___________

Following is an excerpt from a report in tathya.in.

The State Level Single Window Authority (SLSWA) chaired by the Chief Secretary green signalled projects worth of Rs.37,440 crore.

Expansion of Alumina Refinery at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi from the existing 1 Million Ton Per Annum (MTPA) to 6 MTPA has been allowed.

This project is facing opposition from local people and Union Minister for Forest & Environment, said sources.

Aluminium Smelter at Jharsuguda from the existing 0.25 MTPA to 1.60 MTPA expansion allowed by the Authority, said an official.

Similarly expansion of the Captive Power Plant (CPP) at Jharsuguda from 675 MW to 1350 MW has been allowed, said sources.

These proposals were pending earlier and with the clearance of Single Window Authority, it will go to the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) for final clearance, said an official.

Following is excerpted from a report in Financial Express by Dilip Bisoi.

• five units entailing a total investment of Rs 4,162 crore.
• The state promises 2.224 billion tonne of limestone deposits. Moreover, Orissa is going to generate huge quantity of blast furnace slag and fly ash as a large number of steel units and coal-fired power plants are coming up in the state.
• Madras Cements, which is known for its popular Ramco brand, is proposing to set up two cement projects in the district of Sundergarh and Malkangiri of the state. While it is planning a 2 million tonne per annum (MTPA) plant along with a 40 mw captive power station at a cost of Rs 750 crore in Sundergarh, in Malkangiri it is going to set up a 2 MTPA unit along with a 35 mw power station at a cost of Rs 700 crore.
• Madras Cements is also going to invest Rs 35 crore to set up a cement fibre sheet plant in Sundergarh district.
• Shree Cement, which is known for its Bangur brand, is planning to set up a 3 MTPA unit and a 50 mw power plant at a cost of Rs 683 crore in Malkangiri district.
• ACC Cement, which acquired the Bargarh Cement Plant of the Orissa government in 2004, intends to set up a 3 MTPA cement plant and a 50 mw power plant at a cost of Rs 1,850 crore in Malkangiri.
• The Kolkata-based Emami Group is proposing to invest Rs 179 crore to set up a 0.6 MTPA cement grinding facility at Somnathpur in Balasore district. The group has a newsprint manufacturing unit at Balgopalpur in Balasore district.
• Earlier, the government signed three MoUs in the cement sector. Grasim Cement of the Birla Group signed an MoU in 2006 to set up a 0.90 MTPA cement plant in Sundergarh district at a cost of Rs 1,200 crore, while ASCO Cement is putting up a 0.50 MTPA unit at a cost of Rs 132 crore at Rajgangpur in Jharsuguda district.
• OCL India, which already has a ement unit in the state, is setting up another unit in Sundergarh district with an investment of Rs 850 crore.
• Companies like Shiva Cement, Chariot Cement, Sita Cement already have cement manufacturing facilities in the state.

Following is from an article by Nageshwar Patnaik in Economic Times. Nageshwar is a big critic of the Tatas. So coming from him, I give a lot of value to the article.

Buoyed by successful resettlement of displaced persons after five years, Tata Steel, which is setting up a 6-mtpa steel plant at Kalinga Nagar in Orissa’s Jajpur district, has undertaken massive infrastructure development work at the project site to get support of the local people, especially the tribals.

Under its Tata Steel Parivar resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) programme, the leading steel producer of the country has laid 20 km of quality motorable roads connecting all rehabilitation colonies, besides constructing 32 km of drainage system at adjoining tribal-dominated villages such as Trijanga, Sansailo and Gobarghati.

As many as 300 sodium vapour halogen lamp posts have been installed and pipe water provision made to provide better life to the displaced people living in rehabilitation colonies.

Each colony in the project area has a dispensary, community centre and several education centres offering management and technical courses.

“The Tata Steel Parivar rehabilitation scheme at Kalinga Nagar provides substantially better facilities than the government-framed R&R policy. The government policy provides employment for one member from each core household. On the other hand, Tata Steel Parivar policy provides employment opportunities for each major member of the core house. It also provides training facilities for technical skill upgrade,” a press statement, issued by the company here on Thursday, said.

The release also noted that scholarships were being provided for displaced persons pursuing higher education in professional fields such as medicine, engineering and management.

“An amount of Rs 2.21 lakh is also provided as onetime assistance in lieu of employment. Further, under the Tata Steel Parivar policy, each family is given a monthly maintenance allowance of Rs 2,000-2,300 till they get employment in the plant whereas the policy stipulates payment of maintenance allowance for 12 months only,” it added.

The opposition in Kalinganagar has finally seen light and allowed the Tatas to build the infrastructure of Kalinganagar. Related to this, The Telegraph of UK has apologized to the Tatas for their negative coverage.

Things also seem to be going in the positive direction in the POSCO front and I hope the people there visit Tata’s colonies in Kalinganagar and demand and get similar or better facilities and form a positive partnership with POSCO. In addition the Odisha government should push POSCO in developing a POSTECH like University in Paradeep.

However, there is not much progress with respect to Vedanta Aluminum in Kalahandi or Vedanta University in Puri. Here again it would be wise for the people there to visit Tata’s colonies Kalinganagar and demand and get similar or better facilities and form a positive partnership with Vedanta. But the time may be running out for Puri as Vedanta University Project has indicated that it may give up and move south where it will be welcomed with open arms. If that happens it would of course be a mistake of a century for Puri and Odisha.

In regards to the Arcelor-Mittal and Keonjhar the company really has not made much visible effort to woo the people.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu Business Line.

Apeejay Infralogistics Pvt Ltd, a joint venture between Apeejay Surrendra Group and Eredene Capital Plc, UK, hopes to commission the first phase of its two integrated logistics parks at Haldia (West Bengal) and Kalinganagar (Orissa) towards the end of this year.

… Mr Sourav Daspatnaik, Director, Apeejay Surrendra Group, said, “We have just received the Commerce Ministry’s approval for setting up an inland container depot (ICD) at Kalinganagar …”

The Haldia integrated logistics park, estimated at Rs 200 crore in phases, would come up on over 90 acres while the one at Kalinganagar, costing Rs 60 crore, over 30 acres.

The Kalinganagar logistics park, he said, would be different from the one at Haldia because it would cater to the requirements of the steel units coming up in the area. “The big names in steel such as Jindals, the Tatas, and the Visa Group are present at Kalinganagar,” he said.

… In the first phase, the Haldia outfit would be complete with an ICD, warehousing facilities – both covered and open, truck terminal and trade facilitation centre and other facilities. Similar facilities, though on a smaller scale, too were being created at Kalinganagar, he added.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard by Jayjit Dash.

The Orissa government is likely to form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), one of India’s leading infrastructure development and finance companies, for the proposed mega food park project at Khurda.

The mega food park which is coming up on 250 acres of land at Khurda has the potential to attract investments to the tune of Rs 2000 crore.

“… The Centre is planning to float tenders for this project by August and the project is expected to attract many noted developers in the food processing sector”, Saurabh Garg, industries secretary, Orissa government told Business Standard.

Besides offering its expertise to help boost investments in the food processing sector, IL&FS will also offer its inputs to the state government in finalizing the food processing policy which would be notified soon, he added.

Garg admitted that the lack of adequate storage facilities was impeding the growth of the food processing sector in the state. To overcome this, he stated that the state government had a preliminary round of talks with Fresh and Healthy Enterprises Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Container Corporation of India Limited for setting up cold chains in different locations of the state.

The details in this connection, however, are yet to be finalized.

It may be noted that IL&FS had carried a study on raw material availability for the food processing sector in different locations of the state. It had identified paddy, mango, tomato, coconut, cashew, ginger and brinjal as the products with a huge potential for processing but had pointed out that the major bottleneck to the growth of the sector was the inadequate cold storage facilities in the state.

To give the much desired fillip to the food processing sector, IL&FS had suggested the Orissa government to offer a package of incentives to attract big players in the sector like ITC, Britannia Industries and Parle Agro Ltd.

Hemant Sharma, director, industries department, Orissa government said, “IL&FS has suggested us to offer a host of incentives like capital investment subsidy of at least 30 per cent, make provisions for seasonal electricity tariff for the food processing units, offer these units exemption from Value Added Tax (VAT) and provide interest subvention of five per cent. While Bihar offers a capital investment subsidy of up to 40 per cent for maize processing, there is no such scheme in Orissa.”

All the big players- ITC, Britannia Industries, Parle Agro Ltd and Indo Nissin Foods Ltd have evinced interest in investing in the food processing sector in the state.

Among these, Parle Agro’s unit has been cleared by the State Level Single Window Clearance Authority while the site selection is underway for the proposed projects of Britannia Industries and Indo Nissin Foods, the noodles maker.

ITC has so far remained non-responsive after initially evincing interest to invest in the food processing sector.

LMJ International, a Kolkata-based export firm had also proposed to set up a maize processing complex in south Orissa’s Nabarangapur district at an investment of around Rs 150 crore.

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

The State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) today cleared nine new investment proposals worth Rs 4920.26 crore. Out of these, five are in the cement sector, two aluminium conductor units, a maize processing unit and a petroleum coke plant.

Out of the five new cement projects, two are of Madras Cement which will set up its units at Sundergarh and Malkangiri.

The company’s Sundargarh plant will have two million tonne per annum (mtpa) cement capacity along with 40 MW of captive power generation facility. The project is estimated to cost Rs 750 crore. Madras Cement, known for its Ramko brand of cement, will also have a cement fibre sheet plant at the same location at an investment of Rs 35 crore.

The company’s second cement unit in the state, also with a capacity of two mtpa, will come up at Malkanagiri. It will have a 36 MW Captive Power Plant and the combined cost of the project is pegged at Rs 700 crore.

Apart from Madras Cement, Ajmer-based Shree Cement, known for its Bangur brand of cement, has proposed to set up a three mtpa cement unit and a 36 MW CPP, also at Malkangiri, at an investment of Rs 683 crore.

ACC Cement intends to set up a three mtpa cement unit and a 50 MW CPP at Malkangiri, involving an investment of Rs 1850 crore.

Similarly, Emami Group which has a newsprint making plant at Balgopalpur in Balasore district will invest Rs 179 crore at Somnathpur in the same district for setting up a 0.6 mtpa cement grinding unit.

… Among the other investment proposals cleared by SLSWCA is the Seashore Group’s plan to set up a maize processing unit at Papdahandi block in Nabarangpur district at a cost of Rs 160 crore. The facility will come up on 123 acres of land and will require two lakh litres of water per day. The project will create 96 direct jobs besides creating indirect employment opportunity for around 6000 people.

Sterlite Technologies Ltd, a Vedanta Group firm, will invest Rs 51.26 crore on establishing an aluminium conductor plant as well as an aluminium alloy rod unit at Brundamal near Jharsuguda. This plant will be a downstream unit of the company’s existing aluminium smelter at Jharsuguda.

Kalinga Calciners has proposed to set up petroleum coke plant near Paradeep at a cost of Rs 80 crore. The plant will have an overall capacity of 2,20,000 tonnes per annum which will be achieved in two phases.

The SLSWCA also cleared the proposal of Hindustan Vidyut Products Ltd which has evinced interest in setting up an aluminium conductor plant at Jharsuguda, entailing an investment of Rs 389 crore. This project which will come up on 75 acres of land will create direct employment for 153 people and creating indirect jobs for around 400 others.

Its good to see that some of the above units are proposed for remote backward districts such as Malkangiri and Nabarangpur.

Following is from a report by Bishnu Das in Business Standard.

Hyderabad based NSL group … has proposed setting up a food processing plant, a sugar refinery and a textile spinning mill in the state with a combined investment of Rs 2340 crore.

Sources said, the company keen to set up a seed processing plant at Bonda in Baragarh district at an investment of Rs 40 crore.

The project is expected to generate direct and indirect employment opportunities for 2100 persons. About 8,000 farmers would also get the benefit of contract farming. Similarly, the company proposes to set up a sugar refinery with a capacity to crush 5,000 tonnes of sugarcane per day at Paradeep.

The project is estimated to cost Rs 800 crore and it would directly and indirectly employ about 1000 persons. NSL also intends to invest Rs 1,500 crore for setting up a spinning mill in the state.

The project is expected to provide direct and indirect job opportunities and benefit about 1 lakh farmers through contract farming.

The company is in the process of submitting the detailed proposals to the state owned Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Ltd. (Ipicol) in this regard.

Following is from a report in Financial Express.

Work on acquisition of land and obtaining of clearances for the twin-site Rs 9,000 crore RSB Metaltech Ltd’s project involving bauxite mining and setting up an alumina refinery unit at Rayagada and a 0.7 million tonne per annum (mtpa) smelter unit plus a 500 MW power plant to be set up at Kamakshyanagar in Dhenkanal in Orissa, are progressing satisfactorily.

… The company intends to transport processed alumina from its Raigada plant to Kamakshyanagar in railway rakes.

“Work on land acquisition as well as environmental clearance has already started; the Orissa government has given final clearance to 1,520 acres of land for the Raygada project and 1,546 acres for the Kamakshyanagar project”, said RSB Metaltech managing director S K Behera, speaking to FE.

The company had applied to the state government for around 3,000 acres of land for each of the sites.

Initial environmental clearance for the project, as well as clearances from the railways, and for water for the plants from the state government has also been obtained.

…  as per the MoU with the Orissa government, RSB Metaltech has entered into a joint venture with Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) for bauxite mining and an alumina refinery at Rayagada.

Simultaneously, the company is to set up a 0.7 mtpa capacity smelter plant at Kamakshyanagar which would feed aluminium metal to the 50-odd downstream units that are to come up and which would be manufacturing construction products, auto components like cylinder head, cylinder block, gear box, clutch housing, etc.

Both the Kamakshyanagar and Rayagada units which are expected to become fully operational in five years’ time would together be able to give employment to around 12,000 people, said Behera.

“We will like to invite certain companies to use the hot metal (aluminium) available with us, who will immediately process it (the hot metal) to make auto components and other products and thus save on cost”, said the RSB Transmissions managing director, adding that while some of the downstream units would be fully owned by the RSB group, several others including a number of export-oriented units would be on joint venture basis.

The government must investigate this.

Update: Following are excerpts from a report in Business Standard.

Astha International Limited, one of India’s leading direct selling companies based out of Surat (Gujarat), would invest Rs 5000 crore on a slew of business ventures in Orissa by the end of 2012.

The investment which is to be raised through a mix of debt and internal accruals as well as from its 4.5 lakh odd distributors across the country, will be made on developing an integrated township project called ‘Astha City’ near Berhampur, a star hotel in Puri and a textile mill in Bhubaneswar.

Besides, Astha International would set up a dairy production unit, a multiplex and a hyper mall in the city.

The company has opened an office in the city and this would serve as the zonal office for the states of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.

Together, all these projects will generate direct employment for over 10,000 people in the state.

All these projects are expected to be commissioned by the end of 2012.

"… The company would first begin with the integrated township project for which it has already identified around 200 acres of land near Berhampur.”

The company is betting big on the Orissa market which currently accounts for about 50 per cent of its overall revenues.

Astha International which has operations in 12 states of the country, clocked a revenue of Rs 300 crore in the last fiscal.

Out of 4.5 lakh distributors of the company, 1.5 lakh are based out of Orissa.

Astha International, which has more than 10,000 products in 26 different segments, also plans to float a bank called Astha Bank by 2011-12.

“We have already got the license of the Reserve Bank of India for starting banking operations and our bank will commence operations from 2011-12”, Chauhan claimed.

The website of this company is http://www.asthainternational.in/. In that site they mention an Astha city in Gujarat. Following is from Samaja.

The website of Jajpur Cluster Development Limited is http://www.jcdl.in/. As per the page http://www.jcdl.in/about.htm Kalinganagar Industries Association (KIA), an association of industries in the Kalinganagar Industrial Complex holds 51% equity capital in JCDL whereas the equity held by IDCO is 49%. The members of the KIA are:

As per http://www.jcdl.in/app_proj.htm the following projects have been approved for implementation.

Tathya.in has a report on the Trijanga township buil by Tata Steel in this area. Following are some excerpts

Eco-friendly atmosphere, planned township, wide concrete roads, round the clock power supply, piped water supply, permanent eco-management and drainage system with lush greenery are something, which even some of the modern townships in the country do not have.

But the new township established by Tata Steel Paribar in Trijanga in Jajpur has all these facilities and much beyond. …

The Company apart from providing 0.1 acres of homestead land and Rs 2.5 lakhs for house construction to relocated families had several round of discussions with them while planning for their new home at Trijanga Rehabilitation Colony.

While It has provided all the basic amenities like water supply, electricity supply, ration, community space, grain storage facility, children’s recreation park, toilets, welfare office, balwadis, dispensary etc, the sprawling greenery that has come up in last two years is for one to see it to believe it.

The colourful houses with dish antennas besides concrete paved roads with avenue plantation and permanent drains shows the commitment of Tata Steel to usher in a better quality of life for the rehabilitated families in Trijanga.

16 km all weather motorable roads, 32km of drainage, solid waste and garbage management through dedicated agencies has been provided.

The Company has also provided sodium vapor halogen lamps for street lighting.

Tata Steel Parivar members are also now use safe portable drinking water from running taps and consume 500 watts per family electricity.

Youths of Parivar member use Community centre for recreational purposes provided by the Company.

Round the clock health care facility is being provided in Trijanga Rehabilitation Colony through a dispensary and 24 hours standby ambulance services.

All of this hard work of rehabilitated tribals in a better atmosphere has blossomed into emerging township where rural and Urban Odisha co-exist. …

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard by Bishnu Das.

To meet the infrastructure needs of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) on a priority basis, the Orissa government has reserved 20 per cent of the area in all industrial estates, industrial parks, industrial corridors and land banks for such units.

Further, the state-owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) will promote new exclusive zones for MSMEs in all major industrial hubs of the state.

The locations where exclusive industrial parks will be promoted include Kalinganagar, Barbil, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Dhenkanal, Rourkela, Baragarh, Balasore, Dhamara, Gopalpur, Chhatrapur, Raygada, Kalahandi and Choudwar.

Such exclusive zones will also come up near the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the state.

… The government has also decided that wherever land is provided to large and medium industries, 10 per cent of the land, subject to a maximum limit of 200 acres, will be earmarked for setting up MSMEs. This will facilitate the setting up of ancillary and downstream units, preferably in cluster mode, a source added.

… Sources said that Common Facility Centres (CFCs), to be set up by the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) constituted for the MSME clusters, would be entitled for allotment of land free of cost at various locations in the state.

… To provide assured sources of raw material for such units, the Orissa Small Industries Corporation (OSIC) and the National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) will set up raw material banks.

The two organisations will act as nodal agencies for MSMEs and public sector resource companies will accord priority to OSIC and NSIC in supply of raw materials, which will be made available to MSMEs at the lowest possible rate.

1. Economic Times on 3 more terminal markets in Odisha:

Orissa government will provide four terminal market yards to enable the farmers to sell their produce at market prices…. One of the terminal has already been constructed at Sambalpur with an investment

of Rs 86 crore and three others are coming up at Cuttack, Berhampur and Rourkela,…

2. Business Standrad on MOU with five IPPs for 4800 MW power:

The cumulative capacity of these projects would be 4800 Mw and the total investment is envisaged to be Rs 23203.52 crore.

With this, the total power generation projected in the state would increase to 31100 Mw from 26300 Mw earlier.The Orissa government has already inked MoUs with 21 IPPs with an aggregate generation capacity of 26,300 Mw earlier.

… Five companies who signed the MoU included BGR Energy System, JR Powergen Private Ltd, Adhunik Power and Natural Resources Ltd, Maa Durga Thermal Power Company Ltd and Vijaya Ferro and Power Private Ltd.

JR Powergen Private Ltd would set up a 1980 Mw thermal power plant at Kishorenagar near Angul at an investment of Rs 7988 crore. BGR Energy Systems Ltd also plans to set up a 1320 Mw power plant at Bhapur in Nayagarh district at an investment of Rs 6287 crore.

Similarly, Adhunik Power and Natural Resources Ltd would set up a 1320 Mw power plant at Birmaharajpur in Sonepur district entailing an investment of Rs 8079.74 crore. All these proposals were cleared by the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) chaired by the chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

On the other hand, Maa Durga Thermal Power would set up a 60 Mw ((2x30Mw) power plant at Tangi in Cuttack district, involving an investment of Rs 296.95 crore. Besides, Vijaya Ferro and Power Private Ltd, planning to set up a 120 Mw power plant (IPP) at an investment of Rs 550 crore at Kesinga (Turla Khamar) in Kalahandi district.

The total land requirement for these projects have been assessed at 4360 acres and about 22,325 direct and indirect employment opportunities are expected to be created when these projects would be fully commissioned. Three projects namely BGR Energy System, JR Powergen Private Ltd, Adhunik Power and Natural Resources Ltd would source water from the Mahanadi river system, Maa Durga Thermal Power would draw water from Birupa river.Vijaya Ferro and Power plans to source water from Tel river.

3. Hindu on preliminary bids for UMPP at Bedabahal:

the government was likely to invite preliminary bids for the 4,000-MW Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) at Bedabahal in Orissa by April 30.

The request for qualification (RSQ) for the project may be issued by April 30.

This Bedabahal project would be the sixth UMPP project. The government has already awarded four UMPPs, of which three — Sasan in Madhya Pradesh, Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Tilaiya in Jharkhand — have been bagged by Reliance Power.

4. Sify on 595 crores for waterbody upgrade:

As many as 1817 water bodies, mostly the minor irrigation projects (MIPs) in 20 districts of Orissa, would be revitalized under the Centrally sponsored scheme of Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies.

These water bodies would be revitalized within a period of three years at an estimated cost of Rs 595.14 crore.

The funding for these projects would be shared between the Government of India and the Orissa government in the ratio of 90:10 for the Maoist infested, drought prone and backward districts of Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput (KBK).

For the other districts, the share between the Centre and the state government will be 25 per cent and 75 per cent respectively.

While the design ayacut of all 1817 projects was 2, 48,545.86 hectares, the irrigation potential of an additional 89,110.02 hectares of land would be revived through these projects, sources said.

Most of these projects under the RRR scheme are being taken up in south Orissa’s Ganjam district. About 800 projects under the scheme are to be taken up in the district at a cost of Rs 250.87 crore.

… Apart from Ganjam and KBK, the other districts where the scheme will be implemented are Bargarh, Bolangir, Gajapati, Jajpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Koraput, Mayurbhanaj, Nabarangapur, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Rayagada, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Balasore, Malkanagiri, Subarnapur, Deogarh and Dhenkanal.

The pilot project for this scheme was implemented for 137 projects in Ganjam and Gajapati districts at a cost of Rs 18.84 crore during 2005-06 to 2008-09.

5. Hindu on Japan giving 150 crores for an irrigation project:

Japan will also give … over Rs 150 crore for Rengali irrigation project in Orissa.

6. Hospitalitbizindia on a mega food park at Malipada, Khurda:

Government of India is likely to set up a mega food park and a marine food park at Malipara near Khurda in Orissa with an area of 282 acres. This information was given by Subodh Kant Sahai, Union Minister for Food Processing while responding to a demand raised by Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, Orissa at the Orissa Investors meet 2010.

Emami currently has manufacturing facilities in Balasore and Kolkata. Following are excerpts from a report in Economic Times about its future plans.

Emami Group company Emami Paper Mills (EPM) on Friday said it will invest around Rs 500 crore to double its newsprint production capacity to 3 lakh tonnes per year in the next two and half years.

… "We will invest around Rs 500 crore on increasing the production capacity of our plant in Orissa. After the expansion, we will double the capacity to 3 lakh tonnes a year," Emami Group Director Aditya Agarwal said.

EPM has two plants in Orissa and West Bengal with a total production capacity of 1.5 lakh tonnes of newsprint per annum.

Agarwal said the firm will start a new line to hike production at its Orissa plant and will mainly be used for recycling papers.

The Odisha government should go after establishing a paper product cluster around this plant as the output and the byproduct of the Emami plant can be used for a whole bunch of paper products. See http://dir.indiamart.com/industry/paper.html for a list. A similar cluster should also be planned near Rayagada where JK plans a new pulp mill.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Mining major Coal India (CIL), Gas Authority of India (GAIL) and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF) will come together to establish a project for producing urea and ammonium nitrate at Tachler, Orissa.

CIL has earmarked about 5.5 million tonnes of raw coal for the scheme, which once washed will come down to approximately 3.7 million tonnes of coal with less than 30 per cent ash content. Subsequently, GAIL is to gasify the fuel to produce urea and ammonium nitrate.

“The exact investment figures have not been fixed as the technology that will be utilised to produce urea and ammonium nitrate is still being studied. But an estimated few thousand crores are likely to be spent,” CIL chairman Partha S. Bhattacharyya said.

…“The joint venture (JV) has been mandated to produce a sizable amount of urea as well as 20-30 per cent of the annual ammonium nitrate requirement of CIL,” he added.

…  Moreover, the JV is expected to revive the Talcher unit of the Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI), as the project is expected to undertaken there.

Apart from easy access to coal, the Talcher unit has other infrastructural advantages including a coal-gasification plant, a heavy water plant and an urea plant already in place.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

… "The state has received an investment proposal of Rs.101,100 crore (Rs.1 trillion/$22 billion) from Jindal Steel and Power. About $10 billion has been proposed for the new coal-to-liquid project," a senior official of the state steel and mines department said.

The project includes the coal-to-liquid plant, the thermal plant and a coal washery.

A coal block has already been allocated to the company in Angul district, over 160 km from here, by the central government. And the steel producer and power utility is now looking for about 2,000 hectares of land for the project, Naveen Jindal said.

"About three sites were being explored and the company prefers a location near the coal block," a senior company official said.

Also, Jindal is building a 12.5 million tonne steel plant, a 1,320 MW capacity power plant and an industrial complex in the same district. The company requires about 4,500 acres land for the steel and the power plant. "About 4,000 acres has already been acquired," the official said.

"The work on the steel and the power plant is going on and we hope to commission one part of the power plant and the steel plant by the end of this year," he said.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The Orissa government today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Amtek Metal & Mining Ltd (AMML), for setting up a mega auto park with an associated two million tonne per annum (mtpa) integrated steel plant and 500 Mw power plant at Tangi in Cuttack district.

The project envisaging an investment of Rs 15,820 crore, is expected to generate direct and indirect employment for 33,000 persons. Out of the total projected investment, Rs 2050 crore is proposed to be invested for mega auto park in phases.

While the total land requirement for the projects is estimated at 2500 acres, about 550 acres will be required for the mega auto park. … AMML’s project consists of ferrous foundry, steel forging plants, steel fabrication plant, open die forging plant, special fastener, aluminium die casting plant, alloy steel plant and ring gear blank plant among others. It would transfer the hot metal from blast furnace to auto park for production of auto components.

… “With the signing of the MoU, we expect greater interest from the national auto industry which will help create an auto hub in the state”, Patnaik remarked. Taori said, the company would adopt ITIs and the polytechnics in the state to impart skill training to the unemployed youth in Orissa.

Update: The complete Shilpayana supplement is at http://www.thesamaja.com/slide.htm.(Thanks to kalahandia for this pointer.)

• Odisha industrial policy and OIEPO.
• Odisha Tourism.
• Odisha geographical location and its bounties.
• Fast progress of Information Technology in Odisha.
• Power reform in Odisha.
• Mineral resources of Odisha.
• Cement and Sugar in Odisha.
• Private investment encouraged in health care in Odisha.
• Industrialization of Odisha.
• Steel and aluminum in Odisha.
• Power situation in Odisha.
• Getting approvals to set up industry in Odisha; SLSWC and HLC.
• Odisha transportation situation.
• New ports to come up in Odisha.
• 146 proposals cleared by state level single window clearance (SLSWC).