___________

Update:

Following is from a report in Business Standard.

Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) has committed an investment of Rs 500 crore for a downstream industrial park in Orissa.

This is the latest in a string of investment plans announced by the company in the state which includes a greenfield steel plant, a coal to liquid project and a proposed deep sea port.

The steel company on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state government for setting up the park at Parang in Angul district. The downstream industrial park is expected to attract investments of Rs 5,000 crore besides generating employment opportunities for 32,000 people, both direct and indirect.

The park is also set to generate tax revenue worth Rs 700 crore per annum for the state government.

The pact was signed between T Ramachandru, principal secretary (industries), Orissa government and Anand Goel, joint managing director of JSPL.

The park, to come up over 1,400 acres of land, is expected to be operational by the end of 2014. It will focus on medium and small scale downstream units that would both add value and result in increased industrial activity.

The industries targeted for the park include steel rolling and other mills for downstream steel products, forging units, beam welding plants, ferro alloy units, pipe manufacturing units, galvanizing and colour coating units, foundries as well as food processing and coal storage units.

Following are excerpts from a report in ibnlive.com.

The coffee plantation would be taken up in the undivided Koraput district where currently about 1,300 hectares are under cultivation. …

It has been decided to invest the ` 400 crore over a period of 10 years from 2011-12. The ICB would fund ` 35 crore for a programme on organic coffee production in the State. Rest of the funds will be pooled from MGNREGS, Revised Long Term Action Plan (RLTAP) for KBK districts and other schemes.

As per the survey conducted by the Coffee Board, an area of 11,650 hectare in the Koraput, Kalahandi, Ganjam, Phulbani and Keonjhar districts has been found suitable for coffee cultivation.

Public sector industries like Nalco, Hindustan Aluminium Company and a host of private sector enterprises have evinced interest to take up coffee cultivation in about 1,000 acres which is mined for bauxite ore extraction.

 … For Orissa, the Board is implementing a Special Area Programme with the objective of checking ‘Podu’ cultivation, rejuvenating small coffee holdings and expanding coffee plantation in the tribal sector by providing a subsidy of ` l5,000 per hectare.

Besides, the Board is also providing financial assistance for installation of coffee processing units and imparting training to coffee growers on latest coffee husbandry practices and scientific methods of cultivation.

Six hulling units were also supplied under the scheme to the State during 1999- 2000 to process coffee at farm level.

At present, there are about 122 private coffee growers in the Koraput who have taken to commercial cultivation. …

In the following excerpts from a report in Business Standard Haridaspur-Paradip and Talcher-Bimlagarh are listed as strategic projects. I hope they are fast tracked.

… Delays in land acquisition and forest clearances continue to stand in the way of completing strategic projects like the 82-km Haridaspur-Paradip line and the 154-km link between Talcher and Bimlagarh, both in Orissa. While the first project is to give good port access to units in the steel hub of Kalinganagar, the second is designed to step up evacuation of coal from mines at Angul and Talcher.

…This is why India, endowed with the world’s fifth largest bauxite deposits and the fourth largest coal reserves, has emerged as a preferred place for making aluminium. Within the country, Orissa is where every aluminium maker wants a presence. That is why the Vedanta group, in spite of being solidly anchored in Chhattisgarh, thanks to its 50 per cent ownership of Balco, with capacity of 345,000 tonnes and then giving shape to a 650,000-tonne smelter there, wants to create alumina capacity of five mt and smelting capacity of 1.6 mt in Orissa, with adequate upstream integration in bauxite mining and coal-based power.

NAY SAYERS
Unfortunately, Vedanta is not able to realise what it has set out to do in Orissa, as it fell foul of pressure groups such as Amnesty International and Survival International and also of the ministry of environment and forests. The Niyamgiri Hills, from where Vedanta’s refinery is to draw bauxite, is considered sacred by Dongria Kondh tribesmen. But why should the company be stopped to take out bauxite from there if it is ready to resettle the displaced people and practise environment-friendly mining?

As a result of the impasse, Vedanta is required to source bauxite from outside, totally upsetting the considerations for hosting a refinery at nearby Lanjigarh. The denial of mining at Niyamgiri is setting a bad precedent for the mining sector. Redemption for Vedanta would hopefully come, with the Orissa government committed to offering alternative bauxite deposits.

There are some recent news on Vedanta’s expansion in Lanjigarh. But the news are confusing. Following is an excerpt from a September 17th report in Times of India.

Vedanta has suffered another setback in its fight-back to expand the aluminium refinery in Orissa after the Union environment ministry had struck down its environment clearance for violations.

The Cuttack bench of the Orissa High Court backed the environment ministry and ordered that Vedanta would have to apply afresh for a clearance for expansion if it wants to.

Following is an excerpt from a September 19th report in ndtv.com.

The ministry of environment and forests has cleared Vedanta Aluminium’s project in Lanjigarh, Orissa. 

The expansion of Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Aluminium’s four million tonne Lanjigarh refinery plant in Kalahandi had been put on hold by the Union Environment Ministry  on October 21, 2010.

… Environment ministry’s expert appraisal committee (EAC) has cleared the project with 70 conditions, sources told NDTV. Major conditions among them are:  Five per cent of the total project cost would be spent on social welfare projects.The company will maintain air, water quality & develop 164 hectare of plant area as green belt.

Others conditions say that the company will also submit rehabilitation and resettlement policy covering tribals, which should be in line with government policies. The company will also be required to submit corporate environment policy approved by its board.

Read more at: http://profit.ndtv.com/news/show/vedanta-s-aluminium-project-in-orissa-gets-green-nod-178542?ch=kjjbhrkjrhplkmn&cp

Read more at: http://profit.ndtv.com/news/show/vedanta-s-aluminium-project-in-orissa-gets-green-nod-178542?ch=kjjbhrkjrhplkmn&cp

A few points and recap of similar news:

1. TATA Steel has a football academy in Jamshedpur.
2. Hockey: SAIL has a hockey academy in Rourkela which serves the tribal belt around Sundergarh well.  The proposed Hockey academy in Bhubaneswar will be a good plus. I think KISS with its large tribal students could and would be one of the top recruiting ground for the proposed hockey academy.
3. Women’s footbal (soccer): As per the news item at http://www.dailypioneer.com/321111/FAO-glad-to-host-SAFF-Championship-in-December.html the Football Academy of Odisha (FAO) is setting up a woman football academy in Cuttack or Kendrapada.
4. Sports, Hockey: The above article also mentions that the State government is spending 20 crores for an Odisha Hockey Academy and astroturf hockey stadium in the Kalinga stadium complex. (See news item below.)
    
5. American Football: Bhubaneswar to be one of the eight teams in the Elite Football League that will start in 2012.
6. Indoor games: ECOR making an indoor stadium in Bhubaneswar.
7. Tennis Academy: Being established in Bhubaneswar.
8. Cricket Academy: Odisha Cricket academy has been established in Cuttack.
9. Cricket: ECOR has made a cricket stadium in Bhubaneswar and aims to make it of international standards.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

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

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

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

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

Following is from a report in Pioneer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

After committing investments on a new six million-tonne-per-annum (mtpa) steel plant, a captive power plant and a coal-to-liquid project in Orissa, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) has evinced interest on setting up a captive port in Ganjam district.

It involves a capital cost of Rs 1,424 crore, while the operational cost of running the port would be Rs 152 crore per annum. The first phase is scheduled to be operational by 2017.

The location is 30 km south of the existing Gopalpur port and 18 km from Berhampur.

JSPL today made a presentation to the state commerce and transport department on the proposed port at the mouth of the Bahuda river, a perennial port. The port does not require acquisition of farm land and there are no issues involved with nesting of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles in the area.

… The captive port will handle capesize vessels (150,000 or dwt) for coal and coke and Handymax vessels (50,000 dwt) for general cargo. During the first phase, the port will have two dedicated berths for handling coal and limestone and one berth for general cargo. The port is anticipated to handle about 33 million tonnes per annum of coal and other import items. Six capesize vessels of 150,000 dwt would make 36 visits each per annum for 33 mtpa of coal and other export items.

Work on the second phase is set to begin after 2017, when the port will have three more general berths.

By 2017, the port is expected to handle 4.93 million tonnes (mt) of steel coils and 900,000 tonnes of steel plates. Similarly, the company will import 5.5 mt of coking coal, 7.46 mt of non-coking coal, 2.6 mt of limestone and 3.7 mt of dolomite through this port by that period.

By 2020, the export of coils from the port is projected at 9 mt. Likewise, JSPL would import 12.6 mt coking coal, 7.5 mt non-coking coal, 4.4 mt limestone and 4.7 mt dolomite.

The multiplier effects of the port include revenue from cargo handling, regional economic development, and employment generation, development of road and rail connectivity and acceleration of local economy as well as that of the state.

Following is from Sambada.

The various news reports that initially came after Mr. Jindal met the CM, such as the above, did not mention anything regarding Mr. Jindal wanting iron ore linkage for his steel plants. But reports on the next day mentioned that. Following is an excerpt from a report in Financial Express.

The Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL), which is all set to commission its 2 million tonne steel plant next month, is desperately looking for iron ore linkage.

JSPL vice-president and managing director Naveen Jindal urged Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik for allotment of a captive iron ore mine for the plant.

Jindal met the Orissa CM on Tuesday and discussed the steel project and the captive power plant.

Sources in the government told FE that the JSPL managing director has requested the chief minister Naveen Patnaik to ensure raw material security for the plant through suitable iron ore concession.

Although I personally would prefer that the location is used for an IT or Knowledge park, it seems  the power-plant project is making stead progress. Following is from the page http://www.tatapower.com/services/power-projects.aspx#naraj.

All major clearances for the 660 MW Naraj Marthapur project have been obtained. The environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests is obtained. The plant is expected to be commissioned within three years of the completion of the land acquisition, which is expected to be completed during the year. Tata Power has been allotted the Mandakini coal block located in the Angul district of Orissa, along with Monnet Ispat and Energy Limited, and Jindal Photo Limited.

Wlid life Conservation Plan

Consent to Establish- Naraj Marthapur

Approval of Wildlife Conservation Plan

List of Activities for wild life Conservation

Click here for the Environmental Clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests

I hope it is not too late to change this plan. Following are maps from the Wlid life Conservation Plan document.

The above maps do not show the location of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. Following is a map that shows it.

Following is from a report in Business Standard.

Orissa government today approved nine new projects, including coal-to-liquid (CTL), steel and aluminium units involving investment of Rs 1,36,000 crore.

The projects got the final nod at a meeting of the high-level clearance authority chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Industries secretary T Ramachandru said.

Apart from two CTL, two steel and one aluminium units, the approved projects included a power plant, one textile unit, a paper plant and an aluminium park, he said.

Among the major proposals was the Rs 42,000 CTL project of Jindal Symflex Ltd to be set up at Durgapur in Angul district using German Lurgi technology, he said adding its capacity would be 80,000 barrels per day.

Requiring 4,000 acre of land, the project would have an 1100 mw captive power plant. Set to provide 6500 direct employment, it would use 90 cusec water from river Mahanadi.

Another CTL project is proposed to be set up by Strategic Energy Technology Systems Pvt Ltd, a joint venture of Tata and Saso, at an investment of Rs 35,000 crore at Gudiakateni in Dhenkanal district.

With a capacity of 80,000 barrels per day, the project requiring 4,000 acre land would have 1100 mw generation facility. It would generate 6700 direct employment while drawing 90 cusec water from river Mahanadi.

An aluminium project is proposed to be set up by a joint venture of L&T and Dubal at an investment of Rs 30,000 crore over an area of 4000 acre in Rayagada district. Its refinery would have 3 mtpa capacity and smelter 1.5 mtpa. It would draw 60 cusec water from river Nagavali.

Seeking to further raise energy production, the HLCA cleared a proposal of Lanco Dabandh Power Ltd to have another 1320 mw unit at an investment of Rs 5000 crore in addition to its earlier plant of same capacity in Dhenkanal district.

In textile sector, Andhra Pradesh based NSL Textiles Ltd would set up an integrated textile plant at an investment of Rs 1500 crore with a promise to provide 5000 jobs and steps to encourage one lakh farmers to grow cotton over an area of 2.25 lakh hectares of land.

Following are excerpts from a report in Pioneer.

With this, the total investments in the State’s industry sector went up to `5.36 lakh crore.

… Principal Secretary of Industries, T Ramachandru said the two ambitious coal-to-liquid projects are first of its kind in the country to be set up in joint venture. While Jindal Synfuels Limited of Jindal Steel and Power would set up a `.42,000-crore plant with technical collaboration of Largy of Germany, Strategic Energy Technology, a Tata venture, would establish its project with an investment of `45,000 crore with technological collaboration of Sasol of South Africa.

He said Jindal;s plant would be located at Durgapur in Angul district with a production capacity of 80,000 barrels of diesel and other petroleum products per day. Besides, Jindal Synfuels would also establish a 1100-MW captive thermal power plant. The project would require 90 cusecs of water to be drawn from the Mahanadi. It would require about 4000 acres of land. It would provide employment to around 6,500 persons.

The Tatas would set up their project in Dhenkanal district in 4,000 acres of land with a requirement of 90 cusecs of water. The project, which includes a 1,100-MW captive power plant, has direct employment potential of 6,400 persons and would produce 80,000 barrels of petroleum products per day, Ramachandru said.

He said both the projects have already been allotted with coal blocks by the Central Government.

Aditya Aluminium would establish an aluminium park at Katarbaga near Rengali in Sambalpur district by investing `1,300 crore to encourage ancillary and downstream industries in the small-scale sector. The park, which would require 211 acres of land, would facilitate units like foundry, wire drawing, extrusion and coil in its cluster.

The HLCA also approved the proposal of L&T Dubal, a joint venture company of L&T and Dubal Aluminium of Dubai, to establish an integrated aluminium project with a 3-MTPA alumina refinery and a 1.5-MTPA smelter with an investment proposal of `30,000 crore. The aluminium project would be located at Rayagada. The project, whichwould provide direct employment to 3,000 persons, would require 4,000 acres of land and 60 cusecs of water to be drawn from Nagavali river. The company is already in possession of bauxite mines.

Andhra Pradesh-based NSL Textile has also received clearance of its proposal to set up an integrated textile project at Rayagada with 3-lakh spindle capacity. The company would invest `1,500 crore to produce 6,000 pieces of cloths of varied qualities per day, Ramachandru said. He said the company would enter into agreements with farmers for cultivation of cottons to meet its raw material demands. The company would involve at least one lakh cotton growers for cultivation of cotton in 2.5 lakh acres of land in a buyback process. It would instal ginning, cotton processing, yarn preparation and finished clothes plants. It requires 400 acres of land Besides these new projects, the Industries Secretary said, the HLCA cleared the proposal of JK Paper Ltd of Rayagada to expand its capacity to 1.5 lakh tonne per annum with an involvement of `1,475 crore. With the capacity addition, the company would provide employment to 3,800 more persons. The company has applied for 150 acres of land to its existing 659 acres to set up the expansion project.

The HLCA also accorded approval to Adhunik Metalics to expand its steelmaking capacity to 3.2 MTPA in its Kuanramunda project in Sundargarah district. The company, which proposes an additional investment of `8,125 crore, promises to provide 2,100 more jobs. Presently, its production capacity is around .041 MTPA. It requires 100 acres of land for the expansion project.

OCL Iron and Steel Ltd got the clearance for capacity addition to its project at Kutnia, Rajgangpur to 0.95 MTPA at an investment of `2,834 crore. It proposes to provide 2,500 more direct jobs. It also envisages downstream industries and requires 650 acres land.

The HLCA also approved the proposal of existing Lacno Babandh Power Private Ltd at Khadakhprasad to double its power generation capacity from 1,320 MW.

It proposes to set up two new units of 660 MW and invest additional `5,000 crore in its thermal power plant. It requires an additional 700 acres of land and would provide employment to 800 more persons, the Industries Secretary said.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

The Rs 3,200-crore Dhamra Port in Orissa, a 50:50 joint venture between Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro (L&T), is ready and will go operational next month, a top company official said.

Dhamra Port Company Limited (DPCL) has so far invested Rs 2,900-crore out of the total project cost of Rs 3,239-crore and almost 100 per cent work on the project has been completed.

… "We have completed 100 per cent work of the port including the construction work for the 62-kilometer rail link from Dhamra to Bhadrak on the main Howrah-Chennai line," he said.

… Situated between Haldia and Paradip, the port at Dhamra will be the deepest of India with a draught of 18 meters, which can accommodate super cape-size vessels up to 1,80,000 dead weight tonnes (DWT).

DPCL has recently entered into a sister port relationship agreement with the US-based Port of Seattle. The pact is aimed at exchange of information on port users, technology transfer and sharing of best practises between the two ports.

Following is a map from http://www.dhamraport.com/maps.asp.

Following is excerpted from a report in Business Standard.

• Overall: employment for 39104 people in the state by the end of December 2010.
• Steel sector: 31164 jobs which includes employment for 22399 people from the state and 8765 people from outside the state.
• Aluminium sector: 5474 people including 3657 from the state and the remaining 1817 outside the state. Investment worth Rs 11017 crore has been grounded in this sector.
• In the aluminium sector, Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) has been the biggest job creator, generating over 5000 jobs through its one million tonne per annum (mtpa) refinery project and 75 MW captive power plant (CPP) at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district and aluminium smelter complex at Burkhamunda near Jharsuguda with a smelter capacity of 0.25 mtpa and a 675 MW CPP. At its refinery plant, VAL has employed 2523 people from Orissa and 1091 persons from outside the state. Similarly, 1026 people have been engaged from the state for VAL’s smelter plant while 686 others have been hired outside the state. VAL’s total investment on the refinery plant and smelter complex stands at Rs 9084 crore.
• Aditya Aluminium Ltd has invested Rs 1875 crore on its one mtpa alumina refinery at Rayagada and a 0.26 mtpa smelter plant cum 650 MW CPP at Sambalpur. The company has created jobs for 63 people from the state and 34 others outside the state.
• Cement sector: The total employment generated stands at 1502 by the end of December last year.
• OCL Cement Ltd has generated employment for 1494 people and the company has invested Rs 697.46 crore out of a total project cost of Rs 850 crore for its 1.10 mtpa cement manufacturing unit at Rajgangpur. The other two investors in the cement sector- Ultratech Cement Ltd and ACC Cement Ltd have made negligible progress on their projects in the state.
• In the power sector, the Independent Power Plants (IPPs) have generated employment for 964 people.
• Sterlite Energy Ltd has commissioned the first unit (600 MW) of its 2400 MW IPP, four other IPPs- GMR Kamalanga Energy Ltd, Monnet Power Company Ltd, Jindal India Thermal Power Ltd and Ind-Barath Energy (Utkal) Ltd have started construction.

(Thaks to a reader for the pointer.)

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Kumar Mangalam Birla-controlled Hindalco Industries plans to produce cans for beverages and food giants such as Coca-Cola and PepsiCo from its plant at Hirakud in Orissa. The company has begun dismantling a closed plant of Novelis in Rogerstone, Britain, and intends to ship all key equipment to Hirakud.

The Hirakud expansion for beverage can-making is scheduled to be complete by October next year. “A project is underway for transfer of equipment for flat rolled products from the Novelis plant…this will enable us to produce can body stock for local and export markets,” said the company.

…

Hindalco would be using the plant and technology of Novelis to make cans’ body stock in India for the first time. Novelis is the world’s leading maker of aluminium rolled products, used for making cans.

About 45 per cent of Novelis’ shipment is beverage cans. It produces an estimated 19 per cent of the world’s flat-rolled aluminium products and is the number one producer in Europe, South America and Asia, and the second-largest in North America. It is also the world leader in the recycling of used aluminum beverage cans.

At Hirakud, the aluminium maker has a smelter capacity of 155 kilo tonnes per annum (ktpa). It is expanding this to 213 ktpa and building a 100-Mw captive power generation capacity. Expansion to 161 ktpa will be completed by July this year and the rest will be commissioned in October 2012.

Land acquisition for the expansion has been completed and statutory clearances obtained. The technology agreement has been finalised with GAMI. Equipment has started arriving at the site and erection begun, said the company in a recent investor presentation.

See also this article in Economic Times.

This is really great news. Odisha needs and should go after more and more downstream industries.

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

• Of the total Rs 3,400 crore investment proposals approved by the SLSWCC, Rs 2,870 crore would be in the steel sector …
• SLWCC approved a proposal from Tata Steel to set up a re-bar mill and a hi-carbon ferrochrome unit at its Gopalpur SEZ in Ganjam district. The steel major would invest Rs 800 crore in the project … this time the company had been asked to use water through the process of desalination, Ramachandru said. While the Tata Steel was planning to manufacture 4 lakh metric ton of re-bar mill per annum from its re-bar mill unit, it would produce 55,000 metric tons of hi-carbon ferrochrome at the Gopalpur SEZ to be set up by the company.
• Other steel units included
  • a 0.6 mtpa integrated plant at an investment of Rs 925 crore by Shyam Steel Industry
  • Sri Bajrang Power & Ispat company’s 0.12 mtpa steel plant at an investment of Rs 500 crore
  • another 0.21 mtpa plant at an investment of Rs 645 crore by Rupa Ispat
• Aryan Mining and Trading Corporation Limited’s proposal for setting up an ore benefication plant at Koeda in Sundargarh district at an investment of Rs 423 crore was also okayed
• Kashivi International’s proposal to set up an iron ore pellet plant at an investment of Rs 56 crore was also cleared
• Binani Cement Limited which had initially decided to set up a cement plant at Dhamra in Bhadrak district had been allowed to shift its unit to Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

After stopping bauxite mining in Orissa the government now finds itself in a bind on the issue of rehabilitation in Lanjigarh. Corporate-backed developmental activities in the tribal region, one of the most backward places in the country, have come to a standstill following the environment ministry’s ban on mining.

The Anil Agarwal-controlled Sterlite Industries had been ordered by the Supreme Court in August 2008 to spend about 5% of its profit for development activity at Lanjigarh.

Since the environment ministry in August 2010 had barred mining, the rehabilitation package which includes about Rs 10 crore of annual development activity including the building of roads, schools and hospitals, has now been stopped.

"If disbursement from the development fund were to continue, it would imply approval of mining which would be contrary to the ministry’s order," said one person directly involved in the developmental work. On August 30, 2010, the ministry of environment and forests issued a notice barring bauxite mining in Niyamgiri on grounds of violation of environmental norms.

According to the same person quoted earlier, if the government asks Sterlite to stop developmental activity it would amount to contempt of court as it would go against the Supreme Court directive.

"Under our order we suggested rehabilitation package under which Sterlite Industries is required to deposit 5% of annual profits before tax and interest from Lanjigarh project or Rs 10 crore per annum whichever is higher," said the Supreme Court order. "The said project covers both mining and refining. The amount is required to be deposited by Sterlite Industries every year commencing from April 1, 2007. For the above reasons, we hereby grant clearance to the forest diversion proposal," read the order dated August 8, 2008.

… Among the projects which have been left uncertain include a Rs 3 crore hospital and a Rs 1.8 crore tribal school upgradation in the Lanjigarh block.

I hope the central government will consider paying this lost amount of 10 crores/year for developmental activities in that area.

Earlier some news papers had reported that with the Cairn’s deal and the upcoming IPO of Sterlite Anil Agarwal may become the richest Indian and among the 5 richest in the world. Considering his interest in Odisha (for now in Kalahandi, Jharsuguda and Puri) it is important to know about what he has in mind. An interview is a better medium than articles and propaganda pieces. So here is an excerpt from his interview to CNBC as given in moneycontrol.com.

Q: Let me talk about the other controversy that you are currently dealing with and that is with your Lanjigarh refinery where the ministry of environment or the center has said that you violated environmental norms, you did not have appropriate clearances before you went ahead and actually began construction and your expansion there. You have of course refuted all of these allegations, you have responded to the government showcause notice to you. There was a committee that actually setup, and the committee also said that you flouted the environment norms. is it the end of the road as far as your Lanjigarh expansion plans are concerns? Are you feeling more confident? Have you spoken with Jairam Ramesh? Do you intend speaking with Jairam Ramesh to present your case?

A: Let’s look at the overall picture. This is a story of aluminium. We are in a natural position to produce aluminum which is green metal which is required for human development on a day to day basis. China produces 22 million tonne of aluminium against the 1.5 million tonne that we produce.

In seeing that Rs 45,000 crore has already been invested in the aluminium sector and we are producing aluminium and we are running this plant very well. Now to produce aluminium we need bauxite. That’s a fundamental (requirement) to have bauxite. India has one of the finest and huge reserves of bauxite, of which Orissa has largest bauxite and Lanjigarh area has the largest bauxite and that’s why we setup the plant there.

The intention is that we have already invested the money. At the moment we are buying the bauxite from outside and running the plant which is not natural. We have complied with all the rules. Why would somebody go to Kalahandi and invest USD 2 billion. It’s the most backward area of India. We have gone there and invested on the presumption because here is the bauxite and here development will take place. Lanjigarh and Kalahandi have a different face today.

Q: But the tribal community that is currently based there in the Niyamgiri Hills believes that they don’t want Vedanta, they don’t want your refinery, they don’t want you to mine there. And you’ve had NGO after NGO, you’ve had the Church of England, you have had Bianca Jagger, you have had the Center for Science and Environment, you have had of course the government appointed committee saying that you are in violation of environmental norms. The Center for Science and Environment has gone as far as to say that Vedanta and Anil Agarwal are history sheeters when it comes to environmental violation?

A: You must know that I have used this word not a blade of grass has been moved. What are you talking about violating the norms? Not a blade of grass has been moved on that and that mine isn’t on our name. We were supposed to get the clearance, with the joint venture or the Orissa government was supposed to do and before that this came up. Sometimes I believe that there are vested interests.

Q: You believe this is because of vested interest?

A: I’m just saying because how long India will stop? We have to produce aluminium which is required for our day to day development because thousands of industries are to be developed on the basis of aluminium.

Q: But at the cost of destroying the environment, at the cost of displacing the tribal community that is based there because that’s the allegation?

A: One thing I can tell you as Anil Agarwal, I will never flout. I am more sensitive about our people, our Adivasi people than anybody else. I am more sensitive. Orissa is only bauxite – bauxite – bauxite. We all are working together; we are looking forward to get the bauxite to run our plant.

Q: Is this politics at play? Let me ask you directly do you feel that this is politics at play, that you have gotten caught between the politics of the BJP, the BJD and the Congress party. Rahul Gandhi visited the Niyamgiri region, visited Lanjigarh and said that I am your sipahi in Delhi, I am the tribal community’s sipahi in Delhi. Do you believe that you have gotten caught between the politics of the Congress, the BJP and the BJD?

A: I can tell you that Rahul Gandhi was very clear that he is not against development. He was definitely and we all are with him as far as tribals are concerned. We will make sure that whatever the government policy is and whatever the government wants for the tribal, as far as we are concerned we are not going to touch anything unless it has been completely settled down. But Orissa has huge Bauxite. What you are talking about is may be quarter percent of what they have.

Q: You can shift the location you are saying. That if indeed you were not get clearance as far as mining in this region is concerned you would look at other regions?

A: Because there is only Bauxite. Huge employment will be created; we need aluminium and the 25 years can you believe after Nalco there is no mining which has opened.

Q: Are you going to talk to the Congress, have you reached out to the Congress party? There seems to be a perception that there is some sort of trouble when it comes to the Congress and its relationship with Anil Agarwal, is that a true perception?

A: I don’t have to believe because everything has been done. What you are seeing what has not happened. What you are not seeing is what has happened. We have invested almost USD 20 billion in India, created huge employment, paying huge income tax. There is no reason to believe that government is not with us. Otherwise they will never do it.

But when the question comes of tribals we are with them. When it comes to Cairn Energy I am giving them enough, if there is anything which we can do to take the country into the next level. So if you look at our credentials, we have worked with the government all the time and we have got all our clearances for our power plant, for our aluminum plant.

Q: Jairam Ramesh doesn’t seem to think so?

A: He has given 50 clearances to us, except these two clearances. I am just thinking 40–50 clearance must have come through him.

Q: So what is the problem with these two clearances you think because you continue to believe that you have done everything as far as getting the environmental clearances are concerned, that you have not flouted any norms, why do you believe that we have reached this point where you have been asked not to construct further, not to expand further, there is a status quo as far as your plans for Lanjigarh are concerned?

A: We are in democratic country, we are not in China. When something is there somebody has to address and we all are addressing jointly because my agenda is not different than the government’s. We live in a democratic country and we have to take our society with us.

If you look at it, aluminium is very important metal and we have to make sure that a couple of million tonne of aluminium is added to our country.

Earlier we posted the author’s article in English. This is for the benefit of Odia readers.

Following is from a PTI report in http://www.smartinvestor.in/market/Marketnews-45973-Marketnewsdet-Tata_Steel_project_to_come_upinOrissaby_2014.htm.

Tata Steel is optimistic about operating its proposed industrial park project at Gopalpur in Orissa’s Ganjam district and commissioning the steel plant at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district by 2014.

The company gave this assurance to the state government today when Tata Steel’s Managing Director H M Nerurkar met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at a review meeting on the proposed industrial park at Gopalpur.

"We will be able to operate the industrial park at Gopalpur by March 2013 and commission first phase (3 mtpa) of the steel plant at Kalinga Nagar by March 2014," Nerurkar told reporters after meeting the chief minister.

Stating that work on both the projects is going on smoothly, the Tata Steel MD said that a peaceful industrial environment was gradually being established at Kalinga Nagar where the company’s proposed 6mtpa steel plant was being set up.

Though the company had signed MoU to set up a 6mtpa greenfield steel factory at an investment of Rs 15,600 crore in 2004, the project could not meet the deadline of 2010 due to opposition from the local people.

However, now the new commissioning target was March 2014, Nerurkar said, adding that the company had so far invested Rs 1,500 crore in the steel plant project. Tata Steel has also placed equipment orders worth Rs 6,300 crore and some machinery had reached the project site.

About 60 per cent of the land at Kalinga Nagar industrial complex had been acquired so far, Nerurkar said.

Referring to the Industrial Park, the foundation stone of which was laid by the Chief Minister on August 20 earlier, Nerurkar said that construction of the boundary wall work was going on smoothly.

The industrial park is expected to attract investment of Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 15,000 crore and generate employment for about 10,000 people, company sources said, adding Tata Steel would invest Rs 1,000 crore in the project.

The proposed Industrial Park includes a 50,000-TPA ferro chrome plant and 400,000-TPA rebar steel mill. Both the units were expected to generate employment opportunities for more than 1,000 people.

The park will primarily attract investments in steel and allied downstream industries, engineering, chemicals and other emerging sectors.

The company which had initially acquired land for setting up a steel plant in mid 90s, however, scrapped the project due to non-availability of water for the purpose.

Tata Steel would use techniques to use sea water by desaliation besides designing rainwater harvesting and 100 per cent recycling.

Tata Steel group is investing Rs 35,000 crore in the steel, ferro alloys, port, power and other sectors in Orissa.

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

The wildlife wing of the Forest department has raised concerns over the setting up of 1,000 mw thermal power plant proposed by Tata Power Company at Naraj.

Its proximity to critical sites, impact of pollution on them as well as on the wildlife are issues the wildlife wing is worried about. The ` 4,900 cr coal-based power project is proposed at Naraj Marthapur, about 12 km from Cuttack and 20 km from Bhubaneswar.

“The Centre had referred the project site matter to me. Subsequently, I inspected the proposed power plant site and submitted a report in which I have indicated certain concerns relating to environment and wildlife,” Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) P N Padhi said on Monday.

One of the major issues is its location. According to Padhi’s report, the power plant is proposed amidst six critical sites.

It has Bhubaneswar and Cuttack on both sides and it is located between two major rivers __ Mahanadi and Kathjodi.

Besides, it is flanked by two wildlife habitats __ Chandaka- Dampara wildlife sanctuary on the one hand and Nandankanan Zoological Park and Zoo, also a notified sanctuary, on the other.

“With two protected areas (PAs) on its sides, a thermal power plant may have adverse impact on wildlife,” Padhi said. Chandaka, for one, is an elephant sanctuary and has witnessed growing man-animal conflict over the past 10 years.

Besides, the jumbos are known to stray out of their habitats more frequently in the last few years.

Similarly, apprehension of pollution is a major concern …

The power project, which is located in Cuttack Sadar tehsil, needs about 990 acres. It is well close to a road that connects Khurda, Chandaka, Barang and Gobindpur. …

That location (close to Sri Sri University) is apt for a knowledge park. Since the Tatas have already worked hard on the land acquisition Odisha government should tell them that instead of a power plant they should create a Knowledge Park there. It could include a large operation of TCS, a TCS training center like the Infosys center in Mysore, space and infrastructure for multiple universities, medical colleges, etc.

There the total land area is about 990 acres. Currently such an amount of contiguous land is not available so close to Bhubaneswar where one can build IT parks and knowledge parks.

So the Odisha government should consider giving the Tatas some other land for their power plant and use that land for a knowledge park, possibly even built by the Tatas.

Following is from a report in Orissadiary.

The 6-million tonne Essar Steel pellet plant here will be made operational by October this year. The `2,200-crore project includes an 8-MT ore beneficiation plant at Joda and Barbil and a 250-km slurry pipeline from Joda to Paradip. The company plans to expand the beneficiation and pellet manufacturing capacities to 12 MT in the future.

Initially, the company will source iron ore from private mines at Joda and Barbil. However, the company expects that the State and Central Governments will grant it lease for a captive mine in the long run.

The pellets to be produced at Paradip would be exported through the Paradip Port to Essar’s steelmaking unit at Hazira in Gujarat, which is undergoing a capacity expansion to 9.6 MT from 4.6 MT by 2012, said sources.

Following is excerpts from an interview in Business Standard. The investment numbers mentioned there does not quite gel with the numbers mentioned above.

Is there a time frame for realising the long-term vision?

It arises from the commitments, as well as MoUs (memorandums of understanding) with various state govts. These are linked to raw material. It’s a chicken and egg story. You need the raw material, otherwise you are not going to invest. We have our plans in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh. In Orissa, we are already completing the first phase. In Karnataka, we have signed the MoU and the government is looking to provide land. But we also want the mines. We don’t want to create a situation where all the investments are done and then you say the mines are not available.

The Orissa government has a clause in the MoU that the state will recommend mines once you have made commitments for 25-30 per cent.

Yes, commitments have to be made, which implies it could be orders. But a 12-million tonne plant will cost anything between $12 billion and $15 billion. Thirty per cent of that will be $4.5 bn. How can anyone expend $4.5 bn in the hope that one will get the mines? It’s easier for smaller players.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Under the proposed SEZ Policy, the state government shall not encourage SEZs based on mining and minerals like iron ore, chrome ore and bauxite. However, SEZs based on the use of intermediate products like alumina for smelting, primary metals for further processing on the value chain and rare minerals like tin, limenite, nickel, platinum and vanadium will be allowed.

Moreover, the state shall not encourage SEZs based on activities like mining that cause pollution. The Orissa State Pollution Control Board shall prepare a list of such industries and the same would be notified by the state government as a negative list.

The mineral based SEZs already approved shall undertake to develop and promote related downstream industrial complexes over a minimum area as prescribed by the Government of India. In the event of non-compliance of this condition, all state concessions shall be withdrawn.

The State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) shall be the competent authority to screen and recommend SEZ proposals irrespective of the magnitude of investment.

All recommendations of SLSWCA would be placed before the High Level Clearance Authority for approval before making any recommendation to the Government of India.

The state government owned Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Limited (Ipicol) would function as the state level nodal agency for receipt, scrutiny and placement of the applications before the SLSWCA.

For sector specific projects, the respective nodal agencies like the Orissa Computer Application Centre (OCAC), Industrial Infrastructure Corporation of Orissa Limited (Idco) and Agricultural Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Limited (Apicol) will receive and scrutinize the applications.

As per the SEZ Policy of the state, the import of goods and services made to SEZ units located within the processing zone from the Domestic Tariff Area shall be exempted from Value Added Tax (VAT), entry tax, electricity duty and other cess payable on sales and transactions.

The SEZ Policy of the state has not envisaged any special provisions for backward districts like Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput and tribal dominated areas.

Till now, four SEZs have been notified in the state– the sector specific IT/ITes SEZ at Chandaka Industrial Estate in Bhubaneswar developed by Idco, sector specific SEZ for stainless steel and ancillary downstream industries at the Kalinga Nagar Industrial Complex being developed by JSL, aluminium and aluminium products SEZ at Lapanga near Sambalpur being developed by Hindalco Industries and another aluminium SEZ with Captive Power Plant being developed by Vedanta Aluminium Limited at Jharsuguda.

Some of the other Orissa related SEZs plans and approvals that are not mentioned in the above article are (see also http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/1305):

• Recent approval of IT/ITES SEZ of Suryo Infra. in Bhubaneswar.
• Approval of Solar SEZ by Lanco Solar in Ramdaspur Cuttack.
• Proposal by Geetanjali gems and minerals.
• Work has started for theTATA SEZ in Gopalpur.
• POSCO SEZ in Paradip (Dec 2009: asked to file fresh proposal).
• Saraf Agencies SEZ for Titanium in Chhatrapur (Saraf pulls out; Odisha asks Russian company to speed-up; perhaps no longer an SEZ.)
• Wellspun garments SEZ in Choudwar: 200 acres (??)

Following is  from a report in Telegraph.

Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL), which is setting up a six million-tonne steel plant here, has proposed to the state government to set up an industrial park at Parang.

… “The park, with an investment of Rs 5,500 crore, will provide employment to about 30,000 people, directly and indirectly, and would go a long way for economic empowerment of the state,” he said, adding that the park was also likely to generate about Rs 636 crore revenue for the state.

“For our steel plant, we require a lot of finished materials such as by-products, semi-products, fabrication units, etc. These could be available from the facilities at the proposed industrial park,” he added.

According to project report, JSPL would spend Rs 500 crore while the remaining Rs 5,000 crore would be raised from the parties who would set up the park. JSPL would provide all sorts of infrastructural facilities including water and power to the units at the park. The site selection has been completed and a pre-feasibility report has been prepared and submitted to the Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation Limited (PICOL) by the company in May. The company requires 1,381 acres of land at Parang for the park. Water will be sourced from the Mahanadi river situated at a distance of 65km from the site.

The project report also said that there would be 250 units of 42 different varieties at the park. Inside the industrial park would be a knowledge park where two colleges — National Training Institute and Industrial Training Institute — would be set up.