___________

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. …

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 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 http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/HeadlineNews/Metals/7176480/.

India’s Hindalco Industries expects to start up its new alumina refinery in the state of Orissa in September 2011, with commercial sales to begin from December, company sources said Tuesday.

Construction on the 1.5 million mt/year refinery began in 2007, and is about 50% done. Based at Rayagada, it will be managed by wholly owned subsidiary Utkal Alumina International Ltd, which is also establishing two bauxite mines at Rayagada and Kalahandi that are also slated to start up next September. The refinery and mines are about 20 km apart and will be linked by a conveyor belt.

Hindalco will eventually use most of the refinery’s alumina for its own production of aluminum, but there will be surplus output for sale, initially 780,000 mt/year, then dropping to 60,000 mt/year around July 2012 when the second of the group’s two new smelters come online.

The firm has a 360,000 mt/year smelter in the state of Madhya Pradesh that is to be completed in July 2011, followed by another unit of a similar size in Orissa a year later.

In addition, plans are underway to double the alumina refining capacity in Orissa to 3 million mt/year by 2014, by which time Hindalco is expected to sell about 50% of the new output.

The alumina expansion will be complemented with further aluminum capacity increases although details have not been announced. The group is also planning to raise its bauxite output at Orissa by 4 million mt/year to 8.5 million mt/year along with the refinery expansion.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

Aditya Birla Group chairman, Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla is very hopeful of completion of the Rs 4,500-crore alumina refinery plant coming up at Kashipur in Koraput district and expansion of Hindalco aluminium smelter project at Hirakud in Sambalpur district. 

… In June last year, the Orissa government had recommended the union mining ministry to allot mining lease of Lakharis bauxite deposit in Koraput district in favour of Hindalco Industries Limited, the flagship company of Aditya Birla Group.

This is the second bauxite deposit to be allotted to the Group, which entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Orissa government in April, 2005 is to set up a world-class aluminium complex in the state.

Officials said the Lakharis mine is estimated to have about 45 million bauxite deposits.

Earlier, the Hindalco was allotted Kodingamali bauxite deposit in the district for its proposed aluminium complex at Kansari.

Aditya Aluminium (another unit of Hindalco) had signed a MoU with the Orissa government on April 8, 2005 to set up an integrated aluminium complex in the state. The project involves a total investment of Rs 11,500 crores for production of 1.5 lakh tones of alumina and 3.25 lakh tonnes of aluminium per annum.

Aditya Aluminium has already signed a joint venture umbrella agreement with the Orissa Mining Corporation for bauxite mining in Koraput district.

The company has sought 2012 acres of land for its refinery and 3331 acres for the smelter, sources said.

The state government is in the process of acquiring land for the project, but faces problem in some villages, the sources added resulting in the delay in grounding of the project.

Essel Mining is an Aditya Birla group company. Such allegation, if true, by a Birla group company is really unfortunate. No wonder many people in Orissa mistrust industrialists. If the above allegations are true, the Orissa government should cancel the mining lease of Essel Mining and sue it to get the money Orissa lost.

Following is an excerpt from a PTI report.

About 80,000 tonnes of iron-ore worth more than Rs seven crore has been seized by Orissa’s mining authorities from Koida mines in Sundargarh district, officials said today.

Mining officers, during their raids yesterday seized about 70,000 tonnes of lumps and 10,000 tonnes of fine iron-ore.

Irregularities were also found in mining operation by a contractor, they said, adding ESSEL company has allegedly left its leased mining areas untouched and has been illegally raising the iron-ore beyond its surface rights.

Essel Mining is an Aditya Birla group company. Such action, if true, by a Birla group company contractor is really unfortunate. No wonder many people in Orissa mistrust industrialists. If the above allegations are true, the Orissa government should cancel the mining lease of Essel Mining.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times by Nageshwar Patnaik.

The Aditya Birla group on Thursday signed a MoU with Orissa government to develop a sea port on Build Own Operate [BOO] basis at Chudamani in Bhadrak district on an investment of Rs.1,500 crore.

The projected capacity of the port to be developed over four years will be three million tons per annum [MTPA] in the first phase. This will be expanded subsequently to 10 mtpa.

The port will have two berths, and will handle bulk cargo such as cement, aluminium, iron ore, thermal coal, limestone, gypsum, clinker and copper. The port will be connected by a rail corridor from Markona Station to port site.

  … "In this port, directly or indirectly, about 5,000 people will be employed. By operation of the port, the state government will get revenue about Rs.20 crore per annum."

Mr Patanik hoped that the port promoter would work with the district administration and other agencies to plan and develop a port-based industrial township. …

Speaking on the occasion, Aditya Birla group executive president, Ravi Kastia said, "… We are confident that the Aditya Birla Group’s experience in putting up as many as six port facilities in the Western Coast, backed by the unstinting support of the Government of Orissa, will help us create a much required port in the state."

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

… Projects awaiting the chief minister’s nod include those proposed by National Thermal Power Corporation (Rs18,000 crore), L&T-Dubal (Rs 19,668 crore) and Lanco Babanh Power (Rs 11,402 crore) among others.

… The SLSWCA in its meeting held in March 2007 cleared the Rs 4232.54 crore investment proposal of Ashapura Minechem Ltd for setting up of a 0.5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) alumina refinery and 0.15 mtpa smelter with 300 Mw captive power plant (CPP) in Koraput district.

Similarly, NTPC proposal to set up a 3200 Mw thermal power project at Darlipali in Sundergarh district was approved by the SLSWCA in February 2008.

The fate of L&T’s proposal to set up an alumina-aluminium complex at Kusumsila near Rayagada and Vadrapali near Sambalpur in joint venture with Dubal is still uncertain.

Sources said, the HLCA is yet to consider the Rs 8,250 crore investment proposal of Orissa Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (OTPCL) to set up a 2000 Mw coal based power plant at Rengali. It is also yet to take up the Lanco Babandh Power’s application to enhance the MoU capacity from 1320Mw to 2640 Mw at Kurunti and Kharagprasad in Dhenkanal district.

The Rs 3101.86 crore proposal of Tata Sponge Iron to set up a 1.5 mtpa steel making capacity at Beliapada near Joda, recommended by the SLSWCA in May this year, is also pending for approval by the chief ministers.

… Though VAL had proposed to expand the capacity of its existing refinery at Lanjigarh from 1 mtpa to 6 mtpa, smelter plant capacity from 0.25 mtpa to 1.6 mtpa and the captive power plant (CPP) capacity from 674 Mw to 1350 Mw with a combined investment of Rs 37,440 crore, it was cleared in part by the SLSWCA.

The SLSWCA meeting held in May this year had recommended for a smelter capacity of 0.5 mtpa as the company had already achieved this level while approving the capacity expansion of the CPP to 1350 Mw without any increase in the refinery capacity.

Similarly, Hindalco Industries Ltd (Aditya Aluminium) had proposed to expand its alumina refinery capacity to 1.5 mtpa from 1 mtpa and expansion of its smelting capacity to 0.72 mtpa from 0.26 mtpa along with an increase in the CPP capacity to 1650 Mw from 650 Mw.

SLSWCA has only recommended a marginal increase in the smelting capacity from 0.26 mtpa to 0.36 mtpa and CPP capacity from 650 Mw to 950 Mw to the HLCA. Partial approval of these proposals was officially attributed to the non-availability of bauxite linkage and pending the final report of the environmental carrying capacity study taken up by the Orissa State Pollution Control Board.

That apart, the SLSWCA in its meeting on 26 August 2009 also recommended two projects of Rs 14,275 crore to HLCA. The Rs 7988 crore proposal of JR Powergen Private Ltd to set up a 1980 Mw power plant at Kishorenagar near Angul and BRG Energy Systems’s proposal to set up a 1320 Mw power plant at an investment of Rs 6287 crore at Bhapur in Nayagarh district are yet to be approved by HLCA.

Following is  from a report in Economic Times.

MUMBAI: Larsen & Toubro shares edged higher Tuesday after it won orders worth Rs 1372 crore from aluminium and steel makers.

The orders were received from Vedanta Aluminium, a part of Vedanta group, Utkal Alumina International and Bhushan Steel, it said in a statement.

The Rs 516 crore order from Vedanta Aluminum was for setting up of a 3 million tonne per annum alumina refinery at its Lanjigarh plant in Orissa. Utkal Alumina’s order was worth Rs 455 crore in which the engineering and construction firm would set up a 1.5 MTPA green field alumina refinery at Doraduga in Orissa.

Furthermore, L&T has secured an order worth Rs 401 crore from Bhushan Steel for civil, structural, equipment, erecting and piping works at Angul in Orissa.

From their descriptions these outlets sound similar to the Home Depot, Lowes kind of stores in the US. Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

Eyeing the fast growing construction market, leading cement company Ultratech is planning to open 400 new unique retail outlets across the country, including many more in Orissa soon.

…  Ultratech Cement Ltd (UCL), a part of India’s global conglomerate Aditya Birla group, has opened five UBS retail outlets in Orissa’s Bhubaneswar, Puri and Cuttack.

This was the first ever entry of UBS retail outlets in the growing construction markets of Orissa and the company plans to open many more such outlets in the state.

Its 89 existing outlets are currently operational in states like Gujarat, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra and plans are afoot to add six more states due to the success obtained in the existing ones, according to UCL’s chief marketing officer O P Puranmalka.

As many as 400 such outlets are planned to be opened across the country in 2009 offering a wide spectrum of end-to-end home-building solutions, high quality construction materials and allied value-added services, he said.

Describing UBS as a unique concept, he said in a release it was being launched in a big way in Orissa, a fast growing construction market in the eastern region.

Advocating our ‘plan, build and support’ philosophy, it seeks to enhance the shopping experience of the customers as well as to strengthen existing trade partnership by upgrading the service proposition, he said.

At UBS outlets, visitors can get reputed brands of all construction materials including cement, aggregates, bricks, tiles, sanitary fittings, paints, water-proofing compounds and white cement, the release said.

The outlets also provide value added services including mobile concrete testing vans for conducting quality tests as well as architects, contractors, vaastu consultants and other construction personne.

They have technical teams which train masons and contractors besides offering advice on legal formalities and plan approval procedures.

Following is from a report in Steelguru.com.

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

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

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

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

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

See details at http://tathya.in/story.asp?sno=1866. Following is an excerpt.

The meeting with the Chief Minister of Orissa on Thursday turned sour, when his company Utkal Alumina International Limited (UAIL) was blamed for the delay.

A senior mandarin in charge of a crucial regulatory department charged Mr.Birla of creating hurdle for him self.

“I take strong exception to it”, retorted Mr.Kumar Mmangalam.

But the no nonsense officer was clearly in no mood to relent.

He said that "the fact is fact and some body should call spade a spade".

The senior mandarin charged UAIL of turning pro-industry people as anti-industry in the area.

He said after 2004, UAIL take over by A V Birla Group, it has only erected a boundary wall and now asking for moon without doing any thing.

A V Birla Group is asking for more bauxite mines and coal linkage for their group.

… UAIL’s Managing Director Debu Bhattacharya was seen fuming over the allegations hurled against them in front of the Chief Minister.

But they were undone and agreed to go for value addition by setting up a smelter plant to use the alumina.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Aditya Birla Group, one of the largest business houses of the country having interests in sectors like aluminium, telecom, cement, textiles, fertiliser, mining, retail, finance and insurance plans to invest about Rs 75,000 – 80,000 crore in Orissa.

The proposed amount will be invested in sectors like aluminium,cement, telecom and retail sectors in the state over next few years.

… Birla, who was here to discuss some project related issues with the Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, the company also intends to launch its retail business in Orissa as part of its national roll out plan. It will be launched within the next 6 months.

… Stating that the projects are proceeding well, he said, the company is committed to a lot of social work like setting up ITIs and health centres at the project sites.

… Regarding the resistance of the local people to the alumina refinery project Utkal Alumina at Raygada, the group chairman said, a lot of projects are facing the same problem. The company has sought the state government’s intervention in resolving the issue.

He said, ABG took over the company four years ago from Alcan Inc and the company has complied with the rehabilitation and resettlemnet (R& R) package given to it. He, however, was non-commital about any additional package for the project affected people.

" We can not commit on the new package. As long as there is reasonable settlement we will be happy", he pointed out.

Regarding the possibility of investing in the port sector of the state, Birla said, the company is persuing the matter with the Orissa government and is expecting a positive outcome.

It may be noted, Essel Mining, a group company of the ABG had earlier proposed the state government to set up a port at Chudamani. However, the state government had not accepted its proposal.

The major projects of the group in Orissa include Utkal Alumina refinery at Raygada, Hindalco’s alumina smelter and power plant at Sambalpur and 3.5 million tonne per annum cement plant in Sundergarh district.

Following are excerpts from a Telegraph report.

Chambal Infrastructure Ventures Limited — of the KK Birla group — today expressed interest in setting up a 2,000MW thermal power plant at an estimated cost of Rs 9,000 crore.

H.S. Bawa, the managing director of Zuari Industries and senior vice-president of Chambal Fertiliser and Chemicals Limited, made a presentation before chief minister Naveen Patnaik this evening regarding the matter. Bawa expressed the multinational’s interest in the project.

In fact, the firm has already applied for 2,000 acre near Siaria in Dhenkanal.

… It had also offered to set up a thermal power plant in a joint venture with PSUs.

The proposal’s appraisal would be made by the state-run Industrial Promotion and Investment Limited, which is a nodal agency for industrial projects.

In turn the agency examines projects before they are referred to a single window clearance committee, which is headed by the chief minister himself.

Meanwhile, the company has applied to the coal ministry for blocks. It has also applied to the water resources department to seek permission to use river water for plants.

If the proposal is cleared by the government, Chambal Infrastructure Venture Limited will be the 14th company to sign an MoU with Orissa government to set up a thermal power plant in Orissa.

Already 13 power companies have signed MoUs for setting up plants with a total capacity of 16,000MW and for am investment of Rs 70,000 crore.

Many have already acquired land and obtained environment clearance, as well as, permission for industrial water use.

Two to three firms have also been allotted coal blocks, Patro added.

Construction of power plants proposed to be set up by Vedanta Power Limited has already started in Jharsuguda.

Business Standard reports on this. Following are some excerpts.

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

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

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

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

Dharitri has a nice overview (page1, page2, page3) of the status of the various ports that Orissa plans to have. Following are some highlights from that report.

• Aditya Birla group S.L. Mining has expressed interest in developing the Chudamani port in Bhadrakh district. IIT Madras has done the technical evaluation of this project. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Navajuga engineering of Hyderabad has proposed developing Astaranga port in Puri district. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Puri ports limited has proposed developing the Baliharchandi port in Puri district. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Good earth maritime of Madras has proposed developing the port in Bahuda muhana of Ganjam district. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Gopalpur: Being developed by Orissa Stevedores. Page 2 of the article has more details.
• Dhamara:TISCO and L & T are devloping this port. Page 2 of the article has more details.
• Jatadhari: Being developed by POSCO. Page 3 of the article has more details.
• Paradip: Existing major port. We discussed its expansion plans recently.
• Palur, Ganjam: no proposals yet
• Barunei, Kendarpara: no proposals yet
• Inchudi, Balasore: no proposals yet
• Chandipur, Balasore: no proposals yet
• Bahabalpur, Balasore: no proposals yet

The article says that the Balasore district ports face problems from the Dept. of Defense because of the missile testing range nearby. The article does not mention the following plan:

• Creative ports, Chennai plans to develop the Kirtania port on the mouth of Subarnarekha in Balasore district.

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]