___________

Following is from Sambada.

Following are excerpts from a New Kerala report on this.

Three power distribution companies have made a project outlay of Rs 50 crore to upgrade their infrastructure to supply quality power … to their customers.

The companies– Wesco, Nesco and Southco had submitted a detail plan of expenditure to the Electricity Regulatory Commission in this regard.

According to sources, the companies have geared up their machinery to supply uninterrupted power to high tension and extra high tension consumers.

A team comprising members from Grid Corporation of Orissa, the three distribution companies and OPTCL had been chalking out plans to provide power to upcoming industries and new consumers on demand.

A plan to reduce the transmission and distribution loss by 15 per cent was being finalised and would soon be submitted to the GRIDCO, sources said.

The companies also urged the power ministry to complete the existing projects under the Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme.

A Statesman report, gives additional context to this. Following are some excerpts.

… three private distribution companies run by Reliance Energy has finally detailed its proposed funding and achievements.

In a situation where tariff has remained stagnant over 7 years , the company has maintained the system infrastructure with minimum spending. It has provided uninterrupted power and electricity to 1500 villages. The three distribution companies- Wesco, Southco and Nesco have also been regular in paying bulk supply bills to Gridco, salaries to employees etc noted Reliance Energy.

It is important to note that the energy minister, … had expressed his dissatisfaction with the company due to their lack of investment and the litigation over payment of dues. The chief minister had directed the energy department to prepare a detailed note and call the top brass of Reliance Energy for discussions.

Apparently jolted to action, the Reliance Energy has circulated a release stating that it has taken up up-rating and upgradation of the distribution infrastructure with an immediate outlay of Rs 50 crore.

It also claimed that in view of the growing ancillary, medium and large industries that were coming up in the state, a multidisciplinary team with members from Gridco, the three distribution companies and the power trading corporation has been formed to work out a strategy for quality power supply to such units. The distribution companies are also persuading the Ministry of Power to complete the existing APDRP works while the state government has also initiated a process to obtain a sanction of Rs 800 crore for the second phase, under APDRP, for the companies.

The distribution companies are also implementing the Biju Gramin Jyoti Yojana , while also finalizing their performance targets and Action Plan that will help reduce the transmission and distribution loss to the extent of 15 per cent as envisaged earlier.

Myiris reports on this. Following is an excerpt.

Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF) may be forced to go ahead with a Rs 35 billion coal-to-gas project at Talcher in Orissa to feed its plants, …

RCF has tied up with Reliance Industries and Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) for supplying gas. There may be delays due to the Reliance gas pricing issue yet to receive an approval from the centre.

The company is also in talks with Gail India for fuel supply. If the availability of gas become an issue, then it might think of setting up the Talcher project.

Talcher is the most viable site in terms of infrastructure, facilities and proximity to coal mines. The latest coal gassification technology will be utilised to allow the use of coal with high ash content of up to 30-35%.

Following is somewhat of a dated collection on investments and investment plans in Orissa.

• Summary: [1], [2], [3:Interview with CM]
• New jobs: [1.5 lakhs new jobs]
• Directorate of Industries, Govt. of Orissa
• Education and Education related financing
  • Loans and insurance for college education:
    • a great Andhra bank scheme
    • An educational loan portal
    • Another educational loan portal
    • Yet another educational loan portal
    • A rediff article with pointers
  • Higher Education: [FinExp-Aug05]
  • Primary and Secondary Education: [Insurance-plan-Aug15-05], [Insurance-plan]
    Editor’s comment, Aug 14, 2005: The private engineering colleges and medical colleges should be encouraged to open one or more Class I-XII schools. In general, these private colleges should spend 10% on the above, 80% on their own stuff, and another 10% on post-graduate education. For the 10% parts they can either have their own ClassI-XII school and M.Tech/Phd Program or pay the amount to an appropriate fund.
    Editor’s comment, Aug 14, 2005: For Oriya medium students to compete well in national and international level exams and competitions, after class 7 one should have the option of pursuing science and social science either in English or Oriya. To overcome the worry that students will lose touch with Oriya by pursuing science and social science in English, from Class 7, Oriya should be split to two parts, and be assigned twice its current weightage. I.e., instead of 100 marks for Oriya, there will be 200 marks for Oriya. The two parts could be (i) grammar and vocabulary — similar to TOEFL and GRE, and (ii) Writing and literature. ( Some decisions related to this made by the Orissa government.)
• Information Technology: [TCS1], [TCS-2], [TCS-3], [Wipro-BPO-1], [WIPRO-2], [Wipro-land-bought], [other IT and BPO companies]
• Steel plants: Tatas, KK Birla Group, Jindals, Essar, Murugappas, MESCO, POSCO etc. [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6:Jindal], [7:mesco-insightOrissa-july22-05], [8: A summary article in May 05 Orissa Review], [Adhunik-Sundergarh], [Rungta,Bhusand,Jindal-JSPL,Titanium], [production in 9 plants], [More MOUs], [More MOUs2]
• Tatas – Steel plant@Duburi, TCS@BBSR, Gopalpur: [0: TATA news releases], [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6:Kalinganagar],
• POSCO: [1], [2], [3], [4]; [Forbes-MOU-22Jul05]; [Forbes-2-22Jul05]; [FinExp-MOU-22Ijul05]; [HindTimes-MOU-22Jul05]; [AustrFinRev-MOU-22Jul05]; [InsightOrissa-MOU-22Jul05]; [Some-Details-from-Insight-Orissa]; [Pluses-n-minuses:rediff]; [Impact-on-infr]; [Hindu-July10-05]; [Rebuttal-to-criticisms-july15-ToI]; [FinExpr]; [Taats vs POSCO] ; [3 POSCO subunits]; [POSCO sets up subsidiary:Aug 31’05], [land-acq], [90 percent in Orissa in favour], [identifies 2 mines]
• POSCO ancillaries and Indian partners: [1:steel pipes], [2:Indian partners]
  • Editor’s comment on July 4 2005: My impession based on reading the newspapers is that Orissa govt has probably become wary of some of the big Indian players after the TATAs taking advantage of them in Gopalpur, and other companies in other places. It seems like (from reading various reports: [0:a list from 1999-how many of them materialized?], [1] , [2], [see page 3], [4] ) the TATAs signed MOUs about plants and infrastructure etc. at Gopalpur and got mining leases but then kind of forgot about making the plants and building infrastructure but have been using the mines. They used excuses, some valid, regarding this and that infrastructure not being there. [They have signed something more recently; lets see if that is for real or a sham to get mining leases renewed. Some progress in regards to their promise seems to have taken place: a; b ] The expectation was that Gopalpur would be like another Rourkela or Jamshedpur. But nothing remotely like that has happened. Coming back to POSCO, the MOU seem to have many clauses that would prevent POSCO from taking advantage of Orissa without delivering on its promises. Also, if POSCO does something like the TATAS, its easy to fight them, unlike fighting the TATAs. Even saying something bad about the TATAs is a no-no in India. [Thus the government should be careful in any of its signing with the TATAs or similar big Indian powerhouses. It should make sure that any mining lease should be tied to the other promises very tightly, and without loopholes.] So I personally am hopeful that POSCO will have a big impact on Paradeep and Orissa, more than the impact of any other private company in Orissa. Plus the investment comes from outside India, not from inside India. Thus making more capital available to other projects in India. Also the government is right to not put its egg in one basket. It makes perfect sense to try different avenues: foreign investors such as POSCO as well as the various Indian companies.
• From Steel to automobiles/2-wheelers-n-beyond: [Ind-Exp-22ndJune05]; [TOI-July4-05:Kymco,Corus]; [Pioneer-July27-05:Kwang-Yang-Motors-Taiwan], [Mahindras:TOI-Aug05-05], [Mahindra:InsightOrissa]
• Refractories: [July9-05-Telegraph]
• Alumina/Aluminium: Hindalco [1]; Vedanta [a], [b:Vedanta cares]; [Dubal-L&T]; [alumina-refinery-smelter-Rayagada]
• Titanium complex at Chhatrapur. (The Samaja Aug 16th, 2005).
• Mining: [1],
• Refinery: [1]; [IOC-Paradeep-21-6-05]; [July12-FinExp], [IOC-on-schedule]
• Breweries: [United Breweries]
• Paper: [JKPaper]
• SEZs: [1]
  • Gopalpur: [july26-05]
  • Paradeep: [july26-05]
• Power: Current availability; [list-of-possibilities-fe-july24-05], [June2-05-Reliance]; [Reliance2]; [RPG-jun2405-Tel]; [Neyveli]; [MMTC-Paradeep-Sept12-05]
• Food processing: [Shrimp-Navayuga]
• Hospitals: [Planned Heart Institute]
• Hotels: [ Statesman Aug 18’05], [Buisness-Standard- Sept9], [OTDC-disvestment]
• In relation to other states of India: [1], [2]
• Kalinganagar/Duburi: VISA, Jindal, Neelachal Ispat Nigam, MESCO, Tatas(?) [Ref:InsightOrissa]
• Factories in neighbouring states — impact on Orissa infrastructure: [Mittal-Jharkhand]
  Editor’s comment on July 27, 2005: Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh are landlocked. Mineral and manufacturing plants in Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh would need access to ports. This will provide opportunity for Orissa to make its case (get Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh legislator’s support) and make further infrastructure development such as ports, roads and railways. In particular, Dhamara and Chandabali port, train lines to them such as Tata-Baripada-Balasore-Dhamara, Bimlagarh-Talcher-Paradeep, and Daitari-Bansapani-Haridaspur-Paradeep, and roads ( Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhatisgarh) to them. While Jharkhand plants can use Haldia port in West Bengal, for Chhatisgarh the closest ports are in Orissa (Dhamara, Paradeep, and Gopalpur). Since Haldia port is overloaded, even for Jharkhand easy accessibility to Orissa ports is important. [a step in this regard], [another step]
  28th July 2005: Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh should come together and jointly pursue several things. For example, an IIT in Rourkela (which has the best NIT among the three states) would benefit all the three states, as Rourkela is very close to both Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand. In return Orissa can support for an IIM in Bilaspur or Raipur. Good road and railway connectivity from Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand to Orissa ports will be beneficial to all. The three states can jointly promote cultural tourism to the tribal areas of the three states.
• Policies: [1]