___________

Following is an excerpt from Deepika Global’s report on this.

(UNI) The National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO), …, has achieved a net profit of Rs 446.66 crore for the first quarter ended June 2007.

According to the unaudited financial results for the 3-month period of the financial year 2007-08 taken on record in the Board of Directors meeting held in New Delhi today, the company achieved a net profit of Rs 446.66 crore, with a sales turnover of Rs.1287.12 crore.

However, during the first quarter of previous fiscal, the figures were up at Rs 622.30 crore and Rs 1620.82 crore respectively.

The company also achieved higher alumina production of 3,87,800 tonne compared to 3,58,100 tonne in the first quarter of the previous year.

Following are excerpts from a Pragativadi report:

The Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Ltd (IMFA) has posted its highest-ever turnover of Rs 593.53 crore during 2006-07, registering an increase of 26.67 per cent over the previous year.

… the turnover included export earnings of Rs 317.74 crore, that went up by 48.52 percent. The improved operational performance, coupled with higher product prices, resulted in PBIDT increasing by 45.48 per cent to Rs 140.53 crore.

… the company produced a record 130,563 tonnes of ferro chrome during the year, including the tonnage sourced under a conversion contract with an associate company as it shifted focus away from ferro silicon, the output of which declined by 19.39 percent to 30,796 tonnes.

… financial closure had been achieved for a 30 MW dual-fuel power plant at Choudwar that is expected to be operational in 18 months. This will take total power generation capacity to 138 MW, …

Euitybulls reports on these announcements. Following are some excerpts.

… capital expenditure of Rs 142 crore (+10%) for setting up another cement grinding unit at Kapilas Cement Works, Kapilas Road in Jagatpur Tehsil of Cuttack District of Orissa.

… capital expenditure of Rs 250 crores (+10%) for setting up 2×25 MW Thermal Captive Power Plant and Coal Beneficiation Plant at Rajgangpur Cement Works, District Sundergarh, Orissa.

… capital expenditure of Rs 7.66 crores (+10%) for setting up 1.0 Million Tonnes per annum Hammer Mill at Lanjiberna near Rajgangpur works, Orissa.

Following is Dharitri’s report on it.

Business Standard reports on this. Following are some excerpts.

Canadian metal giant Alcan today announced an agreement to sell its 45 per cent stake in Utkal Alumina to the Aditya Birla group’s Hindalco Industries for an undisclosed sum.

The Utkal joint venture was established in 1992 between the Birlas and Alcan, with the Birlas owning the remaining 55 per cent of the equity. The venture involved the development of a new bauxite mine and alumina refinery in Orissa. …

“Alcan will have no surviving rights or obligations as Hindalco becomes the 100 per cent owner of the Utkal project,” it said. The Indian company expects the deal to be closed in the next 30 days. …

The project has been marred by controversy, with local residents opposing its construction on the plea that it will displace three villages and at least 200 families. Local critics have estimated that as many as 22,000 people could be affected. In December 2000, there was a clash between villagers and police in Maikanch over land acquisition. Three tribals were killed in the police firing that followed. Utkal was initially established as a joint venture between Hindalco, Alcan and Hydro Norsk. The shareholding was shared between Indal, now a part of Hindalco at 20 per cent; Alcan at 35 per cent and Norsk Hydro with 45 per cent. Norsk Hydro later sold its stake to the other two partners.

Livemint reports that RCF (Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers) plans to revive the FCI plant in Talcher. Following are excerpts from that report.

Public sector enterprise Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF) has planned a capital expenditure of Rs 10,000 crore for the next five years and will consider tapping the capital market for raising funds.

The company is talking to the government on its initial public offer and the process would take six to eight months, …

Of the Rs 10,000 crore capex planned, the debt-equity ratio would be 2:1 and hence the company could borrow up to Rs 7,000 crore while the rest could come from its IPO, he said.

“The company expects to finance its projects largely through internal generation and debt, apart from other modes of generating funds as may be appropriate,” it said in its annual general report.

With the capex money, RCF wants to revive two units–Hindustan Fertilizer Corporation’s unit in Durgapur, West Bengal, and Fertilizer Corporation of India unit in Talcher, Orissa.

Both the units would absorb about Rs 6,500 crore, Jha said.

Financial express carried a short interview of POSCO India Chairman and MD with journalist Dilip Bisoi. This interview gives a good idea of the status of the POSCO India project. Following are some excerpts:

• How you are going to accelerate the project’s implementation? We have chalked out a strategy to implement the project. We are preparing to start the ground preparation work by October 2007. Out of the 4,004 acre of land, 3,566 acre is government land and 438 acre is private land. Out of the private land, only 30 acre is fertile land as it yields double crops. We are willing to exclude the 30-acre fertile land from the project site. We are also willing to differ use of the 438 acre private land until the villagers were willing to sell.
• Anti-Posco activists have set up checkpoints and are not allowing anybody to enter the site. How do you plan to enter the area and start work? It is not true that we don’t have access to the site. We do have some access to the site. Villagers in Gadakujanga grampanchayat are supporting the project, while people in Nuagoan area are starting to change their mind in favour of the project. Only a small area of Dhinkia grampanchayat is not accessible. We will shed that portion from the project site for the time being. Access to the site and starting civil work will not be difficult.
• Have you prepared your R&R package?  We are preparing a special R&R package for the displaced people. The Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, has been engaged in conducting a survey to understand the needs of the people. The package will be announced once it gets the approval of the Rehabilitation & Peripheral Development Authority. I promise, I will make their lives better than before. Rehabilitating 450 displaced families is not a big job. We want to provide them with a sustainable livelihood.
• How confident you are that the project work will start by October 2007? The next two to three months are very crucial. The prospecting licence for the Khandahar iron ore mines and forest clearance for the project site are expected in the next few months. Once these issues are settled, we will go ahead with the land preparation. If everything goes according to plan, we will procure equipment for the steel plant by the second half of next year. We will shop in the Indian market before going to Asian countries like China and Vietnam. The main plant, however, will be imported from Posco in South Korea. However, starting of the peripheral work at the site by October is very essential.

Pragativadi reports that a mega water park is being built 6kms from Phulnakhara, in between Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. Following are some excerpts from that report.

The proposed water park will have several provisions such as several rides, interactive play area, fun slides, float slide, speed coaster, wave pool, splash water, swimming pool, kids pool, live music, concerts, DJ and rain dance. This apart, it will have an exclusive park for the people to roam about, different types of costumes, video games, indoor games, food & beverages, parking facility, advertisement & publicity, film shooting, special events, baby sitting facility, bus facility at select places and ATM facility. … The company has future project for establishing an Amusement Park with roller coaster rides etc. The park would provide highest level of service, quality, safety as far as construction, maintenance and operation are concerned. It would also boost the tourism industry of Orissa. One of the novel features of the park is the wave pool which is a replica of an ocean. The simulating waves created in the pool provide an exotic fun. One can either use a raft or choose to simply sweep off his feet at the shore. The pools are designed and manufactured to allow for gently swaying waves or powerful larger waves for fast paced body or boogie board surfing. It simulates a beach-like feeling inside the park.

• Some good news on national institutes front
• Letter to SAC-PM on science magnet schools
• XIMB’s forway into satellite based management programs
• Orissa among the bottom in terms of its universities’ performance in civil service exams
• Update on IIIT Bhubaneswar
• Samaja on vocational courses
• Some excerpts from the PM’s address with comments and questions from me
• PM’s address at the 150th anniversary of University of Mumbai: 30 new Central universities to be established
• 2004 data on Orissa JEE and Orissa engineering colleges: can’t understand it completely
• Sambada has opened a school of mass communication and culture through its charitable trust
• RMRC Bhubaneswar will have facility for diagnosis of viral infections
• Sambada: BJD MP Braja Tripathy writes to PM on KBK Central University
• Which University to recommend for central university status?
• Orissa JEE has released additional rankings
• Rejoinder to Mr. Jairam Ramesh’s comments in Bhubaneswar on the IIT Orissa issue
• Which option is better IISER, NIT or IIST and why?
• IIT JEE 2007 Counseling brochure
• Plus two science colleges in Bhubaneswar-Cuttack area
• New Indian Express: Our government will fight for central varsity – Naveen
• Dharitri Editorial: Kendrara ghaitapania (Spousal abuse by center)
• Statesman: Naveen’s missive on varsity in KBK region
• New Indian Express: Orissa feels rejected once again
• Pioneer: Naveen shoots off letter to PM over central varisty in KBK
• Ganjam district has the maximum number of out-of-school students in Orissa
• Higher education vision document in the offing
• Orissatv.com: Center’s decision to shift proposed tribal university to Madhya Pradesh objected – CM says it is another example of center’s negligence
• Statesman: CM demands varisty in KBK region
• Sambada: After IIT Central University in KBK is also out of hand
• Fax campaign against repeated injustice by MHRD
• Dharitri: Hopes dashed on KBK Central University
• Pioneer: Arjun hijacks plans for KBK varisty
• Ex and founding VC of BPUT Prof. Damodar Acharya will be IIT Kharagpur director from July 2007
• Indira Gandhi National Tribal University in Madhya Pradesh – Orissa had proposed a similar university in KBK
• Orissa JEE result is out: some links

Economic Times reports  road development related to POSCO’s proposed operations. Following are excerpts from that report.

… the government has decided to develop 600 km of highways, to be called Posco roads, to provide connectivity for the 12 million-tonne capacity steel plant in Orissa. The Rs 4,000-crore highway would be constructed on built-operate-transfer (BOT) model and would be completed by 2010. 

The projects are part of phase-III of the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP). The Posco package consists of seven road stretches, including Panikholi-Keonjhar-Rimoli on national highway (NH)-215 and Chandikhole-Duburi on NH-200. The Cuttack-Paradip state road, jointly funded by the Orissa government, Paradip Port Trust and the roads ministry, will also help serve the transport of goods to and from Posco’s steel plant.

“NH-215 and NH-200 will be specifically geared to carry iron-ore traffic,” the official said. “The roads will serve Orissa’s industrial requirements for upcoming projects in the state, but Posco will be the biggest beneficiary,” he added.  …

Apart from road connectivity being provided by the Centre and the state government, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to link Haridaspur and Paradip by railways has been formed by Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL) in which Posco has 10% equity,” a Posco spokesperson said.  …

Posco-India will also build a captive port at Jatadhari, 10 km from Paradip and a captive power plant with a capacity of 1300 mw.  …

The company will also lay pipelines for industrial water utilisation from Jobra barrage.

Following is a roundup on HRD related postings at orissawatch.org.

• Foundation For Excellence (FFE) gave 264 scholarships to students from Orissa
• Orissa engineering colleges in Outlook India ranking
• NISER deadline for submitting application form is extended till June 15 2007
• Chennai B-school in Bhubaneswar and Plan for Insurance University in BBSR
• Specialized government management institutions of Orissa
• Branch changes allowed after first year at NIT Rourkela
• Status of private Medical Colleges in the State
• M.Tech and M.Arch programs in Orissa
• KIIT has approval for 100 Medical (MBBS) and 100 Dentistry (BDS) seats.
• Institutions with Nontraditional programs – a dated list
• Biju Patnaik Film and TV institute advertises for admission into its programs
• Apparently Orissa students are doing well in medical entrance exams
• Tathya: Please no politics over IIT
• Pursuing M. Ed in Orissa
• Ranking of Engineering Colleges in Orissa based on student preferences
• Nursing Schools catch on in Orissa
• TCS recruits 1100 students from Orissa engineering colleges

Statesman has a report on Paradip port aiming to be the number two port in the country. Following are some excerpts from that report.

Armed with a Paradip business and strategy plan for the next 20 years and an action plan for the next seven years, Paradip Port has set on sail to become the No-2 port of the country. The charted course envisages investments to the tune of over Rs 3,500 crore and it aims at handling capacity of 106 million tones in five years. … The growth recorded was a phenomenal 15 per cent and the revenue surplus was around Rs 198 crore last year. All new berths being planned will be on PPA mode and the capacity which is 51 mt will be increased to 106 mt by 2011-12, said the chairman. He pointed out that by November this year, the single point mooring will be commissioned adding 15 mt handling capacity. This is a IOC project with a berth floating 20 km offshore and pipelines which are already in place. … Maritime trade is on the upswing and each port has set high targets but the uniqueness of Paradip is that it has handled 38.4 mt with only bulk cargo. Despite limitations of being a bulk port with 14 berths and a limitation of 12.6 metre in terms of depth of the channel, the port has handled such huge quantities. … There are plans and projects to deepen the channel upto 16 meters to accommodate 125,000 tonners. Presently, it can accommodate 75,000 tonners. The project entails investment of Rs 253 crore and is scheduled to be completed by August 2008. Simultaneously, enhancement of draught at the existing dock system from 12.5 to 14 metres has also been planned for completion by March 2008. … The port plans creation of southern dock system with an investment of Rs 530 crore and four berths. This is targeted for commercial operation by March 2012. The approaches and connectivity have also been planned in a futuristic manner with enhancement of rail connectivity Haridaspur-Paradip line slated to be over by March 2009, four-laning of Chandikhole to Paradip road by March 2008. Even relocation of the existing township has been proposed keeping in view the raid development of the port activities.

I came across several leaflets and brochures in POSCO-INDIA’s Press room pages. Following is the brochure that highlights the NCAER study that I mentioned earlier.

I came across a 1-page note someone from POSCO-India gave me when I was visiting Bhubaneswar in December 2006-Jan 2007. The 1-page note summarizes a study done by NCAER. The study has also been reported in News media such as Hindu Businessline. (POSCO-India in its web page has additional links.) We will give some excerpts from the Hindu Businessline report.

The 1-page note: POSCO-India’s rs 52,810 Cr investment by 2016 will stimulate Orissa Economy.

• Economic Benefit:
  • Generate Rs 29,760 crores additional annual gross output for Orissa including Rs 12,610 Crore of POSCO-India’s direct gross output.
  • Create excess annual value addition of Rs. 12,100 crores for Orissa which equals 19% of Orissa’s state GDP in 2005-06 (equals 11.5% in 2016-17)
• Employment:
  • Job creation of 870,000 man years, absorbs 88% of state unemployment backlog (i.e., decrease in backlog of employment from 9.9 lakhs in 2005-06 to 1.2 lakhs).
  • 18,000 man years of direct employment in POSCO-India.
• Tax Contribution:
  • POSCO-India annual tax contribution (Rs 2,620 Crores) would be appx. 17.6% of total tax revenue of Govt. of Orissa in 2016-17.
  • POSCO-India SEZ would contribute Rs 174,970 crore tax revenue in next 35 years.
    • Rs 77,870 crores would be to Govt. of Orissa and Rs 97,100 crores to Govt. of India.
    • The differences of tax between SEZ and DTA status is less than 8% for Govt. of Orissa and 5% for Govt. of India.
• Comparison with current Orissa Economy:
  • Orissa in 2003-04:
    • Gross Output: 111,378 crores
    • State GDP: 53,830 crores
    • Employment: 143 lakhs (2001 census)
    • Tax: 8170 crores (2005-06)
  • POSCO-India’s impact:
    • Gross Output: 29,760 crores
    • State GDP: 12,100 crores
    • Employment: 8.7 lakhs
    • Tax: 2620 crores

We now give some excerpts from the Hindu Business line article of January 2007 which partly explains how some of the above numbers were calculated. That article was written by R. Venkatesan who works for NCAER, but the article was his personal view.

The NCAER study broadly used the ADB/World Bank methodology on the social cost-benefit with minor adjustments for the local parameters. Econometric models were used to project border prices for the useful life of the project. The project’s impact from the State economy perspective — in terms of the impact on the State GDP (output multiplier effects) and employment opportunities created within the State (employment multiplier effects) was also assessed.

The output multiplier for iron ore was found to be 1.4 compared to 2.36 for steel. In other words, every Rs 1 lakh worth of output in the iron ore sector would result in Rs 1.4 lakh of output (including the Rs 1 lakh output of iron ore) compared to Rs 2.36 lakh for every Rs 1 lakh output of steel. The employment multipliers for iron ore and steel work out to 0.35 and 0.69 man-years respectively. Therefore, in terms of both output and employment, steel has a larger impact.

These multipliers imply that the Posco project would create an additional employment of 50,000 person years annually for the next 30 years vis-à-vis 870,000 person years in the steel project alternative. In terms of value addition, the iron ore and steel project alternatives would contribute 1.3 per cent and 11.5 per cent to Orissa’s State Gross Domestic Product (or SGDP) by 2016-17 respectively.

An important part of the study was the Least Cost Analysis of technology options in the steel-making, the Finex process that Posco purports to bring and the traditional blast-furnace technology. The Average Incremental Economic Cost was used as the yardstick; this was followed by computing the economic IRR (internal rate of return)
to examine whether the project was economically worthwhile from the national economy point of view.

The EIRR for the Orissa project works out to 16.6 per cent for base case and even in the worst case scenario, the EIRR at 13.9 per cent would remain above the hurdle rate of 12 per cent. The economic impact of the project was estimated at $2.5 billion at the test discount rate of 12 per cent.

The significant feature of the study was the estimation of depletion premium or the opportunity cost for depleteable and non-renewable resource iron ore for reasons cited below:

India’s high-grade ore (+ 65 per cent Fe content — Haematite) reserves, proven and probable, amount to only 0.58 billion tonnes. And even if we were to factor in indicative and inferred reserves (probable/feasible), the total reserves (proven and possibly future potential) would be only 0.92 billion tonnes.

India’s medium-grade ore (+62 per cent Fe to 65 per cent Fe — Haematite) reserves, proven and probable, is only 1.3 billion tonnes. Here too, if we factor in indicative and inferred (probable/feasible and pre-feasibility estimated) reserves, the total reserves (proven and possibly future potential) will be only 2.8 billion tonnes.

Policy Implications

Orissa stands to gain significantly if instead of exporting iron ore it processes it to steel within the State, in terms of both employment generation (17 times), and GDP impact (9 times).

India’s high and medium grade iron ore reserves may not last more than 19 years even if exports of these grades are frozen at the current level or if the targets set out in the draft steel policy are to be met. The economic analysis considered the depletion premium for high and medium grade iron ore. This is the opportunity cost to the national economy of using the depletable resource, which is the average incremental cost of depletion premiums computed year-wise.

Any exporter of iron ore of medium and high grades from the State needs to pay a depletion premium of $27 per tonne. Even this would be a sub-optimal policy from the State’s viewpoint if it can process the medium and high grade ore to steel. No such depletion premium has been applied for coking coal as its price did not exhibit any
trend before the recent steep price hike.

For the eastern States seeking to raise the mineral sector’s share in their GDP, it may be a good idea to set up processing facilities. It would not be advisable to allocate iron ore mines through open bids or accept increased royalty payments, even accounting for the depletion premium, compared to the option of processing iron ore to steel. Future cost-competitiveness and logistical advantage imply that iron ore-rich States can compete with existing over-capacities in the US, Europe and Japan even after factoring in the capital charges for new investments.

Export of iron ore needs to be restricted to grades other than medium and high-grade ore categories; for instance, export of beneficiated ore from Goa using inland waterways logistics advantages could be encouraged. Allowing exports of high grade ore would facilitate export of steel from existing over-capacities in the US, Europe and Japan to East Asia at the expense of future steel exports from new Indian steel capacities which are likely to enjoy cost-competitiveness over existing over-capacities elsewhere.

I am not qualified to judge the above analysis. I would appreciate any comments, analysis, criticisms etc. on the above.

Often many well-meaning people read about a particular R & R package for one location in one state and then compare it with R & R package and/or land prices offered in another state, in our case Orissa, and start making wild allegations that the Orissa government is incompetent in getting a good deal for its people or the company or foundation that wants to set up something is evil etc. etc. To make the obvious point, obvious to anyone who thinks rather than is driven by his/her preconceived ideology, that land prices vary across different locations in India, following are some data points.

(i) Hindu and Pioneer report about the Brahmani steel plant coming up in Jammalamadugu in Andhra Pradesh. There the Andhra Pradesh government has procured land at Rs 18,500 per acre for the steel plant which will need 10,640 acres. The government has also promised allotment of 3000-4000 acres for an airport at the price of Rs 9,000 per acre. The exact quotes from Pioneer are as follows.

The plant, to come up on an area of 10,640 acres, will be the second biggest plant after the Visakhapatnam steel plant making Andhra Pradesh the biggest steel producing State in the country. …

The Chief Minister denied any favouritism in providing land to the project and said that prices higher than market price was paid for the land. “The land has been purchased at the rate of Rs 18,500 per acre which is the highest in the district,” he said.

The quote from Hindu is as follows:

Announcing that BIL Managing Director Janardhana Reddy, an MLC in Karnataka, had agreed to construct a commercial airport nearby, he promised allotment of 3,000 to 4,000 acres of land at Rs. 9,000 per acre, half the price charged for land given to the steel plant.

(ii) On the other end of the spectrum following is an excerpt from Moneycontrol on land prices and compensation offered for land in Dankuni near Kolkata.

Construction giant DLF has offered to pay a whopping 55 lakh rupees an acre for acquiring close to 5,000 acres near Kolkata.

Never before has any company paid so much. Even the government paid up to 14 lakh rupees an acre in Singur, which is 20 kilometers away. DLF proposes to build an integrated township and a 100-acre SEZ. And the rehabilitation package it has promised, is awesome – guaranteed employment, alternative housing, education and even healthcare facilities for displaced farmers.

So what is our point? and Why is it relevant to Orissa’s growth and infrastructure development?

There are several land acquisitions going on in Orissa with respect to industries (POSCO, Tatas etc.), for Vedanta University, for various rail and road projects, etc. So when you come across a price or compensation package in another state and it does not gel with some other packages in Orissa that you have read about, please investigate more before getting all riled up and accusing the Orissa govt., its ministers, its bureaucrats, or the companies. They may as well be at fault, but please do research before deciding on it and shooting off emails or postings, as the above data points make it clear that land prices vary quite a lot among different locations in India.

Another point we want to make is that, Orissa has to balance between getting the best deal for its people (beyond the market price) and losing the project to another state. Again, the data point shows that there are other states who can offer very cheap land price and if Orissa asks too much (beyond the market price) then there is a real risk of losing the project. In case of steel and aluminium project, losing the project and consequently delaying in allotting certain mines may also mean that the mines may be allocated by the central govt to out of state companies. As a result Orissa will lose out on the value addition and on the infrastructure (such as roads, railway links, ports, townships, etc.) that are associated with large steel and aluminum plants.

A suggested approach to get the best deal for people (beyond the market price) losing their land is to have a central R & R policy that every state must follow, so that they don’t compete on the basis of who can offer the cheapest (relative to the market price of that particular location) land price and R & R. This can also be achieved if the relevant states (Orissa, Chhatisgrah, Jharkhand, etc.) agree on a common policy. (Sandip Dasverma, a friend, has often mentioned the later.)

[Acknowledgments: Deba Nayak of ornet for pointing to the Pioneer article in ornet. Participants of Orissa Today google group for engaging in multiple debates on this issue.]

Business Standard in an article in April listed several infrastructure related projects that Orissa is planning using PPP. Following are excerpts from that article.

… the Orissa government has lined up 18 new projects in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode entailing an investment of over Rs 6000 crore.

Of the 18 projects, 12, mostly large and medium, have already been consolidated with investments of Rs 3500 crore.

Another six projects, fairly bigger in respect to the previous ones, are under active consideration and would cover an investment of around Rs 2500 crore, according to government sources.

Source said, till date, an around Rs 5300 crore investments have already been lined up and are under implementation in the PPP module in 12 odd projects across the state.

In all the Orissa government plans to develop 30 odd projects in different sectors in the PPP module over the next two years covering an investment of over Rs 11,300 crore. …

The PPP modules currently under implementation and those under consideration cover a wide range of activities starting from port cuilding, railway line construction, road development and erection of urban clusters. …

The new projects being considered under the PPP module included development of road links in the Capital Region Ring Road, the Bhubaneswar-Paradip Road, the Suakati-Dubuna Road and the Tensa-Barsuan-Lahunipada Road.

These would entail a primary investment of Rs 1547 crore for the development of 279 kilometres of road, including a four-laning of the first one.

Other than this there would World Bank identified projects where four laning would be done of the Sambalpur-Rourkela road from the existing two-lane road.

The long pending Joda-Bamebari Road and Koira-Rajamunda Road covering 229 kilometres would also be taken up.

The PPP module would be used for two vital rail links. The first was the Angul-Duburi-Sukinda rail link and the second the Gunupur-Theruvali link. In both cases, the Special Purpose Vehicle ( SPV) route was being proposed. The investment for the rail links was estimated to be in the region of Rs 570 crore. The Angul-Sukinda rail link would be of 90 kilometres and the Gunupur-Theruvali link would be 79 kilometres.

PPP’s for setting up Bio-tech parks, SEZ for IT/ITES companies and integrated commercial and residential complex, an enclave at Shahidnagar are were also part of the city building endeavour of the Orissa government.

This apart, a commercial shopping complex and an A.C.Market complex at Unit IV are also being contemplated in the PPP mode as part of city development plan.

Till date, investment for the SEZ for IT/ITES companies had been identified and were estimated to be in the region of Rs 35.67 crore. As for the other residential and commercial complexes, project details and cost were being worked out on a war footing.

Coupled with these, a multi-product SEZ at Paradeep had been suggested by the government for development using the PPP route. It was expected to entail an investment of Rs 712 crore.

Land of around 1093 hectares would be needed for the SEZ in the Marshagahi Tehsil of Kendrapara under Paradeep.

This article is probably based on a presentation available from the Orissa govt. website. That file seems to be corrupt but its google cache shows part of the information.

Many may not know that to the west of Bhubaneswar lies the Chandaka widlife sanctuary with varieties of flora and fauna. This sanctuary is considered as the lungs of Bhubaneswar. Today’s New Indian Express has an article about this. Following are some excerpts.

The sanctuary is perhaps among the few in the country which boasts of a treasure trove of flora and fauna excepting the royal Bengal tiger. The coastal range of sal forests also end here with an intimate mix of evergreen and deciduous elements.

According to divisional forest officer (DFO) Akshaya Kumar Pattanaik, though elephant is the flagship species, two types of monkeys, three deer species and three other herbivores, nine types of carnivores including the panther, two types of civets, tree shrew and pangolins are spotted.

Also the sanctuary is home to 21 types of snakes, 16 lizards, one species of turtle and marsh crocodile. The avian types include 174 with 10 species of water fowl and waders, seven ground nesters, seven raptors and 17 song birds.

The elephant population (65 in 2006 census) is seen in group sizes of 18, 13, 8, 7, 5 and 4. Even joining of three or four family groups were also observed aggregating to a herd size of 38 at Bharatpur in the past.

Orissa tourism has a nice page on Chandaka. Following is a map of Chandaka from that site.

• Balasore and Baripada lobbying for medical colleges
• One year P.G. Diploma in Banking and Insurance Management: From Utkal University in collaboration with ICICI bank
• Careerpoint claims that 21 out of 55 succeeded in IIT JEE
• A pre-advertisement from Sri Sri University
• Chennai Business School forays into Bhubaneswar
• Sri Sri University project: a powerpoint presentation
• Latest status of WODC related private medical college in Rourkela
• Ads for IIT JEE, AIEEE, Orissa JEE and Medical coaching classes
• Plus two options in Berhampur
• Telegraph writes about progress and obstacles in making the Capital Hospital a medical college
• PM: Each state will have a central university
• Bhubaneswar based Institute of Medical Sciences and Sum Hospital get nod for MBBS programme from 2007-08
• Tathya.in has a hard hitting article on the IIT issue that blames the Congress leaders for their ineptitude
• Cabinet approves new scholarship scheme for tribals

Various newspapers (Telegraph, Financial Express) report that the Cabana group has announced a hotel and a management institute in Bhubaneswar and plans to open many hotels in various locations in Orissa. Following is an excerpt from Telegraph.

Co-chairman of Cabana Hotel Management Private Limited and venture capitalist, Prabhu Goel, said the institute will be the group’s first training venture anywhere in the world. “Since the industry demand is huge, we hope that all students will be absorbed after training,” Goel added.

The institute, for which the government has allotted a seven-acre plot near Dumduma, will have hostels for 1,500 students, classrooms, labs, kitchens, along with a an attached 200-bed hotel. The group will represent Best Western brand in India, provide hotel management services and consultancy, he said.

Over the next 10 years, the group intends to add more than 100 hotels and 10,000 rooms to the growing Indian hospitality market. “We have visited places like Chilika, Puri, Konark and Paradip. We are interested to set up hotels there. We have plans to invest around Rs 350 crores in developing properties in the state,” said Goel.

NDTV reports that the Gopalpur SEZ has been cleared by the Central Govt.

There was a lot of hue and cry that why the Gopalpur SEZ was not moving further in Orissa. Recent events show that it was held up due to security clearances which was required. Hopefully this will ensure faster development in Orissa.

TOI reports that POSCO has become operational with it’s new FINEX technology in a steel plant in South Korea. The same FINEX technology will be used in the Orissa steel plant. This is particularly relevant for high Alumina grade Ores found in Orissa. The new steel plant in South Korea will improve the output of POSCO by 11%.

Other papers which reported the same news were Statesman,Financial Express and Reuters India. Brunei times provides a different analysis to the same story also.

Samaja reports that Paradeep oil refinery would function from October 2011.

However, there were many such announcements published earlier. Every time a new date is fixed. The project is already shifted 5 years from the actual schedule.

It gets reported once in a while [Hindu1, Hindu, Technoligence,iocl ] that IOC plans a new 300,000 barrels a day refinery and petrochemical complex at Paradip. Timesnow.tv has a recent report on this.