and biomass power unit projects that are in the pipeline in Odisha. Following are some excerpts.

Solar power units:

• 5 Mw power plant of RSB Energy Pvt Ltd in Sundergarh district
• Enzen Global Solutions’s 5 Mw solar power plant in Khurda district
• Lanco Solar’s 5 Mw solar plant in Cuttack district
• Sunark Solar’s 5 Mw power plant in Puri district
• Kolkata based SREI Infrastructure’s 5 Mw solar power plant in Bolangir district
• Moserbaer Pvt Ltd’s 5 Mw grid interactive solar photo voltaic project
• Sahara India’s 5 Mw solar power plant

Biomass power units:

• Rice husk based power plant being set up by Shali Vahana Green Energy Ltd at Nimidha village in Dhenkanal district
• Satya Bio-Power Industry Ltd planning to set up a 10 Mw plant in Ganjam
• A V N Power Projects setting up a 10 Mw power plant in Kalahandi district
• Prasad Bio-Energy planning a 10 Mw unit in Raygada
• Jay Laxmi Bio-Energy Ltd intends to set up a 10 Mw unit in Nayagarh
• Another plant of similar capacity is proposed by Andhavarapu Bio-Energy in Nawarangpur

Following was obtained from a pdf file at the IDCO web site.

Following is from Samaja.

Following ad is from Orissa Business Blog.