___________

Update: The San Jose Mercury News has a long article on this and talks about how it happened and what the future plans are. I hope other expatriate Odia groups in different parts of the world will make similar efforts.

Following is an excerpt from a report in a Cupertino news paper.

Reflective of Cupertino’s growing Indian population, the city is getting a new sister city in Bhubaneswar, India, thanks to a major push by citizens, Rotary Clubs on two continents, and the blessing of the City Council on Tuesday night. The Bhubaneswar Sister City Initiative, a committee of local citizens, told the council that residents from both cities are anxious to establish a connection. Committee member Mahesh Pakala said Bhubaneswar is “considered the cleanest and greenest city in India,” and like Cupertino is home to high tech companies and has a strong interest in education. Mayor Gilbert Wong visited Bhubaneswar, a 2,000-year-old city on the north east coast of India that serves as the capital of the state of Orissa, earlier this year. Bhubaneswar will be the fourth sister city for Cupertino. Two active committees promote relationships with Toyokawa, Japan, and Hsinchu, Taiwan, Republic of China; the city has a less active relationship with Copertino, Italy.

The official web site of Cupertino, CA is http://www.cupertino.org/. Cupertino’s wikipedia page is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupertino,_California. Following is an excerpt from its wikipedia page.

Cupertino is one of many cities that claim to be the "heart" of Silicon Valley, as many semi-conductor and computer companies were founded here and in the surrounding areas. The worldwide headquarters for Apple Inc. is also located here in a modern complex circled by the playfully named Infinite Loop. Apple has also announced that it plans to build a new 150-acre (610,000 m²) second campus between Interstate 280, N Wolfe Rd, E Homestead Rd and along Tantau Ave one mile east of the old campus. The different (nine) properties (50-acre (0.2 km²) south of Pruneridge Avenue were bought in 2006, the property (100-acre (0.4 km²) north of it in 2010 (from Hewlett-Packard).

As per the wikipedia page, as of today, three of its top five employers are: Apple (34,300 employees in the area), Oracle (8,000 employees in the area) and HP (3,000 employees).

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

The Centre has cleared Tisco’s proposal for establishment of a multi-product special economic zone (SEZ) at Gopalpur, Orissa steel and mines minister Raghunath Mohanty told the Assembly today.

… Mohanty said the civil construction work for the project was currently in progress at the proposed site. The work for the boundary wall and road project has already begun.

At the proposed SEZ site, Tisco will set up an industrial park. The company will invest Rs 1,000 crore in the park and set up a 4-lakh tonne per annum steel rebar mill, a 55,000 tonne ferro chrome plant and a 1.2-million gallon per day water desalination plant.

For the infrastructure development, Rs 5,000 crore will be invested. Once the park is developed, Rs 15,000 crore will be invested for the development of downstream industries. Mohanty said: “The park will invite investment in steel, accessories of motor vehicles, apparel, gems, jewellery, speciality chemicals and other technical areas.”

Joda and Barbil are twin towns in Keonjhar district of Odisha; they are 8-10 kms apart. These towns are surrounded by many mines and also have many industries. With the recent extension of the train from Puri to Bansapani, which is near Joda, the twin towns now have daily trains both to/from Cuttack/Bhubaneswar/Puri as well as to/from Jamshedpur (a passenger and a Jan shatabdi) and Howrah (the Jan Shatabdi). There is also a fast passenger connecting Keonjhar to Bhubaneswar.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu.

The Geological Survey of India (GSI) has found Platinum Group of Elements (PGE) in the Baula-Nuasahi ultramafic complex in Orissa.

“We, in collaboration with the Orissa Mining Corporation [OMC], are studying the feasibility of mining of PGE in the area. There are some encouraging signs,” said GSI Director-General A. Sundaramoorthy.

… The PGE comprises a family of six greyish to silver white metals — platinum, palladium, iridium, rhodium, osmium and ruthenium. They have attracted enormous interest from explorers all over the world due to their rarity, high economic value, growing demand in jewellery, pharmaceutical, telecommunication and hi-tech application in fuel cell technology.

“The Baula-Nuasahi ultramafic complex is the only proven PGE deposit in the country with an estimated resource of 14.2 million tonnes. This is confined to the active chromite mines,” GSI sources said.

The GSI started its collaboration with the OMC in 2010. After one year of study, scientists are elated about the prospects of development of this mineral.

Sitampundi in Tamil Nadu is another place where the GSI has got proof of PGE presence. …

Following is from a paper by GSI titled "Platinum in Baula – Nuasahi Ultramafic Complex."

Baula‐Nuasahi ultramafic complex (Lat. 210 15’ – 21020’: Long 860 18”‐860 20’) in Kendujhar district, Orissa is a NW‐SE trending , ~3 km long arcuate belt occurring ~170 km northeast of Bhubaneswar (Fig.1). It comprises of variants of ultramafic suite including orthopyroxenite, dunite, chromitite, peridotite, websterite and harzburgite hosted within gabbro and shows steep easterly dip. The mafic‐ultramafic sequence is intrusive to the supracrustals (Badampahar‐Gorumahishani Belt) of the Archaean Singhbhum craton. The supracrustals named here as Hadgarh Group comprises mainly a clastic dominated sequence with minor basic volcanics, volcaniclastics and semiplelite and occur as an arcuate belt within the granitemigmatite milieu (Singhbhum Granite).

Within the Baula ultramafic complex, the interface between the ultramafic and the mafic unit (gabbro) in its eastern border, is marked by a prominent magmatic breccia zone ranging in width between 1 m to 40m and with a strike length of >2 km. Although incidence of platinumgroup elements (PGE) in the belt was recorded by Banerjee (1966), Roy (1970) and Chakraborty (1972), PGE rich zones containing >1 ppm (Pt+Pd) was reported by the AMSE wing of the Geological Survey of India (Thiagarajan et al. 1989). Subsequently the mineralized units confined to the brecciated Ganga‐Shankar chromite lode were identified (Nanda et al. 1996, Patra & Mukherjee 1996). A collaborative programme undertaken by BRGM, France and Geological Survey of India (1996‐99) confirmed the PGE potential of the Baula sector (Augé et al. 1999). Two types of mineralization, viz. magmatic and hydrothermal origin, both linked to the intrusion of a gabbro into the ultramafic complex are reported. Detailed exploration for PGE established a possible resource of 7.7 million tones Pt+Pd ore with average content of 1.5 g/t at 0.5g/t cut off.

Following is an excerpt from a report  Akshay Rout in Pioneer.

To attract more tourists to Langudi, Kaima, Neulipur, Tarapur and other hills in Jajpur district, the State Government would spend Rs 14 crore in four years, said Secretary of Tourism and Culture Department Ashok Tripathy while he, along with other senior officials, visited these Buddhist sites on Saturday.

For an archeological hotspot, Langudi wears the tag of obscurity well. Located in Dharmasala tehsil, it is a sleepy hamlet with a sparse population. But things could change, thanks to the discovery of a Buddhist Stupa along with many images of different postures of Lord Buddha. Langudi hit the headlines eight years ago when several senior historians and archaeologists considered it as the Puspagiri, as described the famous Chinese traveller Huein Tsang. However, few tourists have since ventured into this remote hamlet for a view of the artifacts. But the government would spend money to develop the Buddhist site, said Tripathy.

Targeting Buddhist tourism in Jajpur, the Government is going to launch a Buddhist Circuit involving primary pilgrimage places associated with the life and teachings of Lord Buddha. Lalitagiri, Ratnagiri, Udayagiri, Langudi, Kaima and Neulipur are the primary pilgrimage places along with numerous other sites, where Buddha and the saints travelled, would be parts of the tourist itinerary, Tripathy said.

… The Government would build a 150-feet-high Buddha statute at Neulapur hill and a 85-feet Buddha statute at Deuli hill. A 50-feet-high Shiva statute would be built in the Gokarneswat temple. A 500-meter-long ropeway would be connected from Deuli hill to Kaima hill, he added.

Update: See http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110714/jsp/orissa/story_14234760.jsp for a recent news on the CDP for Sambalpur. Thanks to Jitu for the pointer.

Following is from Samaja.

Related past postings:

• Cuttack Development Plan links – draft proposal 2030
• Bhubaneswar CDP.
• Population of Bhubaneswar – Cuttack urban complex is 1.9 million in 2008.

The website of this league is http://www.efli.com/. This league is backed by some big names in American Football. Following is an excerpt from the page http://www.efli.com/news/american-football-is-coming-to-india/.

The Elite Football League of India plans to kick off in the fall of 2012, and Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Journal reports that its backers include some familiar names to American fans, such as Ron Jaworski, Mike Ditka and Packers linebacker Brandon Chillar (pictured), who is of Indian descent.

Following is an excerpt from the page http://www.efli.com/news/cowboys-in-india-jaworski-helps-launch-new-football-league/.

Former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, and current ESPN football analyst, Ron Jaworski is an investor and consultant for a new football league being started in India, according to a report in our sister publication Sports Business Journal.

… Other investors in the proposed eight-team league, which would begin play in November 2012, include Michael Irvin and Mike Ditka, who are both in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The eight teams in this league and the tentative week 1 schedule in 2012 is:

This is a big deal for Bhubaneswar and if indeed things go as planned Bhubaneswar will get a lot of publicity in the USA.

The logo of the Bhubaneswar Warhawks is a nice one. See below.

I was wondering how come Bhubaneswar is one of the eight teams. Its probably because they will try to get some of the rugby players to play American Football and the KISS Bhubaneswar rugby team has won several international championships in recent years. Following are some pointers.

• 2011 under 13 International Rugby tournament Champion.
• 2010 under 16 Rugby Championship held in Bhubaneswar. (See also this report)
  • KISS team has won this three times in a row.
• 2007 under 14 international cup winner.

Following is from http://ppporissa.gov.in/web%20site/Housing%20&%20Urban%20Development_files/frame.htm.

• H&UD Deptt. / BDA
• Location: Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar
• Area: @ 10.74 Acres
• M/s. UNITECH Ltd. has been selected as the developer.
• This would be the largest Commercial complex in the Eastern region with international standards
• Project Investment of USD 150 Million with an unprecedented Final Winning Bid of USD 47 Million
• 10.8 lakh Sft. Commercial space will be created.

The following is from http://unitechgroup.com/retail/comingsoon.asp.

The exact location is next to the current NISER hostel.

Following is from a report in Pioneer.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday laid the foundation-stone of the second-phase expansion of the Global Software Development Centre of TCS here at Kalinga Park Phase II.  …. The State Government, along with the Central Government, is setting up of an IT investment region in the State where IT and electronics hardware industry is an important component, he informed.

Patnaik said that to achieve the objective, industry-friendly ICT Policy-2011, IT Roadmap, Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Policy and IT Hardware Policy are being prepared to attract more IT industries to the State. The State’s IT export has crossed Rs 13,000 million during the year 2010-11 with direct employment of more than 10,000 persons.

… TCS Vice-President Projects B Sharma said that the second phase expansion is expected to be completed by March 2012, which would add 3,500 seats to the operation here. After the planned third phase, the total number of seats would be 11,000. The capital expenditure on different phases of expansion is estimated to be Rs 500 crore.

The following is obtained from http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-prov-results/paper2/prov_results_paper2_ori.html.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

Though there are 12 potential port locations on the coast-line, the State Government is not in a hurry to develop these ports. It would take appropriate decisions for development of the proposed ports in Public-Private-Participation mode only after preparation of the feasibility report.

… According to official sources, apart from the ongoing ports – Dhamara and Gopalpur – there are at least 12 potential port locations on the coast line. They are Bahuda Muhan in Ganjam, Baliharchandi, Astaranga, Jatadhari Muhan, Barunei Muhan, Chudamani, Incudi, Chandipur, Bahabalpur, Subarnarekha Mouth (Kirtania) and Bichitrapur.

While the decision to develop Chudamani and Astaranga ports has already been taken, land acquisition for development of the Subarnarekha port was under consideration of the Board of Revenue. Environment and other related clearances of this proposed port are in the final stage.

Of other proposed nine ports, it was decided to prepare feasibility report in each case before entering into any deal with private investors for developing them on BOOST, though a number of private promoters have evinced interest, the sources said.

The sources said that the Dhamara Port has already been completed at an estimated investment of Rs 3,239 crore and the railway line is already operational. …

On Gopalpur Port being operated by private developer Gopalpur Ports Limited, the sources said the completion of the all-weather port would be done at an estimated cost of Rs 1212.55 crore. It was decided to set up a fishing jetty at Gopalpur and to provide ID cards to 5,000 fishermen.

With the completion of Gopalpur port, as many as 4,888 direct and 1,000 indirect employments potential would be created, the sources said.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Financial Express.

New infrastructure projects in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Orissa are set to get a major push in the five years starting 2012 as various government agencies will be prioritising building of roads, rail networks, airports and sea ports in these states that are setting up mega petroleum and petrochemical investment regions.

Five massive regions meant to attract investments in the petrochemical and allied sectors are now at various stages of implementation at Dahej in Gujarat, Visakhapatnam-Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, Haldia in West Bengal, Paradeep in Orissa and Cuddalore and Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu. These investment zones, each of which is not less than 250 square kilometres, are expected to attract a collective investment of R8,63,664 crore and create more than 40 lakh jobs during the 12th Five-Year Plan.

… “We will get infrastructure build for these projects using various existing schemes through appropriate prioritization,” K Jose Cyriac, department of chemicals and petrochemicals secretary, said. Government entities like the National Highways Authority of India, shipping ministry and the railways ministry would emphasise on fresh projects in these regions while allocating resources in the coming years. In the case of small connecting roads wherever required, the state governments concerned would include them in their own development plans.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Petronet LNG Ltd, one of the fastest growing companies in the Indian energy sector has evinced interest in setting up an LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) terminal along the Orissa coast.

Dhamara, Gopalpur and Paradip ports in the state have been identified as the possible locations for the proposed LNG terminal which is set to cost Rs 4,000-5,000 crore.

“Petronet LNG is keen to set up an LNG terminal along the Orissa coast. The company is yet to zero in on any site though Dhamara, Gopalpur and Paradip have emerged as the potential locations. Petronet LNG has told us that the Orissa coast is the most suitable location for setting up the LNG terminal in which Rs 4,000-5,000 crore will be invested,” T Ramachandru, principal secretary (industries), Orissa government told Business Standard.

Petronet LNG is understood to be in talks with Paradeep Port Trust (PPT) authorities as well as promoters of Dhamara Ports Company Ltd (DPCL) and Gopalpur Ports Ltd (GPL) for the project. “We had initial discussions with the officials of Petronet LNG. They have proposed to set up an LNG terminal along the Orissa coast and we are open to the idea of setting up the terminal at Gopalpur. Petronet LNG officials have talked to PPT authorities as well as DPCL,” said Charchit Mishra, director of GPL.

… Petronet runs India’s first LNG receiving and re-gasification terminal at Dahej (Gujarat) having a capacity of 10 million tonne per annum (mtpa), equivalent to 40 mscmd (million standard cubic metres per day) of natural gas. The company is in the process of building another terminal at Kochi (Kerala) which will have a capacity of five mtpa equivalent to 20 mscmd.

Following is from the "About Us" page of Petronet.

Formed as a Joint Venture by the Government of India to import LNG and set up LNG terminals in the country, it involves India’s leading oil and natural gas industry players. Our promoters are GAIL (India) Limited (GAIL), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).

The following map gives an idea that the location picked and being considered by Petronet is not going to be a one-off thing. From the shape of India it becomes clear that many companies who will be importing "things" and distributing them across India would think of three ports: one in the West, one in the South and one in the East. In the East, since Odisha has a much longer coast line than West Bengal, there is a rush to establish ports in Odisha. These ports are going to be a big factor in the development of Odisha. Because of that Odisha is and should be zealously protecting the welfare of its existing and planned ports.

As per the article below the six most backward districts of Odisha are: Gajapati, Kandhamal, Koraput, Rayagada, Malkangiri and Nabarangpur.

See our earlier posting at http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/5102 for various data about these districts. In particular the ST% of these six districts are as follows:

• Gajapati: 47.88%
• Koraput: 50.67%
• Malkangiri: 58.36%
• Nawarangpur: 55.27%
• Phulbani (Kandhamala): 51.51%
• Rayagada: 56.04%

The ST% of the other districts which we earlier identified as backward are:

• Bolangir: 22.06%
• Boudh: 12.92%
• Kalahandi: 28.88%
• Keonjhar: 44.52%
• Mayurbhanj: 57.87%
• Nuapada: 35.95%

One other point to note is Sundergarh has 50.74% tribal population. Yet it is not a backward state. The reason is "Rourkela". I hope the people who blindly oppose industries in the backward districts would take note of this fact.

Following is an excerpt from http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column_archives-are-just-not-enough_1568965.

Bhubaneshwar, in Orissa, would seem like a rather laid-back capital city for those who’ve lived in some of the fast paced metros of the country. But what stands out at every corner and along the length of the roads here is the fact that the city does more than its best to showcase its traditional art forms by making it part of the graffiti on compound walls. That’s not all. It also brags of not one, but three extremely well maintained museums — there’s the state museum, the tribal art museum and the contemporary museum — that can give tourists and visitors an impressive glimpse into the culture and tradition of the city, which could date back to 1,000 BC. Orissa is probably one of the very few states that can also brag of letting a section of their forests and its inhabitants (read tribal groups) untouched and unharmed even today.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has made it clear to Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Director General VK Saraswat that his Government would not allow use of the State’s coastline for carrying out seaward artillery practice and manoeuvres.

This is the State Government’s reaction to the objection raised by the DRDO to the setting up of three minor ports in Balasore. If the DRDO is not bothered about the State’s development, what is the point in giving permission to use its coastline, Patnaik reportedly told Saraswat when both met here on Thursday.

… The DRDO had been conducting field firing and artillery practice along the seacoast in the districts of Balasore and Bhadrak since long. The State Government was giving permission to the DRDO without any objections. This time, however, the State Government refused permission for the purpose, as a result of which no field firing and artillery practice has taken place since April, 2011.

… “Our appeal to the Centre seeking the DRDO’s no-objection for setting up ports not harming the DRDO activities remained unheard. Even they did not listen to our grievances. It was the only way out for the State not to renew the mandatory permission to the DRDO,” said a senior State official.

With the State Government hardening its stand, Dr Saraswat rushed to the State capital and met the Chief Minister. However, Patnaik, sources said, sounded a “big no” to the DRDO chief.

Besides working together on the port locations that suits both parties, Odisha should push the defense department/DRDO for other contributions such as a medical college and an institute like IIST (Indian Institute of Space Technology) Trivendrum.

We present a set of maps that illustrate the districts that are behind the rest of the state and that need special attention.

In the following map the blue path is the divided 2 lane Vijaywada-Ranchi highway; the red one, already a 4-lane highway as part of the Golden Quadrilateral will become a 6-lane highway; and the orange (state/PPP funded) and pink (part of NHDP) ones will be 4-lane highways.

Based on the above data the backward districts of Odisha are clustered in the north and south as given in the map below.

The various phases of NHDP and their meaning, as obtained from wikipedia,  is as follows:

Phase I: The Golden Quadrilateral (GQ; 5,846 km) connecting the four major cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

* In Odisha: Part of the GQ connecting Kolkata to Chennai.

Phase II: North-South and East-West corridors comprising national highways connecting four extreme points of the country. The North-South and East-West Corridor (NS-EW; 7,300 km) connecting Srinagar in the north to Kanyakumari in the south, including spur from Salem to Kanyakumari (Via Coimbatore and Kochi) and Silchar in the east to Porbandar in the west.

* In Odisha None

Phase III: The government recently approved NHDP-III to upgrade 12,109 km (7,524 mi)of national highways on a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis, which takes into account high-density traffic, connectivity of state capitals via NHDP Phase I and II, and connectivity to centres of economic importance. contracts have been awarded for a 2,075 km (1,289 mi).

* In Odisha (From http://www.nhai.org/nhdpphase3.asp.)

• Panikholi-Keonjhar- Rimoli, NH 215, 106kms
• Duburi – Talcher, NH 200, 98kms
• Bhubneshwar-Puri(Approved Length 59 Km) 203 67
• Chandikhole-Duburi 200 39
• Rimoli – Roxy – Rajamunda(Approved Length 163Km) 215 96
• Sambalpur-Baragarh-Chattisgarh/Orrisa Border 6 88 Balance for award

Phase IV: The government is considering widening 20,000 km (12,000 mi) of highway that were not part of Phase I, II, or III. Phase IV will convert existing single lane highways into two lanes with paved shoulders. The plan will soon be presented to the government for approval.

* In Odisha (From http://www.nhai.org/ppp.htm.)

• Birmitrapur-Barkote 23 Orissa 128 778.15 IV Aug’11
• Angul-Sambalpur 42 Orissa 153 1220.32 IV Aug’11
• Cuttak-Angul 42 Orissa 112 1123.69 IV Sep’11  [4 laning approved by finance ministry panel, Sept 2011]

Phase V: As road traffic increases over time, a number of four lane highways will need to be upgraded/expanded to six lanes. The current plan calls for upgrade of about 5,000 km (3,100 mi) of four-lane roads, although the government has not yet identified the stretches.

* In Odisha (From http://www.nhai.org/nhdpphase5.asp.)

• Six Laning of Chandikhol-Jagatpur-Bhubaneswar(Approved Length 61 Km) 5 67
• Dhankuni-Balasore (Orissa portion Balasore – Laxmannath) 2 , 6& 60 235.68
• Bhubneshwar-Ichchapuram 5 164.33
• Balasore –Chandikhol 5 138.14

Phase VI: The government is working on constructing expressways that would connect major commercial and industrial townships. It has already identified 400 km (250 mi) of Vadodara (earlier Baroda)-Mumbai section that would connect to the existing Vadodara (earlier Baroda)-Ahmedabad section. The World Bank is studying this project. The project will be funded on BOT basis. The 334 km (208 mi) Expressway between Chennai—Bangalore and 277 km (172 mi) Expressway between Kolkata—Dhanbad has been identified and feasibility study and DPR contract has been awarded by NHAI.

* In Odisha: None yet.

Phase VII: This phase calls for improvements to city road networks by adding ring roads to enable easier connectivity with national highways to important cities. In addition, improvements will be made to stretches of national highways that require additional flyovers and bypasses given population and housing growth along the highways and increasing traffic. The government has not yet identified a firm investment plan for this phase.

* In Odisha: None yet.

In addition to the above some of the other major highway development activities are:

• Sambalpur-Rourkela (SH-10) : Widening from two lane to Four Lane Divided Carriage Way – Flexible Pavement with Hard Shoulder. This is being done via PPP by the state.
• Capital Region Ring Road (CRRR): New Construction for     4-lane bituminous road in phases with 2-lane road in Phase-1. This is to be done via PPP by the state.
• Bhubaneswar-Paradeep: New Construction for  4-lane bituminous road. Possibly as part of the Paradeep PCPIR.
• Green Field Coastal Corridor from Astarang to Dhamara via Paradeep:  Possibly as part of the Paradeep PCPIR.
• Vijaywada – Ranch highway: Got approval of Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure in October 2010 for a total budget of 1200 crores. The detailed route and map is at http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/1247. The path is Motu – Malkangiri – Jeypore – Koraput – Laxmipur – Rayagada – Digapahandi – Aska – Bhanjanagar – Sankarkhol – Phulbani – Boudha – Kiakata – Rairakhol – Nakti Deol – Chhendipada – Deogarh – Keonjhar – Dhenkikote – Tongabilla – Rairangpur – Jharkhand border

The following annotated map shows the above highways on the Odisha map.

The blue path is the divided 2 lane Vijaywada-Ranchi highway; the red one, already a 4-lane highway as part of the Golden Quadrilateral will become a 6-lane highway; and the orange (state/PPP funded) and pink (part of NHDP) ones will be 4-lane highways. I believe soon the remaining parts of NH 5 (for port connectivity to ports in Balasore district) and NH 6  (as it connects Mumbai-Kolkata) will also become 4-lane highways and all the new ports coming up will be connected to the GQ by 4-lane highways.

The concern is the bottom half of Odisha which will not have good roads except the Vijaywada-Ranchi highway. Unless particular attention is paid to that part, it will fall further behind.

The expressway plan at http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/topics/tnc-all/roads-and-highways-infrastructure-in-orissa/expressways does cover all of Odisha in phases. If parts of it can be expedited then it will help.

Following is from http://www.nhai.org/ppp.htm.

In 2006 I wrote a letter to the Tata’ on their 100+ years of exploitation of Odisha in terms of taking minerals at throw away prices from Odisha and doing major CSR and development outside Odisha and contributing very little to Odisha per say, but a lot to India though. Following is are excerpts from a news item in Financial Express. If what is mentioned there really happens Odisha will half forgive the Tatas.

Tata Motors is likely to set up an automobile unit at the Gopalpur SEZ Industrial Park, which has been developed by Tata Steel.

“Talks are going on with Tata Motors to set up an automobile unit at the Gopalpur SEZ in Orissa,” said a senior executive of Tata Steel.

He said Tata Steel  … plans to manufacture finished products for the automobile industry.

“Obviously we would like to have Tata Motors set up its unit at the Gopalpur SEZ Industrial Park,” the chief resident executive of Tata Steel in Orissa, Rajesh Chintak, told FE. He said that the proposed industrial park will have a separate zone for the automobile and the auto-component industry, adding that the park is now generating a lot of interest among investors.

Chintak also said that the company is now concentrating on developing the park. Once the infrastructure is ready a clear picture of the possible investments will emerge, he added.

The Orissa government, in fact, is lobbying with the Tatas to set up an automobile unit in the Gopalpur SEZ. Even when Tata Motors withdrew the Nano project from Singur, the Orissa government tried to convince the automobile company to relocate the unit in Gopalpur.

Tata Steel, which is developing the SEZ Industrial Park over an area of 3,700 acres is proposing to set up a ferro-alloys plant with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes and a 4-lakh tonne cold roll re-bar mill with an investment of R10,000 crore to R15,000 crore as anchor tenant.

The managing director of Tata Steel HM Nerurkar … said the Gopalpur Park has received SEZ status. He said that the construction work for the project would be started once the statutory clearances like the environmental clearance are obtained.

The managing director said the first phase of the Kalinga Nagar steel plant will be operational by January or February 2014.

Update: The complete list of the 351 villages is given below.

The villages mentioned in the three articles below are:

North: Bada Tulsipur, Barabati, Bhagda, Chakradharpur, Paikasahi, Paikirapur, Ramdaspur, Sanatulsipur, Talbast

East: Aampada, Aradiapada, Danahara, Dorabhanga, Kulatira gaon, Mahidharapada, Majhihaar, Mukund, Saheb nagar, Taraboi.

South: Aanlajodi, Basantpur, Bijipur, Chhatrama, Mahatapalla, Mukundpur hata, Sonapada

West: Baudatangi, Baulapatna, Dadhimachhagadia, Kapileshwarpur, Pangarsingha, Somanathpur, Swapneswarpur, Talagada

NACs: Jatani, Khurda, Pipli.

Following are excerpts from a report in Telegraph.

Bhubaneswar Development Authority’s jurisdiction has increased from 419sqkm to almost 1,000sqkm with 351 more villages being brought under its fold.

At a decision taken on Saturday, places such as Pipili and Delanga will come under the jurisdiction of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA). With this, the total number of villages under the authority’s fold has gone up from 205 to 556.

… Therefore, they were struck off the list. The new additions will have 263 villages from Khurda and 88 from Puri district.

… Sources said earlier the developmental drive had been largely restricted to the Phulanakhara-Khurda stretch. However, with the expansion of the surrounding areas, the development zone would form a circle like structure.

While in north, it would include villages such as, Bhagda, Paikirapur, Barbati and Talabast, in south, it would have Chhatrama, Bijipur and Mukundpur.

Likewise in the east it would have Dorabanga, Danahara and Saheb Nagar while Dadhimachh Gadia, Somanathpur and Talagada in the west.

Planning member of the BDA Prashant Kumar Patnaik said: “Immediately we will go for a comprehensive development plan of the newly included area.

Following are from Sambada and Samaja:

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

… Orissa Govt has gone  ahead to make budgetary provisions for providing basic infrastructure to attract the investors to this region. The expenditure requirement was discussed today in a high level meeting held under the Chairmanship of Chief Secretary Bijaya Kumar Patnaik in the Secretariat conference hall.

It has been decided in the meeting that the Project is to  covering 284.15 Sq.Kms. in Jagatsingpur and Kendrapara Districts will be developed in two phases viz. phase-1 covering 195 Sq.kms and phase-11 covering 89 sq. kms. The Project Proposal has been approved by Govt of India. IDCO has been selected as the Nodal Agency and IOCL selected as Anchor Tenant for development of PCPIR. The estimated budget for external infrastructure has been tentatively calculated at Rs.13634 Cr. The entire expenditure has been proposed to be borne jointly by Govt of Odisha, Government of India and Public Private Partnership.

The external infrastructure includes Green Field Coastal Corridor from Astarang to Dhamara via Paradeep ( 140Kms identified under Odisha and Andhra Pradesh PCPIR), Bhubaneswar- Paradeep Corridor(73 Kms.) , other Arterial roads, Port upgradation with new facilities, water supply, Taladanda  & Kendrapara canal lining, Captive Power Plant( 2x500MW) , New sub-stations and feeder lines, rail freight stations along with additional rail sidings, Logistic hubs near Bhutmundei, proposed air port , waste water treatment system and solid waste management. Up gradation of NH-5A ( 78 kms) to 4 lane  and expansion of Cuttack –Paradeep State High Way other important proposed  road projects. The total power requirement has been estimated at 2000 MW.

The demand of water for new projects in region will be 620 MLD  in different phases. Different water treatment systems like CETP & STP have been proposed at each of the chemical parks with estimate of 431 cr. Solid waste management system has been proposed  for disposal  industrial and domestic waste at the estimated cost of 200 Cr. Concerned departments have been directed to take up feasibility assessment and prepare detail project
reports for inclusion in state budget and recommendation to Govt of India for inclusion in 12th  Five Year Plan.

Following is from Dharitri.