___________

Following are excerpts from an excellent article by Bibhuti Barik in Telegraph.

The proposed corridor will include nine places linked to Jagannath Dham and the rich tradition of Odia art, craft, architecture and rural lifestyle.

… “We want to touch a part of Odisha’s essence through this heritage corridor. It will start from places in the neighbourhood of the capital, such as Sisupalgarh, Gangotri Nagar, Dhauli, Pipili, Danda Mukundapur, Dasia Bauri Peetha, Sakhigopal, Danda Sahi and Raghurajpur. While the first two places can be tagged together as they are near the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, Danda Mukundapur, Dasia Bauri Peetha, Sakhigopal and Danda Sahi need special emphasis so that the travellers can get to know about them and their historical links,” said a senior official of the state tourism and culture department.

The department’s principal secretary Ashok Tripathy said: “… we are going to put an extra emphasis on the rural sector. The heritage corridor will be the first effort towards the initiative. We are going to give the travellers a feel of not only the rural Odisha, but also the essence of our cultural traditions attached to it, in the form of crafts, dance forms, saga of Lord Jagannath and the folklores linked to the holy city and its temples.”

While Sisupalgarh is one of the unique fort settlements in the world and dates back to the Mauryan-era, Gangotri Nagar is fast becoming a small but beautiful settlement of national award winning artists in patta chitra and stone carving.

But after visiting the two places, one can move up to Dhauli where apart from the famous peace pagoda a sculpture garden is already in the pipeline.

While Pipili represents a nice cooperation between Muslims and Hindus with its appliqué work, the state culture and tourism department is also planning a project to attract tourists near the diversion of NH-203 which is under renovation.

… Danda Mukundapur is famous for poet Bhakta Salbeg, a Muslim follower in love with Lord Jagannath. There is a place where Bhakta Dasia, a devotee of Lord Jagannath from the weaver community was born and proved that through love and devotion one can conquer the Lord. It is said that the image of the Trinity once appeared in a sacred pond near Dasia’s house when some priests came calling to realise Dasia’s tale. The lush green surroundings, including the paddy fields, coconut and banana plantations recreate another Kerala inside Odisha.

Sakhigopal also has the sacred Sakhigopinath temple which, according to legend, is a shrine describing the Lord’s love for his follower. Sakhigopal is the major work place of the famous five friends or Panchasakha — Gopabandhu, Acharya Harihara, Nilakantha, Krupasindhu and Godabarish.

The last two places — Danda Sahi and Raghurajpur — are famous for patta chitra. However, while the latter became famous with proper patronage and promotion, Danda Sahi is yet to get prominence that it deserves. Raghurajpur has already become a model village with traditional studios of the artists, Gotipua dance recitals, cultural exchanges between the foreign tourists or artists and local talents.

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

The state government has started work on development of a railway corridor through Choudwar to Rourkela to allow ease of inward and outward transportation of goods from the industrial hubs and mining belts along the region.

Land acquisition for the project, the first of its kind initiative by a state government, has already been initiated by the Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco). The project would go on ground after the land acquisition and is targeted to be completed by 2015, said Idco CMD Priyabrata Patnaik on Friday.

The corridor involves development of extensive rail and road connectivity, along with provisioning of water supply and other infrastructural facilities. The corridor would encompass two track railway lines and six-lane road passing through the industrial hubs and the coal mining belts. New industrial areas and downstream units would be developed along the corridor.

Common infrastructure facilities under the corridor would solve the problems of inward and outward transportation of goods and minerals. The stretch would pass through the heart of coal mining operations in the state, which harbours about 65 billion tonne of reserves. The coal reserves in the Talcher belt only is around 43 billion tonne.

The corridor would cover 17 large and mega-industries, along with 57 other units, through the stretch from Choudwar to Rourkela. Traffic projection on the route is given out as 8.7 million tonne.

The route would have 163 km of railway track length and 465 km on road. As many as 308 minor bridges and 77 major bridges would have to be constructed on it, said Patnaik.

Note 1: The 163 km of railway track probably refers to the Talcher-Bimlagarh segment.

Note 2: Although the above report only mentions the Choudwar-Rourkela part, in earlier documents there is mention of Paradeep-Choudwar-Rourkela industrial corridor. See for example this 2009 Business Standard report. Following are some excerpts from that.

The Orissa government plans to develop an industrial corridor running from Paradeep to Rourkela through industrial hubs like Choudwar, Talcher and Sambalpur.

Though the initial proposal was to have an industrial corridor originating from Choudwar to Rourkela, the proposal was modified to extend the corridor till Paradeep to allow inward and outward transport of goods through the Paradeep port, sources said.

… The proposed industrial corridor will be in line with the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and is designed to pass through national highway no.42 and national highway no 5 (A).

Under the project, both road and rail corridor will be developed, which will be the backbone of the proposed project. The industrial estates and down stream units would be developed over 25 km area on both sides of the corridor.

IL&FS has been appointed as the consultant for the project and it has already submitted the pre-feasibility study report to the industry department on the project. However, the detail cost of the project is yet to be worked out yet, sources added.

…

The latest initiative of the state government follows a similar initiative to develop a common ‘rail-road-water pipeline and infrastructure corridor’ in Meramundali-Angul-Talcher-Chhendipada belt, to facilitate movement of coal in the Talcher coalfield area.

The project is estimated to cost about Rs 5000 crore including Rs 2000 crore for 2-line rail corridor and Rs 1100 crore for 4 lane road alongside it. The land width of the proposed corridor will be 300 metre which includes 60 metre for road and 20 metre for water pipeline.

The total length of the corridor is 137 kilometre which includes length of 43 number of major bridges to be constructed on this stretch. RITES Ltd has already submitted a pre-feasibility report to the state owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa Ltd. (Idco) on the project.

The project is designed to have multi-point centralised loading stations conceived along the corridor rather than individual bulb connections with a view to avoid interference or wastage of coal bearing areas. Road and water pipe alignment will run parallel to rail alignment, sources said.

It will be connected to rail line at three locations- Jharpada, Angul and Budhapanka. The common corridor will have multiple entry and exit points and no surface crossing. Besides, flyovers are proposed to avoid cross movements at junction stations.

This ‘rail-road-water pipeline and infrastructure corridor’ in Meramundali-Angul-Talcher-Chhendipada belt is projected to handle 113 million tonne coal by 2014-15. It includes 55 million tonne coal movement required by the power companies, 40.76 million tonne by steel companies and 17.22 million tonne by other industries.

(Appeal to readers: I would appreciate any additional pointers to literature where the knowledge center aspects of the Odisha buddhist monuments have been discussed and/or they have been compared with the well-known buddhist sites in India such as Nalanda, Bodhgaya, Sanchi, etc.)

We all have read about Nalanda and Taxila as ancient learning centers and they are often referred to the as precursor of the present day universities. In Odisha the yet to be identified Puspagiri mahavihara as well as the Lalitgiri-Ratnagiri-Udaygiri  have been compared with Nalanda in the art history and Buddhist literature. Following are some slides (in facebook) which compiles that information. In these slides we quote extensively from Mrs. Debala Mitra’s two books. Mrs. Mitra was the Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India (1975-1983) [Page 448 of this book] and has written extensively on various Monuments of India.

The above slides do not have any pictures. As is mentioned in some of the slides, the Lalitgiri-Ratnagiri-Udaygiri Mahaviharas are also comparable to Bodhgaya in certain respects and one slide mentioned how none of the monasteries in Nalanda can compare with the embellishment in one of the monastery found in Ratnagiri. The following pictures, again from facebook, gives one the idea of what has been found in Lalitgiri-Ratnagiri-Udaygiri and the beauty and significance of them.

In 2010 the Indian Parliament passed the Nalanda International University Bill. This university is in the making now and this wikipedia page has information on it. We hope that some day more people in Odisha and India will know about Lalitgiri-Ratnagiri-Udaygiri and a similar university (perhaps called Puspagiri University, the yet to be identified Mahavihara about which Hiuen Tsang wrote glowingly) will be established in Odisha. Towards that effort some background information has been compiled in a facebook page and a facebook account. Following is a glimpse of the information that has been collected.

The above is a good idea.

• A plan over a larger area will avoid congestion and slums that are typical of densly packed areas.
• Another big benefit will be that the term "Capital Area" will make it easier for institutions, companies and other entities to come to the gretaer area rather than coming to "Bhubaneswar". For example, many institutions that are looking for land in Bhubaneswar are hesitant to locate in Kendrapada or Jagatsinghpur; even though the political leadership is very welcoming.  But once the term "Capital Area" encompasses Kendrapada and Jagatsinghpur, these institutions will be less hesitant to come there.

So while the current Bhubaneswar and Cuttack planned areas will sever as the core urban area, the larger Capital Area development region will morph to a sub-urban area which down the road will touch the metropolitan areas around Angul in the west and Berhampur in the south.

We wrote about this in http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3637.

A similar term needs to be coined for the greater Sambalpur-Jharsuguda-Rourkela area. See http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3660 , http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3672 and http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3668.

Perhaps it can be called the "Western Odisha Development Region".

Following is from a report in Telegraph by Bibhuti Barik.

The Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT) here has perfected the technology of processing ilmenite, a compound of iron and titanium, which is iron-black or steel-gray, found abundantly in the sands of Orissa’s beaches.

IMMT scientists are now planning to set up a demonstration plant at Orissa Sands Complex, a division of Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL) at Chatrapur, for processing ilmenite as the ore is found in the beach sand of Chhatrapur and is being processed by IREL. The cost-effective technology will work wonders for extracting titanium dioxide and high-value iron from low-grade ilmenite.

Ilmenite is non-toxic and its use in biomedical substances does not create any physiological problem. On the other hand, titanium, in its pure metallic and alloy forms, finds applications in aerospace, defence applications, chemical and related metallurgical industries.

“The ilmenite processing technology developed by IMMT scientists will help the nation as the prime raw material for titanium production — rulite — is now in short supply. So, ilmenite is the best alternative raw material for fulfilling the demand of titanium,” said P.S. Mukherjee, chief scientist and head, advanced materials and technology department, IMMT.

“The new technology serves two benefits — it does not produce toxic by-products and it produces high value iron as a value-added by-product for the automobile industry,” said the chief scientist.

… “But this new process is an environment-friendly one. This is for the first time such a technology is being planned in the country. With proper industry support and more and more R&D support, it can be developed further,” the scientist said.

The world’s reserve of ilmenite ore is estimated at around 1.8 to 2 billion tonnes and India has the largest and richest reserve. The commercial deposits are found in the beach sands of Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. However, only 0.4 million tonnes are processed by IREL. Majority of the deposits are exported as pure ilmenite without any value addition.

IMMT director Baradakanta Mishra said: “Processing technologies of two metals — nickel and ilmenite — perhaps is the best contribution of IMMT to the country. However, more financial help should be extended to the laboratory by the industry and the government. Even with a limited reserve, China is supplying 70 per cent of the Earth’s rare materials whereas we are exporting valuable sand-rich ores to foreign countries without any value addition. The pilot plant should be scaled up and more fund flow to IMMT can result in innovative research in mineral processing.”

Following is from a report in Telegraph.

The capital will soon have a mega-tourist circuit for which the Centre has sanctioned Rs 8.14 crore.

The proposed tourist circuit envisages, among others things, renovation of two major roads in Old Town area, construction of a ‘parikrama’ around Lingaraj temple, soft-lighting for eight protected monuments and two tourism interpretation centres.

While the tourism department is trying to revive Ekamreswar, the miniature temple of Lord Lingaraj near Lingaraj police station, a dedicated road corridor will be constructed to link Puri, the Old Town area and Khandagiri via Dhauli.

Moreover, a 3,000-seater amphitheatre will be constructed opposite Madhusudan Park at Pokhariput.

… Samal spoke to reporters after the heritage walk, which was held today as part of World Tourism Day function.

The circuit will aim at facilitating various cultures as the city is perhaps the only one place in the region where three major religions — Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism — have their presence and the Daya riverbed is linked to the transformation of Emperor Ashok from Chandashok to Dharmashok.

… While the mega circuit will be part of the development of the ambitious Bhubaneswar-Puri-Chilika tourism sector, the Old Town area of the city will have a 40-feet road near the temple connecting Kotitirtheswar Lane and a proposed three-acre parking site.

Later, the same road will be extended up to Kedar Gouri temple. These two roads, in turn, will provide a better corridor so that tourist vehicles can pass through the areas smoothly. Similarly, a ‘parikrama’ or circular road will be planned around the Lingaraj temple.

“Apart from providing better connectivity to the Old Town area, the side walls of various buildings and structures will be decorated with tiles of red laterite stones. The concept has already been adopted in various western cities and states such as Rajasthan. …

The mega circuit will also emphasise on infrastructure development to connect various sites of Buddhist and Jain religious interests. Other than central assistance, there is also a plan to develop a road connecting Gangua nullah (through its right embankment) to the historical Kapileswar village. Another road will link Ganesh Ghat near Dhauli Peace Pagoda with the Jatni Kapilaprasad Road.

According to the pre-feasibility report, the state government will spend more than Rs 30 crore on the two proposed roads.

“These two roads will connect Dhauli with Khandagiri and the travellers and tour operators need not take the longer Cuttack-Puri Road via Rasulgarh to reach the historical Jain sites. Even nature lovers visiting places such as Deras in Chandaka or Nandankanan Zoological Park can take this road in future,’’ said the MLA.

“The state government has also asked the Bhubaneswar Development Authority to construct an amphitheatre opposite Madhusudan Park in Pokhariput. This will resemble the amphitheatre at the Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya near Rabindra Mandap,’’ he said.

Sources at the public works department said: “There is a plan to construct a flyover over the railway level crossing at Pokhariput for Rs 42 crore. While the state government will share Rs 22 crore, the rest will come from the railways. Once the flyover is commissioned, the road from Dhauli to Khandagiri will become a vital link to various religious centre.’’

Under the mega tourism circuit, temples such as Lingaraj, Rajarani, Mukteswar, Rameswar, Parsurameswar, Lakshmaneswar, Bharateswar and Satrughneswar will be illuminated with light emitting diode based ‘dynamic lighting system’ for which Rs 3.98 crore will be utilised. The project will be executed by the Orissa Tourism Development Corporation.

Hinting at the development of two interpretation centres near the Lingaraj temple, Samal said: “While one will be constructed on the premises of Sibatirtha Mutt, the other one will come up near the employees’ colony.’’

On the proposed tourist interpretation centre near Khandagiri-Udaygiri caves, he said the project would be completed within two or three months time.

Following is from a report in Business Standard.

The Orissa government has decided to promote heritage tourism at eight locations along the coast line with an investment of Rs 7.41 crore in the next five years.

Based on archeological, architectural, sculptural and historical importance, the selected structures, identified by the state archeology department, would be taken up under the World Bank funded Rs 227.64-crore Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project.

… The structures identified to get a face lift under the scheme included Potagarh (Buried Fort), located on the bank of river Rushikulya in Ganjam town which stands as a mute witness to the vicissitudes of history in Orissa.

Apart from historic Potagarh, the British Cemetery near Ganjam town, Bhaba Kundaleswar temple of Manikapatna, Baliharichandi temple near Puri, Hariharadeva temple, Nairi, Bateswara temple, Kantiagada (Ganjam), Jagannath temple, Pentha and Jamboo Colonial Building, Kendrapara will be refurbished under the scheme.

Preservation of ancient monuments under the project will include their protection, structural conservation, chemical conservation, landscaping and maintainance from time to time.

… The officials of the Gujarat and West Bengal projects along with a World Bank team visited various places including Ganjam and Kendrapada districts in the state recently to review the implementation of the project. Project Director of ICZM (Orissa) AK Pattnaik briefed the team about various steps taken under the project and their progress. The scheme, whose tenure spans from 2010 to 2015, is being implemented in two coastal stretches: Paradeep to Dhamara and Gopalpur to Chilika.

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.

Following are excerpts from a report in Telegraph.

The proposed bridge from CDA Square up to Trisulia and Baranga, which is said to be longest and first of its kind three-lane bridge in the state, would act as ‘direct-link’ between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar.

… “The distance between Cuttack and Bhubaneswar would be reduced by 10km after the completion of the project. Efforts are on by the government for the all-round development of Cuttack and I hope the new project would be completed on time,” Naveen said.

… With the construction of the second bridge, one would have to cover a distance of only 20km from CDA square to Jaydev Vihar via Nandankanan and Trisulia. The length of the bridge would be 2.8km and it would also have footpaths for pedestrians and cycles on both sides and dividers and railing. The cost of the total project was estimated to be around Rs 122crore.

… The project, to be built in assistance of National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), is expected to be completed within three years.

The three-lane bridge would not only solve precious time of the people, it will also create new vistas for development in Barang and nearby areas which are also in an expansion mode. The project has been targeted to be completed within three years from the date of agreement with the company, Pradhan said.

… Apart from this, there is also a proposal to construct another bridge over Mahanadi river. The bridge would connect Pitapali area near Khurda with Dhenkanal on NH-5 via Manguli square. The existing route distance would be reduced to 71.5 km from 93km. The project is also likely to take off soon.

The last paragraph is confusing. Pitapali, Dhenkanal and Manguli Square form a triangle. It could mean the proposed bridge near Jatamundia in the following map.

Or, as suggested by reader Debi Prasanna Sarangi, it could mean the bridge over Mahanadi in the following map. (Note: The point where NH-5 meets NH-42 is called Manguli Square.)

Following is from Dharitri:

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The work on five major National Highway (NH) projects in the state- Bhubaneswar-Puri, Bhubaneswar-Sambalpur, Bhubaneswar-Chandikhole, Sambalpur-Bargarh and Remudi-Rajamunda (NH-215) will begin in February 2011. While work on four-laning of the Bhubaneswar-Puri NH is expected to be completed soon, the remaining projects will be commissioned within three years."The work on these NH projects will commence in February 2011 and the projects are expected to be commissioned within three years. The work is being taken up on the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode and the cost assessment will be made by NHAI. …

While work will be taken up for four-laning of Bhubaneswar-Puri (60 km) and Sambalpur-Bargarh (88-km) NHs, the Bhubaneswar-Sambalpur and Bhubaneswar-Chandikhole (62 km) highways will be six laned. As per the thumb rule Rs 4 crore will be spent per km on building these highways.

Following is from the page http://kalinganagar.tatasteel.com/kalinganagar/vision-kalinganagar.asp.

Kalinganagar Industrial Area is projected to be developed for a population of over 10 lakh by 2025 and it will be extended to 177 square kilometers as envisaged by the State Government. In this connection, Lea Associates of South Asia in association with the School of Planning and Architect, New Delhi and the Centre for Environment and Planning (CEPT) presented a vision document to the Chief Minister for the development of Kalinganagar Industrial Area.

The Kalinganagar Industrial complex in Odisha has been a true realisation of the socio-economic dream that would lead the State into a new era of prosperity. Made possible through dedicated efforts of the State Government over several years, the complex is slated to contribute to the net GDP of Odisha and provide its people with sustained employment and other forms of gainful engagement in the upcoming projects and their ancillaries.



After the success of Asia’s first integrated steel plant set up by Tata Steel in the undivided Orissa-Bihar-Bengal in 1907, or the employment potential revealed by the Rourkela Steel Plant (operated by the state-owned Steel Authority of India), the demand for another mega steel plant in Odisha was strongly felt. This led Biju Patnaik, the then Chief Minister of Odisha to plan the Kalinganagar industrial complex, once 13000 acres of land was acquired in the Sukinda constituency of Jajpur district in 1992.



Today, the Government is stepping up the presence of industry as co-incidentally, the infrastructural boom in the global markets has generated high demands for steel. To strengthen the century old relationship between Odisha and Tata Steel, the Company signed the MoU for its most ambitious steel project in Odisha on November 17, 2004. As per this MoU, the Company will set up a six million ton green-field integrated Steel Plant at Kalinganagar in Jajpur District of Odisha. 



The other industrial projects in various stages of completion at the Kalinganagar Industrial Complex are M/s Nilachal Ispat Nigam Ltd., M/s Mid-East, M/s Jindal Stainless Steel Limited, M/s VISA Steel Ltd., M/s KJ Industries, M/s Maithon Alloys Ltd., M/s Rohit Ferro Tech, M/s Dinabandhu Steel, M/s Uttam Galva Ltd., etc.

The following map is from a report in Telegraph.

Following are excerpts from that report.

… The buses, procured by the state government with financial assistance from the Centre under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), …

The newly constituted government authority Bhubaneswar-Puri Transport Services Limited (BPTSL) today signed an agreement with local transport agency Dream Team Shahara Services to run the services in the two cities.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), the Orissa State Road Transport Corporation, the Puri-Konark Development Authority and the Puri Municipality are the stakeholders in BPTSL.

While 100 buses are scheduled to ply on six different routes in Bhubaneswar, 25 buses will travel on three routes in Puri.

Of the 100 buses, 50 standard buses with 38 seats each and 50 mini-buses with a seating capacity of 30 passengers will ply between Khurda-Master Canteen; Nandan Kanan-Airport, KIIT-Uttara Chhaka, Dumduma–VSS Nagar, Nuagaon-Phulnakahara and Khandagiri-Sai Temple in Bhubaneswar.

Five standard buses and 20 mini-buses will ply between Beach Road-Konark, Jagannath Temple-Master Canteen, and Jagannath Temple to Konark. The frequency of the buses will vary from 7 to 15 minutes during peak hours and 15 to 30 minutes during non-peak hours. The bus services will be available from 6am to 6pm.

“As per the memorandum of understanding, the state government will provide the BPTSL with infrastructure such as bus terminals at the origin and destination of every route. Planning of bus stops will also be done in a phased manner. Autorickshaw services in Bhubaneswar will not be affected. We have already consulted with the autorickshaw unions of the city in this regard,” housing and urban development secretary Arun Panda said.

Panda said: “The fare slab proposed is on the higher side. The actual fare cannot be more than the slab. We will revise the fare based on the automatic fare revision formula, which is linked to the hike in fuel prices.”

… “Today, we have given BPTSL a cheque for Rs 85 lakh. Another, Rs 2.55 crore will be paid this year. We will also pay BPTSL Rs 2.5 lakh every month towards route charges,” said Nishikanta Mishra, chairman of Dream Team Shahara Services.

Panda said that the buses had been purchased for Rs 17.5 crore. “The state government engaged the Urban Mass Transit Company, which is a government of India undertaking, as the transaction advisor. The Urban Mass Transit Company has prepared the route plan and stoppages after making a comprehensive study on the road network,” he added.

The state’s special secretary, commerce and transport department, has been designated as the chief executive officer of the BPTSL, BMC mayor is the chairman and the chairperson of the Puri Municipality has been made the vice-chairperson.

Following are couple of maps extracted from wikimapia.

Cuttack people are unhappy that there are no connections to Cuttack. I think the state has not been able to convince the appropriate authorities in Delhi that Bhubaneswar-Cuttack is a single metropolitan area. In any case this is a start and hopefully soon there will be additional routes, especially connecting to Cuttack. Two routes that need to be added as soon as possible are:

• Nandankanan to Vidyadharpur via Bidanasi, Barabati, Buxi Bazar, Mangalabag, Ravenshaw
• Phulnakhara to Bidanasi via Badambadi and Alisha Bazar

Following is excerpted from a report in Orissadiary.com.

The Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday informed the House  that  the Airports Authority of India has already agreed to develop Jharsuguda Airport to a full fledged one and for which the latter has also asked 815 acres of land free of cost.

… The Chief Minister  informed that the Authority considering the proposal of the State Government of developing Jharasuguda Airport to a full fledged Airport, has asked for additional land of 815 acres free of cost. However, a maximum of 734 acres of land is available near the Airport which includes 418 of Private land. So, the Authority has been requested to scale down their requirement of land through a reasonable estimate. They have also been asked to intimate a firm commitment to complete the expansion project of the Airport within a period of two years from the date of receipt of the additional land and a reply to this effect is awaited, he said.

Related postings on the topic:

• Campaign for international airport in Bhubaneswar and speeding up the airport in Jharsuguda.
• Jharsuguda airport to be developed by PPP?
• Future airport plans.
• 800 acres needed for Jharsuguda airport.
• Airstrips in Odisha.
• MOU to be signed for Jharsuguda airport.
• The complete coverage on the Jharsuguda airport progress.

Currently the HRD infrastructure in the western corridor are concentrated at two locations (i) Rourkela and (ii) Sambalpur. While Rourkela has a lot of industries, the new ones are more concentrated around Jharsuguda.

In terms of connectivity the second airport of the state is being made at Jharsuguda and Jharsuguda has the best rail connectivity as it is a junction in the Howrah-Mumbai route as well as connected to Balangir via Sambalpur and Bhubaneswar via Sambalpur. Jharsuguda and  Sambalpur, 40 kms apart, if taken together have superb rail connectivity to the rest of the country.

Very soon the western corridor will be connected to the eastern corridor by multiple railway lines:

• Sambalpur-Angul-Bhubaneswar (exists)
• Barbil-Keonjhar-Kalinganagr (exists; a more direct connection between Barbil and Keonjhar is being made)
• Balangir-Bouda-Khurda Rd (under works)
• Rourkela- Bimlagarh-Talcher (Bimlagarh-Talcher is under works)

This area has some knowledge infrastructure centered around Sambalpur-Burla and Rourkela:

• There are two universities in Burla (VSSUT and Sambalpur Univ) with two more in the pipeline (Upgradation of GM College and upgradation of VSS Medical College).
• There is a medical college in Burla.
• Rourkela has NIT and BPUT and a metropolitan university is planned.
• HiTech is making a private medical college in Rourkela. (SAIL should be pushed to make a medical college there; ESIC should also establish its medical college somewhere nearby.)

To bring this whole corridor together some focus needs to be directed towards Jharsuguda. The airport coming there; it being the main Railway junction; and Vedanta’s plants there are additional reason to put some focus on Jharsuguda. I suggest:

• A university be made there with  partnership between the government and the industries there. 
• The Jharsuguda engineering school be made to an engineering college.
• A medical college be made there (or in between Jharsuguda and Sundergarh) by the companies that mine from the Rampia block. (They should learn from MCL which is making its medical college in Talcher. MCL HQ is in Sambalpur, but I guess its coal mines are in Angul and hence the medical college in Talcher.)
• The proposed power management institute of Odisha be established there.

The two other ends, Balangir and Joda-Barbil/Keonjhar need also some care.

• A university has been proposed for Balangir and XIM is interested in opening a branch there. More needs to happen there.
• Joda-Barbil is grossly neglected. A more direct rail connection between Joda-Barbil and Rourkela needs to be made. In addition HRD institutions need to be established in Joda-Barbil as well as Keonjhar.

One needs to note that NH-6, which at some point will become part of an expressway from Kolkata to Mumbai connects Keonjhar to Sambalpur and Bargarh. Thus one can envision a semi-ellipse with Baragarh-Sambalpur-Keonjhar line making the bottom part while the Sambalpur-Jharsuguda-Sundergarh-Rourkela-Barbil/Joda-Keonjhar making the upper curve. At some point Deogarh (next to the Rengali reservoir) the midpoint of Sambalpur and Keonjhar on NH-6 needs to be further developed.

Following is from a report in Pioneer:

The six-laning work of the Bhubaneswar–Chandikhol portion of the National Highway-5 will begin from September, after this rainy season. A sum of Rs 1,047 crore will be invested for the project under the NHDP Phase-5. A consortium has been formed with three private companies, and the contract awarded, an official of NHAI said.

The consortium of Srei, Gulfar and Simplex Infrastructure would undertake the project, which is scheduled to be completed in two and a half years’ period. This would be done on the BOT basis. After completion of the work, the consortium would maintain the road and collect toll for a period of 26 years.

After the four-laning work of the NH-5, this is the first stretch within Odisha to have six lanes. The distance from Bhubaneswar to Chandikhol is 67 km, which would have seven flyovers and four major bridges over the river Kathjodi, Kuakhai, Mahanadi and Birupa. Out of the seven flyovers, four would be built over the CRP, Acharya Vihar, Vani Vihar and Rasulgarh squares along the highway in Bhubaneswar.

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

Kamat Hotels India Ltd (KHIL) which owns and operates hotels brands like The Orchid, VITS, Lotus Resorts and Gadh Hotels … has acquired the heritage palace ‘Mahodadhi Niwas’ in Puri and also the Eco Resort at Ramchandi, near the Sun Temple in Konark, in addition to the Parikud Palace and Rambha Palace, which are located near the Chilka Lake.

Of the three heritage properties acquired by KHIL, Mahodadhi Niwas opened for business on November 28, 2009. In the first phase, Mahodadhi offers 12 rooms and an additional 60 are expected to be developed over the next phase. KHIL is presently involved in restoring Parikud and Rambha Palaces, which will be commissioned in a phased manner in 2010.

… KHIL intends to strengthen the portfolio of its heritage brand – ‘Gadh Hotels’ in the state. We have already acquired three palaces from OTDC on a long-term lease and their restoration work is currently in progress.” As a part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity, KHIL has also undertaken cleaning and conservation task of Chilka Lake.

KHIL’s F&B arm Kamat Restaurants Pvt Ltd (KRPL), which operates the ‘Vithal Kamat’ chain of vegetarian quick-service restaurants is also making inroads in to Orissa. KRPL has recently commissioned four company-owned outlets in Orissa, on the Bhubaneswar-Puri highway.

Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=47065.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved for the six laning of following nine stretches for a total length 1409.93 km costing Rs.18238.05 crore under NHDP Phase V on DBFOT basis:

No.	Section	State	NH No.	Length	Total Project Cost including cost of LA, R&R, pre- constr. (Rs. crore)	Concession Period in-cluding construction period of 30 months
1	Delhi-Agra	UP/Haryana	2	179.10	2494.00	26 years
2	Kishangarh-Udaipur	Rajasthan	79A, 79 & 76	315	3597.47	29 years
3	Chandikhol-Jagatpur-Bhubaneshwar	Orissa	5	67.00	1104.00	27 years
4	Vijayawada-Elluru-Rajamundri	Andhra Pradesh	5	198.20	2751.15	30 years
5	Varanasi-Aurangabad	UP	2	192.40	2974.75	30 years
6	Nellore-Chilkaluripet	Andhra Pradesh	5	183.7	2433.90	30 years
7	Krishnagiri-Walahjpet	Tamil Nadu	46	148.30	1673.17	30 years
8	Belgaum-Dharwad	Karnataka	4	80.18	707.61	30 years
9	Indore-Dewas	MP	3	45.05	502.00	30 years

            The project will be developed by the NHAI through the PPP and the Concessionaire will be selected by NHAI following two stage bidding process.  The first stage of the bidding process i.e., pre-qualification of the bidders has already been completed by NHAI.  The second stage of bidding is in process.

Note, that Jajpur-Rd Duburi is also being 4-laned. With all these 4-laning, Kalinganagar area will be surrounded by four 4-lane segment: NH-5, NH-200, NH-215 and Jajpur Rd-Duburi.

(The above map fragment is from an wikipedia map.)

There will also be two four lane paths from Kalinganagar area to Rourkela.

 With approved plans to four-lane NH 42 between Angul and Sambalpur, the state govt. needs to four lane the segment between Angul and Talcher to have a seamless 4-lane transition between NH-42 and NH-200 at Angul-Talcher.

There is plan to four-lane Bhubaneswar-Puri. The Orissa government should pursue the four-laning of the following:

• NH-42 from Cuttack to Angul
• NH-23 from Talcher to NH-6

The Orissa government should team up with Jharkhand to 4-lane

• NH-23 from Rourkela to Ranchi
• NH-83 from Jamshedpur to NH-6
• NH-5 between NH-6 and Balasore (the last two need for port access in the upcoming ports in the Balasore district)

The Orissa government should team up with West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh and Maharashtra for four-laning NH-6 completely.

These actions will 4-lane the upper part of Orissa with fairly direct 4-lane paths from many areas of Orissa to Delhi and Mumbai. (Fairly direct 4-lane connections exist between Orissa to the south and Kolkata.)

Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=46329.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today gave its approval for the development of 4 laning of (i) Panikoili-Keonjhar-Rimouli, (ii) Rimouli-Roxy-Rajmundra sections of NH-215 and (iii) Chandikhole-Duburi-Talcher Section of NH-200 in the State of Orissa under NHDP Phase III A on BOT Basis.

The project cost of (i) Panikoili-Keonjhar-Rimouli section (163 km) is estimated as Rs.1170.59 crore including Rs.84.40 crore towards Land Acquisition (LA), Rehabilitation and Resettlement and preconstruction. Similarly, the estimated cost for Rimouli-Roxy-Rajmundra (106 km) and Chandikhole-Duburi-Talcher Section (133 km) are Rs.849.05 crore and Rs.969.63 crore respectively. The cost towards LA, R&R and preconstruction of other two projects are Rs.195.29 crore and Rs.185.63 crore respectively. The Government would provide the viability gap funding (VGF), which would not exceed 40% of the total project cost excluding the cost of LA, R&R and pre-construction.

The project will be developed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) through the Private Sector Concessionaires who will be selected by NHAI following two stage bidding process. The first stage of the bidding process i.e. pre-qualification of the bidders has already been completed by NHAI. The second stage of bidding process is in progress.

The Concession period for the Panikoili-Keonjhar-Rimouli section will be 20 years. For Chandikhole-Duburi-Talcher Section and Rimouli-Roxy-Rajmundra section the concession period is 18 and 25 years respectively.

*****

AD/SH/LV

Following is excerpted from a report in Business Standard.

Thirty six important projects worth Rs 19,800 crore are being implemented by the Orissa government under the public-private-partnership (PPP) mode.

These projects are in the field of new ports, roads, integrated commercial complex, ITIs, tourism projects, integrated residential complex, bus terminals, info park and multi product SEZs among others.

… the important projects taken up for development in PPP mode include

• Rs 3500 crore Shamuka Beach Project
• Rs 562 crore Bhubaneswar-Puri road
• Rs 304 crore Capital Region Ring Road project
• Rs 493 crore integrated residential township at Suango and Ranasinghapur
• International Convention Centre at Bhubaneswar (Rs 480 crore)
• Rs 2469 crore Dhamra port and Rs 1700 crore Gopalpur port
• Rs 594.34 crore Haridaspur-Paradeep broad gauge rail link
• Rs 2000 crore Kirtania port
• Rs 712 crore multi-product SEZ at Paradip are being set up in the PPP mode.

…, the Empowered Committee on Infrastructure (ECI) has cleared

• the proposal for appointment of consultant to prepare the detailed project report (DPR) for the Capital Region Ring Road Project (CRRR)
• the proposal for the feasibility study of the Bhubaneswar-Paradip road with revised concept.
• the issue of Request for Proposal (RFP) for setting up 4/5 five star hotels in the Shamuka Beach near Puri; 11 firms are shortlisted after the Request for Qualification (RFQ)
• the 4 -laning of Sambalpur-Rourkela road to seek the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) assistance from the department of economic affairs (DEA).

The proposal for developing an integrated residential township at Suanga and Ranasinghapur near Bhubaneswar has been placed before the government for approval. 

The other on-going projects include

• Rs 68 crore Palasapanga- Bamberi road,
• Gopalpur port,
• Dhamra Port,
• Rs 480 crore international convention centre at Bhubaneswar,
• 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 from a report in Steelguru.com.

BS reported that Orissa will set up a captive port at Chudamani in Bhadrakh district and an all weather multi user port at Ashtaranga in Puri district. It will sign MoUs with Essel Mining and Industries and Navyug Engineering, respectively for them.

Hyderabad based Navyug plans to invest INR 1,900 crore in the first phase for setting up the port at the mouth of the Devi river. While INR 1,500 crore will be invested for the port, INR 400 crore will be spent on railway connectivity. It will have a cargo handling capacity of 20 million tonnes per annum in the first phase.

Essel Mining will invest INR 1,500 crore to develop a port under a consortium of Aditya Birla Group companies for movement of cement, iron ore, thermal coal, limestone, gypsum, clinker, copper.

According to sources, it will have a cargo handling capacity of 2 million tonnes initially, to be enhanced to 10 million tonnes over a period of time.

A senior official of the state commerce & transport department said that "The chief minister has approved the proposal to sign MoUs with these two companies."

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

Swosti Group is redesigning two of its upcoming resorts according to chartered tourist requirements, since both properties were initially designed for individual and MICE segments. Puri’s Swosti Chandan Spa Resort and the company’s upcoming resort at Chilka, Orissa will undergo a number of redesigning and renovation processes as they target chartered segments (in large numbers), instead of regular tourists.

About this sudden change in plans, S Patnaik, General Manager, Swosti Group, told Hospitalitybiz, “We have experienced a sudden influx of MICE travellers in Bhubaneswar; this has resulted in many hospitality giants commissioning projects in the state capital. Similarly, other places in the state, especially Puri and Chilka, will be ideal to host chartered segments. Moreover, the segment’s favourite Indian destinations like Goa and Kerala are exceeding their carrying capacity; therefore, chartered operators are now looking for other options.”

The number of chartered flights to Puri is increasing from 180 to 250. Hence, Swosti Group is already in talks with leading chartered tour operators in India, who have exhibited an interest in the suggested places and upcoming properties. “Our Puri property was earlier designed with 70 rooms, but the inventory has been hiked to 100 rooms in favour of hosting chartered groups. The Chilka property, which has not been named as yet, will offer 50 cottages to start with, while it will be somewhat experimental with chartered tourists. The Chilka property will upgrade rapidly if it did well with the mentioned segment,” informed Patnaik. Slated to start operations in October 2008, both properties will take another few months to start. “The season for this segment (to visit India) is from October – March 2008,” added Patnaik. He added that even though the company will lose out on most of the season, it wishes to atleast begin catering to some chartered tourists.

On the other changes in terms of architect and design, Patnaik said that both properties will highlight their swimming pool as it is the biggest attraction for the chartered segment. The resorts will be equipped with bigger lawns and additional private areas as the segment does not appreciate external disturbance from other guests. “We are working on the properties’ sloping structures and the proximity of the pools and beaches from the resorts,” informed Patnaik.

…  We are inclining our properties towards chartered tourists as we will be able to provide them with the peace and serenity that they seek.” Swosti Group is also interested in presenting Buddhist tourism to this segment, in a new light.