___________

Gangapada is couple of kilometers before Khurda on the National Highway. The Bhubaneswar-Cuttack CDP proposes the new airport to be located there. Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard about the Vedanta sponsored trauma center coming up there.

The construction work for a 100-beded, state-of-the-art Trauma Care Centre, to be set up by Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) in Bhubaneswar, is likely to start soon.

The state government has handed over the required 10 acres of land for the centre which would come up near Gangapada on the national highway No.5 in the Bhubaneswar-Khurda patch. It will handle the ever-increasing trauma cases and an estimated Rs 75 crore is proposed to be spent on the project. HOSMAC Consultant, an internationally reputed hospital maker has been roped in by the company to render its professional expertise for this project, company sources said.

… The setting up the centre assumes importance as the death rate in accidents per hundred population in Orissa at 35 compares unfavourably with the national average. Add to it, there is no specialized trauma centre in the state with latest facilities to cater to the treatment needs. “The proposed centre will have facilities that will cater to patients of all income groups at any point of time.

Following is an excerpt from an IANS report.

JSL Ltd, formerly Jindal Stainless Ltd, signed an agreement with the Orissa government Wednesday to set up a stainless steel park in the state on an investment of Rs.704 crore.

The park would be set up adjacent to its 1.6 million tonne per annum integrated steel project coming up at Kalinga Nagar industrial complex in Jajpur district, …

… The project, to be built on 300 acres, will have 71 units, including a service centre.

More details are in an article in Orissadiary. Following are some excerpts.

JSL Vice – Chairman Jindal said the proposed park would generate direct and indirect employment opportunities for about 3800 and1200 persons, respectively. He added that the project would ensure high tax receipts of around Rs 140 crore for the state government in the first five years in terms of excise and income tax value added products. As per the MoU, JSL will develop the park and provide all infrastructures like boundary wall, roads, drains, research and development centre, power and water supply, railway network, township, school and hospital.

Architectural products, surgical and hospital equipment, hardware, stamping and forging, cold rolling, and re-rolling mills, tube and pipes, heat exchangers, heavy machinery capital goods, kitchenware, lifestyle products and stainless steel composite panel manufacturing units will come up in the park. To mark on the occasion, five companies Empowertrans Private Limited, Jagadamba Exports, Jupitor India, Kraftsware Limited and Kitechen Essentials signed MoUs with the JSL Limited government to set up down stream industries.

(Thanks to futureberhampur for the pointer.)

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard by Hrushikesh Mohanty.

Japanese auto major Toyota Motor Corporation has evinced interest in setting up a processing plant for rare earth chloride, one of the intermediate products of monazite.

The auto major is in advanced stage of negotiations with Orissa Sands Complex (OSCOM), a unit of Indian Rare Earths Ltd, for setting up the plant near OSCOM’s site at Matikahal, near Chhatrapur, about 30 km from here. …

The rare earth metals used in manufacturing several electronics items, magnet and automobile tools are in high demand in the international markets.The officials of IREL have anticipated several other companies to come forward to set up their plants to process the individual rare earths in the area.

It may be noted that OSCOM is setting up a 10 million tonne per annum monazite processing plant within its existing unit in Orissa.

…  The monazite processing plant is expected to start production from next year. Presently the Mining and Mineral Separation (MMS) plant of OSCOM is producing ilmenite and associated minerals by processing the rare earth minerals which are abundant in the Ganjam coast. The present capacity of the MMS plant of OSCOM is 2,20,000 tonnes per annum and the capacity utilization of the plant is almost 100 per cent.

(Thanks to kalahandia for the topic idea.)

The following is from the press release at http://www.assocham.org/prels/shownews.php?id=2303. 

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Undeterred by economic slowdown, the domestic investment announcements of India Inc. registered a growth of 16 per cent during calendar year 2009 over 2008 with Gujarat, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh emerge as frontrunners, according to an analysis of ASSOCHAM Investment Meter (AIM) Study on Corporate Investments.

As per the annual AIM assessment report for Corporate Investments across States and Sectors, total investment plans of India Inc. increased significantly from Rs 13,80,099 crore in 2008 to Rs 15,94,203 crore in 2009; out of which Gujarat, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh carved out a majority share of 15.4 per cent, 12.6 per cent and 8.1 per cent respectively.

The intensity of corporate investment activity during the period of economic downturn has proved the relative resilience of Indian economy.

“The robustness in corporate investment activity on the Indian soil shows how competently the economy has managed to weather the storm of unprecedented global financial crisis” said Mr. D S Rawat, ASSOCHAM Secretary General

In this context, Mr. Rawat, however points out the fact that the implementation of these investment projects has been hampered by a slew of hurdles. These include, land acquisition problems, bureaucratic inertia, ongoing economic slowdown and depressed expat market conditions. The government needs to address these issues on priority basis in order to realize the fruits of these investments.

Among the top investment attracting states, Gujarat registered the highest share in domestic investment plans during the January to December period of 2009. The state witnessed Rs. 2,45,352 crore worth of investment plans. Helped by the investor friendly policies of the state government which led to a smooth relocation of the Tata Nano project, the state attracted majority of investment plans in the real estate, power and infrastructure sectors.

Orissa stood at second position after Gujarat and recorded investment proposals worth Rs. 2,00,846 crore during the last year. The availability of rich mineral resources such as coal and iron ore along with cheap availability of manpower attracted massive investments in Orissa. Steel and power were among the sectors which attracted maximum investments in the state.

Successful commencement of gas production from the D6 block of KG basin helped Andhra Pradesh to rank amongst the top three states in attracting corporate investors in 2009. The state recorded investment plans to the tune of Rs. 1,29,157 crore. Energy and the real estate were among the major sectors that attracted maximum investments.

Karnataka and Maharashtra stood at fourth and fifth position by attracting investment plans worth Rs. 1,06,092 crore and Rs. 91,824 crore respectively during 2009. Karnataka has cashed in its investor friendly image by attracting a proposal of setting up a six-million-tonne integrated steel plant by Arcelor Mittal whereas benefitted by its financial infrastructure; Maharashtra has also been among the leading investment destinations in the country.

In terms of sectoral analysis, the ASSOCHAM Study shows that the power sector was the major investment attracting sector for 2009. The sector attracted investment plans worth Rs. 4,14,327 crore with a share of 26 per cent in the overall investment plans across the country.

Following the power sector, real estate and energy sector were amongst the top investment attracting sectors during the year. Real estate sector witnessed proposed investment plans worth Rs. 2,57,314 crore whereas energy sector attracted proposed investments to the tune of Rs. 1,98,565 crore.

Other sectors which recorded high flowing corporate investments during the last year were metals & mining (Rs. 1,59,534 crore), infrastructure (Rs. 74,210 crore), hospitality (Rs. 43,746 crore), auto/auto components (Rs. 38,150 crore) and telecom (Rs. 34,461 crore).

Following are excerpts from Suchismita Sahoo’s report in orissadiary.com.

… the idea to set up a state of art hospital at Bhubanheswar has recently been discussed between Chief Minster Mr Navin Patttanik and Mr Anil Agarwal, Chairman of the Vedanta Group in his last meeting, and off late the Vedanta management reviewed it seriously and Government has agreed to extend their support to make the best in class .

Realising the need of proper provision to handle the ever-increasing trauma cases, Vedanta has come forward to set up a 100-bed Level I, state-of-the-art Trauma Care Centre in Bhubaneswar. Revealing Vedanta’s plans regarding this novel initiative, the Vice President of Vedanta Group, Ajit Kumar Samal said, "This centre will be established on 10 acres of land involving a proposed investment of Rs 75 crore. As a Level I trauma care centre, it will have facilities that will cater to patients of all income groups at any point of time. We have handed over the responsibility of designing and construction to HOSMAC, an internationally reputed professional group involved in hospital making and research." Informing about the facilities that will be available at this centre, Mr. Vivek Desai, Head of HOSMAC Consultancy Services said, "The centre will have facilities like highest level of surgical care, specialists and equipment available 24 hours, education programme, preventive and outreach programs, program of research in trauma education and injury prevention. This will become a referral resource for communities in nearby regions. Both the clinical and non-clinical facilities will be of international standard. Besides the integrated trauma care facilities including General Medicine, General Surgery, Reconstructive surgery, Orthopedic surgery, Neurosurgery, Vascular surgery, Dermatology, Ophthalmology, Nephrology, ENT and Radiology and Imaging diagnostic services, this centre will also have Emergency Care Services, Ambulatory Care Services and blood bank. The proposed centre is expected to come out as an unmatched proposition in trauma and burns which will include bone bank and skin bank facility. Currently there is no same line dedicated trauma hospital in Orissa or even neighboring state like West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh or Andhra Pradesh." "The institute is the first level-I trauma and burns facility in Orissa and will act as leading trauma centre in the country. The bone bank and skin bank is an unparallel facility in the country which will be available here. The centre will be backed by an integrated life saving road and air ambulance service. The hospital will ensure maximum patient safety and quality of care and will operate in line of NABH / JCI standard," he adds. 

Following are excerpts from a report in tathya.in.

Odisha’s Power sector gets a relief as the first Unit of 2400 Independent Power Plant (IPP) at Jharsuguda would be commissioned in coming Summer’, he said to the media after meeting the Chief Minister.

This will add 600 MW to the state’s power production capacity and can help the State Government in facing the current power crisis. 

Mr. Agarwal revealed that construction work of world class Vedanta University near Puri has already started. 

At the first stage, the University will have a 1000 bed super specialty hospital and Medical College, also academic building. 

Vedanta Boss also informed the meeting that Lanjigarh refinery is fully operational by sourcing bauxite from other states, incurring a huge opportunity loss for both states as well as company. 

State Government has assured to look into the issue seriously and try to work out for an immediate solution. 

Construction activities for a specialized burn and trauma care centre at Bhubaneswar would begin very soon.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

After committing an investment of Rs 60,000 crore on various projects in Orissa including an aluminium smelter plant, an alumina refinery unit and a mega university project, London-based Vedanta Resources Plc has now evinced interest in setting up a steel plant in the state.

Vedanta plans to set up the steel plant in collaboration with engineering and construction major Larsen and Toubro (L&T).

… However, he did not provide details like capacity of the proposed steel plant, location and investment. It may be noted that in October 2004, Sterlite Iron and Steel Company, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources, had inked an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with the state government for setting up a five million tonne per annum steel plant. The steel plant was to set up at Palasponga in the state’s Keonjhar district at an investment of Rs 12,502 crore. However, the project is yet to take off.

On bauxite supplies, Agarwal said, he has informed the state chief minister that Vedanta’s alumina refinery plant at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district is operational and the company is sourcing bauxite from other states to run this refinery.

The chief minister has assured that us that bauxite supplies would not be a problem in Orissa which has the fourth largest deposits of the mineral ore in the country, Agarwal informed.

He further said the company is adhering to the environmental norms in running the Lanjigarh refinery, adding, “Our refinery at Lanjigarh is a world class refinery and it is a zero discharge and zero waste unit. …"

He pointed out that the company would commence mining operations at Niyamgiri hills in Kalahandi district after getting the environmental clearance.

Agarwal said, Vedanta has already invested Rs 39,000 crore on various projects in Orissa and these projects have generated direct and indirect employment for about two lakh people.

Vedanta Aluminium has also decided to set aside five per cent of its net profit or Rs 10 crore every year on welfare activities of the tribals of Lanjigarh. The amount will be spent on meeting the needs of the tribals in areas like education, livelihood and health.

The company will also build the hostel for the proposed engineering college of the state government at Bhawanipatna.

On the 2400 MW (6×400) power plant at Jharsuguda, Agarwal said, the first unit of the independent power project (600 MW) will be operational from the ensuing summer.

Talking on the company’s proposed university project, he said, “We have huge local support for our university project and at first we will set up a 1000 bed state-of-the-art hospital as a part of the project.” Apart from the 1000 bed hospital, Vedanta has also firmed up plans to set up a 100-bed burn and trauma care centre at Gangapada on the outskirts of the city. Construction work on this centre wold take off very soon, Agarwal stated.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

Tata Group today proposed to set up a coal-to-liquid plant in Orissa with an investment of $10 billion in joint venture with South African company, Sasol.

… “We had preliminary discussions with the chief minister about the Tata-Sasol project for converting coal into liquid,” Muthuraman said later.

The proposed project would be a large one with an investment of $10 billion, he said, adding that its exact location had not been identified yet.

The proposed plant will generate 1,600MW of power besides producing diesel, naptha and LPG. The byproducts will be tar, phenol, sulphur, ammonium, fertiliser and mining explosives.

According to sources, the proposed plant will have a capacity of 80,000 barrels per day which comes to around 3.6 million tonnes per annum.

The plant, which is scheduled to be commissioned in 2018, will require 28 to 31 million tonnes of coal per annum.

It will need 3,000 acres of land for the proposed plant and 24 million gallons water per day.

Update: Following are some additional details from a report in Pioneer.

• Amtech Auto Engineering would set up the complex at an investment of Rs 15,820 crore near Tangi- Choudwar. It would set up a two million tonne steel plant and 500 MW captive power plant in the complex. With this about 33,000 people will get both direct and indirect employment.

  It may be mentioned here that Jamsedpur-based RSB Trasmissions (I) Ltd, one of India’s leading auto components manufacturers, is coming up with an auto complex at Mania in Cuttack. RSB Transmission will invest Rs 430 crore in the project.

• The committee also approved JK Cement‘s one million tonne capacity plant on the road between Athagrah and Choudwar.
• BOC would set up an air separation plant at an investment of Rs 434 crore in Rourkela. It would produce oxygen, nitrogen and argons.
• Bijaya Ferro Power Private Limited would set up a power plant at Keshinga in Kalahandi with an investment of Rs 550 crore. It would take water from Tel river to produce 120 MW power.
• Ind-Bharat’s proposal to enhance its power production capacity has also got the nod of the committee. It would set up its plant at Jharsuguda with an investment of Rs 3,300 crore.
• Facor would set up its captive power plant at Rahandia near Bhadrak.
• Due to shortage of water, few plants have also changed their sites. Odisha Cement Power Plant (OCL) has shifted its plant site from Mania to Rajgangpur.
• Jinadal Stainless Steel would set up its plant in Luni instead of Gajatara in Dhenkanal.
• Kalinga Energy Power Limited would set up its plant at Jharsuguda instead of Sambalpur.
• Scwal Brewage would set up its plant at Baranga instead of Choudwar at a cost of Rs 193 crore.
• The Rs 1,320 crore Sahara Power project has shifted its plant to Ghantabahal from Turul.
• German-based Gaunteman Pipery would set up its plant beneficiation plant and pelatisation plant. The beneficiation plant would come up at Barbil and the pelatisation plant at Dhamra. Around 1,605 crore would be invested in the project.
• Aditya Alumina’s proposal to enhance its production from one million tonne to 1.5 million tonne. It would also enhance its power plant from 650 MW to 900 MW.

Following is an excerpt from Orissadiary.

The projects of Adhunic Metalics and Jindal Stainless Steel at Sundargarh and Kalinganagar, respectively have been approved. The SWCLC has also given its green signal for an air-separation plant. Projects, involving Vijay Ferrochorme and Power Pvt Ltd and Adhunic Power plant have been cleared.

Amtech Metals would establish the integrated auto-complex, first of its kind in the state. Moreover, an auto-park, steel and power plant would also be established in the complex. The cost of the entire project has been pegged at Rs 15,820 crore. All the projects are expected to provide direct and indirect employment opportunities to nearly 47,000 and 1.5 lakh people, respectively apart from bolstering the socio-economic conditions in those regions where the proposed projects would come up, state Industries Secretary, Sourabh Garg said.

Tathya has some details on the Adhunik group’s project. Following are some excerpts:

Adhunik Power & Natural Resources Limited (APNRL) has proposed to invest Rs.3883.40 crore for the 4×250 MW power plant in Birmaharajpur in Sonepur district.

… Adhunik Metaliks Limited (AML), another member of the Group has proposed to set up Down Stream Park for stainless and special products with an investment of Rs.286 crore.  … downstream industries in hot-rolling, cold-rolling utensils, kitchen and hardware.  AML has also proposed for stainless steel pipes and alloys, which received the nod.
The park will be set up at Kumarmunda in a 300 acre area in Sundargarh district.

AML is setting up steel plant at Kumarmunda with a capacity of 0.41 million ton per annum (MTPA).

Tathya has also some details on the JSL project. Following are some excerpts.

JSL Limited posed a proposal to set up a Super Critical Thermal Power Station of 1320 (660X2) megawatt capacity, which has been cleared in the meeting. The Rs.4090 crore Greenfield project will be set up at Luni in Dhenkanal district.

Most importantly JSL, which is setting up a 3.20 million ton per annum (MTPA) capacity stainless steel plant at Kalinga Nagar has proposed to set up Stainless Steel Park (SEZ) with an investment of Rs.740 crore.  … The park will promote auto components, kitchen & life style, light engineering, white goods, cold rolling, pipes and tubes, and service centre. 300 acres of land for the park is needed for the park, which will have man power requirement of more than 2000, said sources. JSL plant is likely to produce stainless steel by end of 2010 and the park is also to be completed by the same time reveal the SLSWCA Report.

The above two downstream park proposals are most likely due to the recent government focus on those aspects, before giving mining leases. The govt. needs to make sure that the down stream parks indeed materialize as proposed.

Following is an excerpt from a PTI report.

South Korean steel giant Posco has finally got the clearance from the environment ministry for acquiring forest land for its proposed Rs 54,000-crore steel project in Orissa, which has been already delayed more than a year.

"The Centre gave the final clearance for handing over 2,900 acres of forest land to us for our 12 million tonne steel project in Orissa. We are hopeful that the state government would soon transfer the entire 4,004 acre of land needed for the project to us," Posco India General Manager, External Relations, Simanta Mohanty told PTI.

Nearly 3,600 acres of land out of required 4,004 acres fall under the government category, while the rest remains under private control.

Following are some excerpts from a report in Business Standard.

… The Infocity-II region is being developed by the Orissa government on over 600 acres of land at Janla between Bhubaneswar and Khurda. Infosys is set to be the anchor tenant of the region. Infosys has committed an investment of Rs 300 crore in the first phase of the project which is scheduled to be operational within 14 months of commencement of construction work.

Infosys has a headcount of around 3,500 at its existing city centre spread over 45 acres and would add 3,000 more people in the first phase of its expansion project. The second campus would have a pool of 5,000 employees in all.

“Infosys has sought 100 acres of land for their second campus in the city. In the first phase, we will allot 50 acres of land to the IT firm in the Infociy-II area”, Pradipta K Mohapatra, the state IT secretary told Business Standard. He hinted that the total investment of Infosys for its second campus may exceed Rs 500 crore. …

The state government has assured to provide water and uninterrupted power supply to Infosys for its second campus in the city. In 2008-09, Orissa recorded software exports worth Rs 1168 crore and Infosys had the lion’s share, accounting for more than 70 per cent of exports.

As per the estimates of the state IT department, the Infocity-II project would be fully operational by the end of 2012. The state government has already sanctioned Rs 150 crore for developing external infrastructure for the project like approach road, electricity and water.

The Infocity-II project would attract many IT firms and it would have a total manpower pool of 1,20,000, Mohaptra said.

The project is set to attract investments worth Rs 4,000 crore from IT ad ITes (IT enabled services) companies.

It would generate direct and indirect employment for about four lakh people in the information technology (IT) and ITes sectors. Presently, more than 18,000 professionals were engaged in the IT sector in the state while the ITes sector had a workforce of over 15,000.

The operationalization of Infocity II would also be a big boon for BIT (Bhubaneswar Institute of Technology) which is adjacent to that.

Following is an excerpt from a report in rttnews.

 National Aluminium Company or Nalco, the state-run aluminium producer, will invest about Rs.22,000 crore to set up two mega projects, one in Andhra Pradesh and the other in Orissa.

Minister for Mines B.K. Handique told the Lok Sabha Tuesday that the navratna firm would set up a 5-lakh ton aluminium smelter in Jharsuguda, Orissa, along with a 1,260 MW captive power plant at an estimated investment of Rs 16,345 crore.

… it has set apart Rs.2 crore each for pre-project activities in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.

Following is from PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=54712.

Minister of State (Independent Charge) Shri Jairam Ramesh received a large number of representations in regard to the project for bauxite mining by the Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC). In a statement issued here today he said the projects are now being examined in the Ministry for approval or rejection so that there is no ambiguity and project proponents do not misuse the ‘in-principle’ approval. 

The following is the text of Shri Jairam Ramesh on the issue of bauxite mining in Orissa: 

“I have been receiving a large number of representations in regard to the project for bauxite mining by the Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) through Vedanta, a private mining company in Kalahandi and Rayagada districts of Orissa. The total amount of forest land proposed to be diverted is 660.749 ha., of which around 353.14 ha is in the Niyamgiri reserved forest. Concerns have also been raised on the impact that this project will, interalia, have on livelihoods of tribal communities. 

The project application was received in the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoE&F) on February 26, 2005. The MoE&F gave ‘in-principle’ approval for this project on December 11,2008 under the Forest Conservation Act,1980. This ‘in-principle’ approval is to be converted to a final approval after the fulfillment of stipulations contained in the ‘in-principle’ approval. 

As the representations started coming in, on August 6, 2009 the MoE&F asked the Regional Chief Conservator of Forests, Bhubaneshwar to investigate complaints that project activities have started even without the final approval of the Central Government in violation of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. The site was inspected and the site inspection report was submitted on August 16,2009. The site inspection report found that construction activity had begun in the non-forest revenue land. Technically this is not a violation of the law but it is a violation of the guidelines issued by the MoE&F which says that when a project involves non-forest and forest lands, construction in the non-forest land should not begin without clearance for activity in the forest land itself. A letter has been issued on November 25th,2009 to the Orissa Government asking for an explanation as to how the violation of this guideline has been permitted. 

On August 3, 2009, the MoE&F had issued a binding guideline to all State Governments that application for diversion under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 would be considered only after all due processes contained in the Scheduled Tribe and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Rights) Act, 2006 have been fully and satisfactorily completed. A letter was subsequently issued by the MoE&F to the Orissa Government on November 3, 2009 directing the State to comply with the provisions of the Scheduled Tribe and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Rights) Act, 2006 and provide evidence for the compliance before the Centre could examine conversion of the ‘in-principle’ approval to final approval. The reply of the state government is awaited. In addition, another site inspection team is being sent in the next one week to verify fresh allegations of violations of the terms of the ‘in-principle’ approval under Forest Conservation Act,1980. 

The new policy of the MoE&F does away with the concept of ‘in-principle’ approval. Projects are now being examined for approval or rejection so that there is no ambiguity and project proponents do not misuse the ‘in-principle’ approval.” 

KP/

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."

A report in myiris states that: "About Rs 300 million is proposed to be spent by the company for the hospital project."

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

Tata Steel is all set to establish a 200-bed hospital at Gobarghati in Kalinganagar industrial complex of Orissa’s Jajpur district.

About 10,000 people in the vicinity will benefit from the hospital as the steel giant has been extending healthcare facilities to people in its project as well as operational areas as part of periphery development and CSR plan, company sources said.

… For families affected in its green field steel project at Kalinganagar area, Tata Steel is setting-up the hospital in Gobarghati rehabilitation colony. The hospital building is under construction on a land of 4 acres and the civil part of the construction is almost over, the sources said.

When completed it would have round-the-clock service, pathology lab and outdoor complex. In a phase wise manner the number of beds in the hospital would increase to 200. Also to begin with, the hospital would have 4 to 5 doctors and required number of para-medical staff.

Following are excerpts from a report by Bishnu Das in Business Standard.

… Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL), a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Plc, plans to set up an aluminium park at Jharsuguda.

The proposed park is expected to house at least 10-15 medium size downstream units with the total investment projected to be in excess of Rs 5000 crore. About 150 acres of land has been identified by the Orissa government for the purpose, sources said.

The units to come up in the park will utilise liquid alumina or ingot produced by VAL for manufacturing various products like electrical appliances, cable, aluminium extrusion and automobile parts.

The location of the park close to the VAL’s smelter plant at Jharsuguda is expected to reduce the input cost for downstream products.

…  Meanwhile, two downstream units have already applied to the district administration to set up shops in the proposed park.

On the other hand, the company’s refinery unit located at Lanjigarh has initiated steps for setting up an ancillary complex in its vicinity. The complex will house industries related to the field of fly ash bricks, cement, mineral water, hotels and food processing.

Joint advertisement by the company and District Industries Centre located at Lanjigarh was published and more than 80 applications have been received for setting up of industries in the identified field.

Sources said, about 20-25 acres of land has been earmarked for the setting up of ancillary units …

It may be noted, the company has already set up a 1 million tonne per annum greenfield alumina refinery at Lanjigarh and a 0.5 million tonne per annum aluminum smelter at Jharsuguda.

This is great news. I hope the people of Lanjigarh and Jharsuguda help in the early implementation of these plans. The downstream units often hire more people than the smelters. They also lead to the development of townships. In case of Jharsuguda such development would speed up the operationalization of the airport.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The first phase of the Naveen Jindal-promoted Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL)’s proposed 6 million tonne per annum (mtpa) steel project and 1000 Mw power plant at Angul in Orissa is expected to be commissioned in 2011-12.

The shifting of families to be displaced by the project was going on and simultaneously, the construction of the boundary wall had started. The detailed engineering would follow the completion of the rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) of displaced persons and large scale construction would be taken up after that.

“We plan to start large scale construction work in January next year and the first phase commissioning is scheduled to be in 2011-12”, Rajesh Kumar Jha, executive director, JSPL told Business Standard.

He said, out of three villages to be shifted completely for the first phase construction, two villages had been rehabilitated completely. The remaining village would be rehabilitated by December this year. The company’s strategy of combining the project economy with the rehabilitated family’s economy has gone down well with the people. …

… the company had placed orders for civil and structural works worth Rs 1584.57 crore which was 60 percent of the estimated costs. Similarly, orders for plant and equipment worth Rs 4,034.34 crore had been placed which was about 35 per cent of the total estimated costs of plant and equipments.

The total cost of the project is Rs 22,420 crore with the first phase investment pegged at Rs 13,000 crore. The project has already attained financial closure and will have a 60:40 debt-equity ratio. While the debt component will be Rs 8,958 crore, the equity is Rs 13,452 crore.

…  While the company requires 5,279 acres for the steel plant, about 3000 acres have been acquired so far. The acquisition of additional 707 acres of private land is likely to be over by the end of this month.

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.

NALCO has its headquarter in Bhubaneswar. In Orissa, its major operations are in Angul and Damanjodi (Koraput). This week there has been several different news reports about it. We start with an excerpt from a report in Telegraph about the proposed aluminum park in Angul.

An MoU was signed between the central public sector National Aluminium Company (Nalco) and state-owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) here this evening.

… The proposed aluminium park, with an estimated cost of Rs 75 crore, will be located at Angul close to the smelter plant of Nalco, said its chairman and managing director C.R. Pradhan.

Nalco and Idco will set up a joint venture on 50:50 basis soon after signing the MoU, he said.

A pre-feasibility study for the aluminium park was conducted by AF Ferguson and 200 acre land has already been earmarked. Electricity, water, road facilities would be developed soon, Pradhan said.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Financial Express about the bauxite mine it got in Andhra Pradesh.

National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) is all set to go ahead with its Rs 6,000 crore aluminium complex venture in Andhra Pradesh as the bauxite mines it had sought has been cleared by the Centre and the Andhra Pradesh government. The company has bagged Gudem and Katamraju Konda bauxite mines in AP, which promises a deposit of 85 million tonne of bauxite, according to a Nalco spokesperson.

Nalco plans to build a 1.4 million tonne green field alumina refinery based on the Gudem and KR Konda bauxite deposits at Visakhapatnam at an estimated investment of Rs 6,000 crore.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Reuters.

NALCO plans to build a 310,000 tonne smelter and a power plant in Iran with Iran’s Kerman Development Organisation in a project that would cost it 80 billion rupees ($1.7 billion).

"Maybe in a month or two we will go ahead for signing the joint venture agreement with our local partner," B.L. Bagra, NALCO’s director of finance, told Reuters.

… Another overseas venture in Indonesia for a smelter and power plant was awaiting port and rail concessions by the Indonesia government, Bagra said.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The Orissa IT department has got its act together to expedite the Infocity-II project to be developed over 500 acres of land at Janla on the outskirts of the city. …

the state government is gearing up to keep the infrastructure of Infocity-II ready to welcome any IT firm keen to set up its shop in the city.

Towards this objective, the state IT department has now planned to go for a four-lane approach road connecting the Infocity-II project with the National Highway.

“We are committed to provide external infrastructure like roads, water and electricity for the Infocity-II project. The state IT department has engaged a consultant which is undertaking a survey work on the proposed four-lane approach road and the private land that needs to be acquired for the purpose”, …

Earlier, the state government had sanctioned Rs 150 crore for developing external infrastructure for the project like approach road, electricity and water.

While land acquisition for the Infocity-II project is already over, the construction of the boundary wall is underway. The state government is on the look out for anchor tenants for the project.

As per the estimates of the Orissa IT department, the Infocity-II project is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2012 and the project is set to attract investments worth Rs 4,000 crore from IT ad ITes (IT enabled services) companies.

The proposed Infocity-II project will generate direct and indirect employment for about four lakh people in the information technology (IT) and ITes sectors.

Presently, more than 18,000 professionals are engaged in the IT sector in the state while the ITes sector had a workforce of over 15,000.

The Infocity-II project would be a part of the proposed IT investment region in the state. The IT investment region (ITIR) in Orissa was to be developed on an area of 40 sq km (around 10,000 acres) between Bhubaneswar and Khurda.

The ITIR project in the state is expected to be fully operational by 2020.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standrad.

Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), the country’s largest oil marketing company is exploring the possibility of setting up a wind mill in Paradeep (Orissa). The wind mill is likely to be operational either in or after 2012. …

The company has already set up two wind mills in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu”, V Ramgopal, general manager (marketing), IOCL told reporters here.

… IOCL was planning to set up a new depot at Jharsuguda in western Orissa at an investment of about Rs 100 crore. The proposed depot would have the capacity of around 60,000 kilo litre (KL).At present, the company is scouting for 35-40 acres of land for this modern depot. Plans are also afoot to deepen the reach of LPG cylinders among the people in Orissa.

Presently, only 18 per cent of the state’s population has LPG connections and we are aiming to extend the LPG connections to 50 per cent of the population within the nest two years, Ramgopal informed.

IOCL was planning to launch the LPG Gramin Vithark scheme in the state to reach out to the rural customers.

About eight lakh people in the state have LPG connections with Hindustan Petroleum being the market leader in this segment with 4.2 lakh customers followed by IOCL at 3.6 lakh, said Ramgopal.