___________

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

… Mr.Agarwal impressed upon the Chief Minister that his group is eager to expand the .50 million ton smelter in Jharsuguda to a 1.6 million ton per annum (MTPA). 

Naveen Patnaik, asked the Chief Secretary to look into the matter finalize the expansion program, said sources. 

Mr.Agarwal updated the Chief Minister about the status of Vedanta’s ongoing projects in the state here on 3 January..

The Alumina Project at Lanjigarh, Smelter and Power Projects at Jharsuguda and the University project at Puri is being implemented by the Vedanta group.

On Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) front, adoption of 400 anganwadis, providing education for 14000 children at Kalahandi are being implemented, briefed Mr.Agarwal.

Mr. Agarwal agreed to extend the coverage to 40000 children and agreed to introduce the Mid Day Meal scheme for 30000 primary and the secondary level school student in the state through Nandi and Sterlite Foundation as the Chief Minister requested him.

He also announced a 100 bedded state-of-the-art multi-speciality hospital at Jharsuguda will provide medical facility to the local people.

Chairman Vedanta group reiterated his earlier commitment to build a 1000 bedded super-specialty hospital at Puri.

It was also informed that the design and the engineering has been completed and construction is to begin soon.

In addition Mr Agarwal put forth his plans of setting up of a downstream Aluminium Park in collaboration with the government to promote as many as 600 small and medium scale industries at Jharsuguda. 

The project will generate large scale employment opportunities and additional economic activities in the region.

Currently the Vedanta Group’s investment commitments are in excess of Rs 50,000 crores, half of which has already been invested in various projects of Orissa.

Vedanta is presently generating a huge number of direct and indirect employment for approximately 25000 people, eighty percent of which belong to the state of Orissa.

After the meeting the CM, Mr Agarwal told reporters that all the ongoing projects of Vedanta would continue as per schedule in spite of the recent global recession.

He also assured that in his personal capacity he would make all possible efforts to complete the Vedanta University Project, a world class University at par with the Havard and Stanford University of U,S.A.

He has already committed personal contribution of Rs 5000 crore towards this project.

Following is a one year old report from Steelguru on Gopalplur SEZ which I had missed.

TATA Steel has announced setting up of up a galvanizing and color coating line with a capacity of 150,000 tonnes at an investment of INR 250 crore at the special economic zone proposed by TATA Steel and notified by the Union government at Gopalpur.

Mr B Muthuraman MD of TATA Steel told media that “It would be a multi product SEZ and as a first step, TATA Steel had decided to set up the galvanizing line. TATA Steel was looking to rope in partners to develop the infrastructure for the project.”

He said “We are looking for partners who will promote infrastructure within the SEZ. It will be a multi product SEZ, and the project should take about 24 months to be implemented.”

Following is from a report in Steelguru.

BS reported that cargo handling capacity is projected to be 14 million tonne per annum from the 0.55 million tonne envisaged for the first phase. It will have 5 berths including one exclusive berth for aluminium by 2011 and 10 berths by 2016. Similarly, the number of ship calls per day is projected to increase to 1,451 by 2016 from about 333 likely to be achieved by 2011.

According to official sources, the company submitted the detailed project report for developing an all weather port at Gopalpur having direct berthing facility to the Orissa government recently. Though INR 20 crore was proposed to be invested by GPL in the first phase, it has already spent about INR 78 crore on making the port functional.

During the second phase, the port will have facilities to handle export cargo of ilmenite sand, iron ore, thermal coal, bauxite, granite, steel coil, aluminium ingots and import cargo of fertilisers, aluminium powder, coal, coke, rock phosphate and foodgrain.

As per report, cargo handling capacity is projected to be 5.6 million tonne in the first year of operations and increase to 8.9 million tonne in the second year. Similarly, it is projected to have a cargo handling capacity of 9.3 million tonne in the third year and 13.5 million tonne in the fourth year. The final cargo handling capacity of 14 million tonne is likely to be achieved by the fifth year of the commissioning of the port.

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

The State-level single window clearance authority (SWCA) today gave approval to nine project proposals worth over Rs 13,000 crore.

The Ashapura Minechem Limited, the largest multi-mineral solution provider in the country and the flagship of Ashapura Group, has evinced interest to set up mineral separation plant in Puri district with an investment of Rs 910 crore. The plant will separate minerals from beach sand and it will produce titanium dioxide, widely used in paints. The project will create employment opportunities for 300 persons, Industries Secretary Ashok Dalwai told mediapersons.

The other new proposal cleared by the SWCA was a 1.2 million tonnes iron ore beneficiation and pelletisation plant by Jaiswal Nicco Industries at Harmote near Barbil in Keonjhar district. The company planned to invest Rs 452 crore and the proposed project would generate employment opportunities to 500 persons.

The proposal of Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) for capacity addition to its existing steel plant from two million tonnes to six million tonne was also approved. The steel production of the plant will be 3 million tonne through DRI (sponge iron) route and another 3 million tonnes through blast furnace route. The company has also proposed to increase the capacity of its thermal power plant from 900 mega watt to 1080 MW. The total investment of the company will increase from Rs 13,135 crore to Rs 22,440 crore.

The authority also cleared the expansion plan of International Mineral Trading Company having a pelletisation plant at Barbil in Keonjhar district. The company proposed to set up an iron ore beneficiation plant of 1.5 million tonne capacity with an investment of Rs 175 crore.

The BRG Iron and Steel Company at Khurunti in Dhenkanal district proposed to increase its steel production capacity from 0.257 MTA to 1.2 MTA with an investment of Rs 960 crore. The project has received environmental clearance.

Shree Metallics also proposed to increase its steel plant capacity from 0.25 MTA to 0.98 MTA with an investment of Rs 709 crore. The other expansion projects include Grewal Associates sponge iron plant at Barbil to 0.25 MTA steel plant and a 15 MW power plant, Dinabandhu Steel and Power for a 0.26 MTA steel plant with 25 MW power plant and Ganesh Metallics for 0.25 MTA steel plant with 16 MW captive power plant.

Following is an excerpt from a report in the Statesman.

The state government today inked an MoU with RSB Metaltech for setting up of an integrated light metal aluminum complex. The papers were signed by state industries and mines secretary Dr Ashok Dalwai and RSB Metaltech MD Mr SK Behera …

In the first phase, the proposed company, with an investment of around Rs 6,800 crore, will produce about 7 lakh tonnes per of alumina. In the second phase, nearly 1.75 lakh tonnes of aluminium is expected to be produced from the plant. The produced aluminium will be used for production of finer parts in motor vehicles, aerospace, railway and construction industry.

While the mining and refinery units of the project will come up a Rayagada, the smelter unit and power plant are proposed to be set up at Kamakshyanagar in Dhenkanal.

Chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik said that the project will generate about 11,000 direct and the equal number of indirect jobs. "This project, along with its alumina refinery at Rayagada and Gopalpur port will form an industrial corridor in southern Orissa," Mr Patnaik said adding that the corridor will help fast development, alleviation of poverty and improvement of life of the local people in that region. He suggested that provisions should be made to provide technical education to local youths. "The rehabilitation, resettlement and environment aspect should be taken proper care of," he pointed out.

The Union minister has been requited to expedite and complete the "Therubali-Gunupur railway project to enhance the connectivity in that region," he informed.

I wonder about the progress of the earlier plan of establishing an auto component manufacturing plant near Cuttack by RSB Transmission. (See  http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/421.)

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

… the proposed software development centre of IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will be inaugurated on January 5 next year. The first tower of TCS which will be inaugurated in the city’s Infocity campus will have a capacity to accommodate around 1,500 employees.

“… Wipro’s second campus in the city is also scheduled to be inaugurated within a month”, said Vishal Dev, director, IT department of the Orissa government at an International Conference on IT, held at the Xavier Institute of Management.

TCS is developing its software centre in the city on a 54-acre plot in the Infocity campus. While the first tower of TCS is scheduled to be inaugurated early next month, the company is expected to add two to three towers within three months.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The combined area required by these units has now been assessed at 33,268.5 acres, 16.48 per cent less than the 37,750 acres envisaged in the memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between these companies and the state government.

The state-owned Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa (Ipicol) had appointed MN Dastur & Co as consultant to prepare a report on the land requirement of various industries after receiving complains about companies demanding more land than they needed for the projects.

Ipicol, based on the report, has reassessed the land needs of the projects. The mega units that have been affected include Posco India, Jindal Steel and Power, Mittal Steel (India), Uttam Galva Steels, Sterlite Iron and Steel, and Bhushan Steel.

On the other hand, there has been no reduction in the land requirement of four mega units — Essar Steel Orissa (2,500 acres), SSL Energy (2,000 acres), Tata Steel (3,500 acres) and Welspun Power and Steel (2,200 acres). Out of the total land requirement, these steel companies have already applied for allotment of 32,034.9 acres, sources say.

Posco India, a subsidiary of South Korean steel major Posco, had sought 6,000 acres in the MoU signed with the state government in 2005 for its proposed 12-million-tonne per annum project near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district. Ipicol, based on the Dastur & Co report, has reassessed the land requirement at 5,525 acres. The company has so far applied for 5,151 acres. While the state government has allotted 516 acres of its land to Posco, the company has already invested Rs 175.5 crore.

Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, which is setting up a six-million-tonne per annum steel project at Kerajang, needed about 5,750 acres. This has been cut to 3,843.5 acres by Ipicol. The company has applied to the Orissa government for 4,027 acres and has been allotted 1,719 acres. This includes 687.93 acres of government land and 1,031.85 acres private land. It has invested about Rs 765.46 crore in the project so far.

The land requirement of ArcelorMittal, which is planning to set up a 12-million-tonne greenfield steel project at Patna tehsil in Keonjhar district, has been reassessed at 7,750 acres. The company had sought 8,000 acres in the MoU. It has applied for 7,770 acres and has invested about Rs 50 crore for the project.

Similarly, the land requirement of Uttam Galva Steels, which is setting up a three-million-tonne steel project at Bistapal, has been reduced by 250 acres. While the MoU provided for allotment of 2,400 acres, Ipicol has reassessed this at 2,150 acres. The company applied for 2,146 acres and has been allotted 27.81 acres so far. The company has invested about Rs 35 crore for the project.

The three-million-tonne steel project planned by Sterlite Iron and Steel at Palasponga will have to manage with 1,000 acres less land than what was provided in the MoU. The company’s land requirement has been re-assessed at 2,400 acres. The company had applied for 3,378 acres, though has not been allotted any land so far.

The estimate of land needed by Bhushan Steel for its six-million-tonne per annum steel project at Meramundali in Dhenkanal district has been reduced by 600 acres. Though the company was to be provided 2,000 acres according to the MoU, Ipicol has reassessed the requirement at 1,400 acres. Bhushan Steel had applied for 1,994 acres and has been allotted 1,620 acres. It has invested Rs 5,000 crore in the project.

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 Business standard:

The Orissa government today cleared projects worth Rs 1,27, 727 crore in steel, aluminium, power, downstream and ore beneficiation sectors.

The list includes 3 projects in the steel sector, 2 projects in the aluminium sector, 6 projects in the power sector, one downstream unit, and two beneficiation and pelletisation units.

… enhancement of the steel capacity of Jindal Stainless Limited (JSL) from 1.6 million tonne per annum (mtpa) to 3.2 mtpa at Kalinganagr Industrial Complex at an investment of Rs 16,266 crore and enhancement of capacity of Visa Steel in the same location from 0.35 mtpa to 1.5 mtpa at an investment of Rs 4995 crore were approved by HLCA.

The public sector aluminum major Nalco’s proposal to set up a 0.5 mtpa alumina smelter and 1260 mw power plant in two phases (840Mw + 420 Mw) at an investment of Rs 16,345.89 crore was also approved. Though the company preferred to set up the project at Brajarajnagar, the location might change. The company is seeking 275.30 hectares of land for the smelter and 575.7 hectares for the power plant.

Similarly, the proposal of the Navayuga Steels for setting up a 12 mtpa port based steel complex at Astaranga in Puri district at an investment of Rs 34,000 crore was cleared by the HLCA. The project will come up in 4 phases and the government will not commit any raw material linkage to it.

Though the company requires 4000 acres of land, the government will assess the land requirement as per the benchmarking report after the company submits the detailed project report (DPR), the minister added.

The public sector National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) was given the green signal to set up a 3200 Mw coal based mega power plant at an investment of Rs19,840 crore near the village Gajamara in Dhenkanal district. It requires about 3000 acres of land for the project and will source water from Mahanadi.

However, Jindal Stainless’ proposal to set up 1000 Mw Independent Power Producer (IPP) at an investment of Rs 4090 crore in the same location did not find favour with HLCA with the committee asking the company to change the site of the project.

Other projects which received the nod of HLCA are Rs 6800 crore investment proposal of RSB Metal-tech for setting up 1.4 mtpa alumina refinery, 0.35 mtpa aluminium smelter and 900 Mw CPP at an investment of Rs 6800 crore, Kalinga Energy’s 1000Mw thermal power project at an investment of Rs 4261 crore at Babuchakuli, Arati Steel’s 500Mw thermal power project at Ghantikhal in Cuttack district, Rs 4994 crore investment proposal of Chambal Infrastructures and Ventures Limited for setting up of 1200Mw thermal power plant at Siaria in Dhenkanal district.

Besides, Hyderabad based Lanco Solar’s 250 Mw fully integrated plant to manufacture crystalline silicon solar cells at an investment of Rs 2800 crore in Dhenkanal district, Bhushan Power and Steel Limited (BPSL)’s downstream and ancillary complex in Sambalpur district at an investment of Rs 1953.87 crore, JSW Steel’s proposal to set up 7 mtpa iron ore beneficiation plant and 5 mtpa pelletisation plant at Kamalang in Sundergarh district at an investment of Rs 1450 crore were through in today’s meeting.

Besides, the proposal of Welspun Orissa Steel to set up a 4.5 mtpa beneficiation plant at Nayagarh in Keonjhar district and 4.4 mtpa pellet plant at Dhamra in Bhadrakh district with an envisaged investment of Rs 1963 crore, the proposal of Astaranga Power Company to set up a 2460 Mw power plant at Astaranga at an estimated cost of Rs 11,200 crore were approved by the HLCA.

However, the decision on the 700 mw (Rs 1007crore) power plant proposal of Ind Bharat Energy, 1320 mw (Rs 5604 crore) power plant proposal of Sahara India Power Corporation and the 1100 Mw (Rs 4810 crore ) power plant proposal of Visaka Thermal were deferred.

It is often mentioned that the Orissa government has a policy of not recommending mine prospective licenses to companies until they have invested certain percentage of their whole budget in ground. It seems both POSCO and Arcelor Mittal are pushing the Orissa government to overlook this policy. Orissa government should not do that. In particular, after reading the following, from expressbuzz.com I have a bad feeling towards Arcelor Mittal.  

BHUBANESWAR: In a bid to put pressure on the State Government for mines, Arcelor-Mittal, the largest steel maker of the world, Monday said the company will submit a detailed project report (DPR) for 12 million tonnes greenfield steel project in Keonjhar district only after it gets recommendation for prospecting licence.

‘We will submit the DPR if the Government recommends our name for mines,’ chief executive officer of the company’s greenfield projects Sanak Mishra told mediapersons after meeting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. Official sources, however, said the company is yet to fulfil the procedural prerequisites for getting mines for the steel project.

A two-member delgation of the company comprising Mishra and Vijay Nagar CEO (India) Vijay Bhatnagar was explained the procedure to be followed before requesting for mines.

… Bhatnagar said raising finance for new projects has become difficult in view of the meltdown. On land acquisition, he said it depends on the cooperation of the people. Gram Sabha (village committee meeting) has been completed in three out of 15 revenue villages. A meeting with the people of the remaining villages will be held soon.

Sources said the company is facing opposition from the villagers who want land price to be decided before convening the gram sabha. The price quoted by the affected villagers is reportedly not acceptable to the company.

As per the MoU, the company requires 7,750 acres of land for the project. About 1,400 acres of the proposed site are forest land which requires conversion. Construction work for the project will start as and when a substantial protion of land is acquired, Bhatnagar said.

Following is excerpted from a report in Business Standard.

With Orissa witnessing a rush of investment proposals in the iron and steel sector, the domestic and overseas steel majors are exploring the possibilities of developing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) around the large units proposed by them.

Tata Steel is developing a six-million tonne greenfield steel project at Kalinga Nagar, the emerging steel hub of the country. The firm has identified business opportunities worth Rs 12,000 crore in the ancillary and downstream units.

“The opportunities for ancillary and downstream units exist in the areas of operations and maintenance, core specialised services, support specialised services, processing and township management, to name a few. There can be different working models for development of local SMEs as ancillaries and downstream units. One such model includes Tata Steel and other steel majors working together with their ancillary partners in Orissa,” said K Shankar Marar, assistant general manager, (steel technology, at Tata Steel’s Kalinga Nagar project.

…  Another steel major, JSL, (formerly Jindal Stainless Limited), is keen on developing an industrial park based on downstream stainless steel industries, spread over an area of 300 acres as a part of its SEZ (special economic zone) in Orissa’s Jajpur district.

The SEZ is being developed at an investment of around Rs 700 crore. JSL has engaged US-based consultant CB Richard Ellis for developing a business plan for the project wherein opportunities for downstream industries will be explored.

The SEZ is set to provide direct employment to 3,800 workers besides generating indirect employment for 1,200 others.

Posco which has announced an investment of about Rs 52,000 crore for a 12 million tonne steel plant near Paradeep is also committed to development of ancillary and downstream units and the steel giant has engaged IIT-Kharagpur for a study on the opportunities that exist in this area.

According to a study conducted by IIT-Kharagpur for Posco India, opportunities for SME entrepreneurs exist in the areas of structural steel, ready mixed concrete, refractory, steel and concrete piles, pipes, propeller shafts and furnace building to name a few.

According to the study, opportunities also exist in other operational areas like steel probes, mould flux, thermos materials, manufacture and fabrication of structures, conveyor belts and electrical equipment repairs.

The study adds that business opportunities worth Rs 320 crore exist in the area of refractory, Rs 44 crore for cement, Rs 2.5 crore in hydraulic hoses and Rs 4 crore in wire rods. The first phase of Posco India’s project would generate 35,728 labour intensive jobs and another 30,420 technology intensive jobs.

… Aarti Steel has already started its efforts for developing SMEs as ancillaries for its steel plant in the state.

“We have sourced items and spare parts worth Rs 37 crore from 47 local partners till March 2008. Aarti Steel plans to develop two forging units adjacent to its steel plant for the benefit of the local entrepreneurs and we have approached IDCO to provide land for these units”, said a senior official of Aarti Steel.

On its part, the Orissa government plans to incorporate a clause at the MoU (memorandum of understanding) level with the private steel players to ensure that the mother industries will make necessary efforts for development of ancillary and downstream units.

The efforts made by the steel units to develop the ancillary units will be monitored by officials like district collectors and revenue district commissioners.

Steelguru.com gives some specifics of the SME/MSE impact with respect to Tata Steel’s Kalinganagar plant.

BS reported that the 6million tonne per annum greenfield steel project proposed by TATA Steel in Kalinganagar will require maintenance support services worth INR 1,200 crore when fully commissioned. These services will be outsourced by the company and are expected to create huge opportunities for the small and medium enterprises in Orissa.

The services to be outsourced include warehousing, machine shop, electrical repairing shop, fabrication shops, electrodes and lubricant suppliers, waste management, mechanized material handling and hospitality among others. Since the maintenance cost is about 4% of the total investment in steel industry, this is expected to create huge opportunities for the small and medium enterprises.

Mr B K Singh VP Orissa project of TATA Steel said that "We will invest about INR 30,000 crore in the Kalinganagar project in phases and will require maintenance support services worth INR 1,200 crore.”

He added that the group will work towards developing the local entrepreneurs and will provide assistance to anyone who wants to be a partner in TATA Steel’s business. He added that TATA Steel will give the first right of refusal to local industries in the maintenance support services.

Following is from a report in Business Standard.

In the midst of implementing a $4 billion aluminium project in Orissa, NRI Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta group, has started a Rs 300-crore township project with the support of a Chinese firm to accommodate its over a 1,000 engineers and technical workforce.

Claiming that the project would be comparable if not better than what Mukesh Ambani-led RIL developed at Jamnagar in Gujarat, group company Vedanta Aluminium is importing services of China’s leading architect firm ECADI at a time when reality majors are reeling under a slump.

"We at Vedanta feel it is our duty not only to provide a conducive working atmosphere, but also best living comforts," company’s Director and CEO M Siddiqi said, adding, the township project would be completed by end of next year.

The township project, a concept popularised by PSUs in India, is crucial for the overall aluminium unit, first stage of which has already been commissioned and the second stage is targeted for completion next year, to attract and retain talent in the backward area of Jharsuguda in Orissa.

The Vedanta project envisages providing sophisticated and urban living accommodations and amenities to over 1,400 employees, who are already stationed at Jharsuguda aluminium plant.

The metals and mining major plans to pump in a whopping $4 billion to ramp up the capacity of its aluminium smelter to 1.8 million tonne by 2010.

At present, its operational capacity is 2,50,000 tonne, which would go up to 5,00,000 tonne by March 2009.

For meeting its power requirement, the company has set up a 675 MW power plant, the capacity of which will go up to 1,215 MW post-commissioning of the smelter’s first phase expansion.

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

Thinning refining margin and a global crisis notwithstanding, Indian Oil will stick to its plans to set up the proposed 15-million-tonnes Paradip refinery. The company is optimistic about completing the project at a cost lower than the estimated Rs 30,000 crore.

… “The sharp meltdown in commodity prices as well as the depression should bring down the project cost net of a devalued rupee. Thankfully enough, we are rightly poised to grab the opportunity,” a source said.

…IOC is currently in the process of awarding the PMC (project management contractor) contract. “We have started receiving quotes lower than our expectation. The trend may only get stronger six to nine months later when the actual project tendering will begin,” a source said.

“This project was planned on a long-term perspective and I see no reason to rework on it,” the IOC Chairman, Sarthak Behuria, told Business Line. He, however, did not clarify whether the project would achieve financial closure by next month as was scheduled previously.

IOC has finalised the loan and equity components for the project. Initial agreement was reached with the identified lending agencies on cost of borrowings. The loan agreements are slated to be firmed up in November.

Update: As suggested by a reader see also this article in Business Today.

Following is an excerpt from a report in pr-inside.com.

5. Bhubaneshwar: Bhubaneshwar is increasingly seen as an attractive city to a wide variety of potential investors. Over the last three years, nearly Rs. 6,00,000 crore of investments have already been committed in Orissa.

-South Korean steel major POSCO and the world’s largest steel company, Arcelor Mittal, have each announced Rs 50,000-crore plans to set up 12-million-tonne steel plants in the state. Then, Tata Steel has committed investments of Rs 25,000 crore; it is setting up a 6 million-tonne steel plant at Kalinga Nagar, a port in Damra and plans a SEZ in Gopalpur. Naturally, a lot of their offices and other infrastructure will come up in Bhubaneswar.

Other cities mentioned in that report are: Lucknow/Kanpur, Bangalore, Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Surat and Bhopal.

Following is from a report in livemint.

… Bharat Biotech International Ltd, a producer of vaccines and biotherapeutics announced that the Orissa government has selected the company as the developer for its ‘Biotech-Pharma-IT Park’ project under public-private-partnership (PPP) mode.

The proposed industrial park is coming up on a 54.86 acre land located at Mouza-Andharua in Bhubaneswar.

BBIL will promote a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to undertake the integrated industrial park. The project is estimated to cost Rs100 crore and is slated to be complete in eight years, a press release issued here stated.

“Our task is to focus on rapid development of this park by developing core infrastructure and technology to enable establishment of new companies whereby new local entrepreneurs in the biotechnology field will be created,” BBIL Chairman and Managing Director Krishna Ella said in the release.

About 10 acre land, within the park, is earmarked for development of biotechnology incubation centre, which will be funded by Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, for the equipment or instrumentation.

A formal lease-cum-development agreement will be signed between the SPV and Orissa Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO).

The Orissa government and IDCO, in principle, have agreed to provide all the external infrastructure facilities like power supply, water supply among others, the release added.

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."

Following is from a news item in Kalinga Times.

“Vedanta is already doing a remarkable performance in its CSR activities and it should come with more such initiatives in the near future,” said S.B. Mishra, former Chief Secretary of Odisha while addressing at the first Corporate Social Responsibility advisory body meeting of Vedanta Aluminium Limited here on Saturday.

Noted writer Pratibha Ray also expressed her satisfaction over the CSR initiatives of Vedanta and advised the company authorities to lay more emphasis towards development and empowerment of women in the plant locations. She particularly gave thrust on women taking up higher responsibilities in society and that all the trainings should not be confined to only basic subjects.

Speaking on the occasion, veteran actor Bijay Mohanty expressed his willingness to visit the plant locations along with the other members and wanted to personally interact with the localities so that the realistic need analysis can be made.

The meeting was convened by the Whole Time Director and CEO of Vedanta Aluminium Sector M. Siddiqi.

Speaking on the occasion, Siddiqi said “Vedanta always strives for improving the living standards of the people on a sustainable basis. The efforts of the company have started showing result on the ground. But this is only the beginning. The wealth of expertise and experience of the Advisory Board Members will carry our CSR efforts to greater heights and show us the right direction”.

The advisory board comprises of 10 honorary members belonging to the elite section of society. The members on the board include P.K Jena, Chairman, Institute of Advance Technology & Environmental Studies; S. B. Mishra and Sahadev Sahoo (both former Chief Secretaries of Government of Orissa); O N Mohanty, Vice-Chancellor, Biju Patnaik University of Technology; A.B. Tripathy, retired Director General of Police; A. B. Ota, Director SC &ST Research and Development Centre, Government of Orissa; actor Bijay Mohanty, besides three women of repute Rita Ray, Professor, Department of Sociology, Utkal University; Namita Panda, Chairperson State Women Commission; and writer Pratibha Ray.

All the 10 members of the board attended the meeting today and shared their thoughts on CSR with the top Management of Vedanta Group.

According to the company, the advisory board is meant to act as a bridge between the company and the people of Odisha. The board will regularly monitor the CSR initiatives of the company and would ensure that the benefits of CSR efforts reach out to the society at large.

Following is an excerpt from a news report in Business Standard.

The Orissa government today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Titanium Products Private Limited (TPPL), an Indo-Russian joint venture, for setting up of a Rs 2000 crore integrated titanium complex and sector specific special economic zone (SEZ) at Chhatrapur in Ganjam district.

SM Shroff , chairman of TPPL and the state industry secretary, A P Padhi signed the documents in the presence of chief minister, Naveen Patnaik in the state secretariat.

The company will invest about Rs 2000 crore in two phases. While the first phase will cost about Rs 1200 crore, another Rs 800 crore will be invested in the second phase. The first phase will be completed within a period of 24 months and is likely to be commissioned by October 2010. It will produce 1,08,000 tonnes of titanium slag, 68,000 tonnes of high purity pig iron, 40,000 tonnes of di-oxide pigment and 10,000 tonnes of titanium sponge.

TPPL has already entered into an agreement with the Indian Rare Earth Limited (IREL) for the supply of the raw material Ilminite. The company will require about 2 lakh tonnes of Ilminite annually for its project. India will be the fourth country in the world to have smelting technology required for production of titanium. The products will have applications in the field of aircraft engine, power plants, chemical plants, automobile industry as titanium is light and corrosion resistant.

TPPL will develop a sector specific special economic zone (SEZ) at its plant site for which it has received the in-principle approval from the Centre. However, it will require additional land beyond 250 acres acquired for the titanium complex.

The Orissa government has agreed to supply 65 Mw of power and 3 million gallon per day water for the project.

Speaking on the occasion chief minister Naveen Patnaik  … He said, the project is the anchor industry for a sector specific SEZ for establishment of downstream industries in sectors like high quality paint manufacturing, automotive casting, ductile iron casting, sillicon and zircon based products.

Patnaik said, the upcoming port at Gopalpur and the integrated titanium complex are the foundations for an industrial corridor in southern Orissa. These will further be integrated with the aluminium hinterland in Kalahandi, Koraput anfd Raygada. For the purpose, he has requested the railway ministry to take up the Therubali-Gunupur railway connectivity at the earliest.

Stating that establishment of a quality vocational educational institution offering the most modern trades relevant for the industry will be an important initiative in the skill upgradation of the local youth, Patnaik said, TPPL should explore such possibility. Besides, it should develop partnership with the local technical institutions.

In http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/1616 we discussed a report regarding auctioning of minerals. The following article in Sambada illusrtates with numbers that the best way to go would be to decide the winner of the auction based on evaluating the financial and technical bid together and determining which one offers the state the maximum revenue. (Later when time permits I will translate the article into English.)

The following excerpts from a news item from tathya.in illustrates the difference between the state’s income due to only royalties and through auction.

In 2002 the IDCOL made an abortive attempt to give away the mines to Jindal Stainless at a throw away considerations ignoring higher bids by Tata Steel and Visa Industries.

The ill-conceived move by the bureaucrats was foiled by the Orissa High Court, which passed adverse comments regarding the Government of Orissa attempt to compromise public interest in the deal.

Both the State Government and IDCOL appealed before the apex court to get relief with considerable cost and time.

Supreme Court’s order for re-bidding how ever has now materialized.

To the amazement of every one Jindal Stainless which had offered a sum of Rs.38 per ton has now come up with a bid of Rs.3000 per ton for ore having 48 per cent chromium.

And on average they have offered per ton Rs.900.

Visa Industries has out bid Jindal Stainless with an offer of Rs.7000 per ton of chrome having 48 per cent of chromium content.

Even assuming the changes in the commodity prices which have taken place in last 5 years is too much than the price offered earlier.

The colossal loss to the flagship Public Sector Undertaking (PSU), IDCOL can be well imagined if the Jindal Stainless had succeeded in 2002.

Now with opening the financial bids of the participants, it underscores the point that the State Government’s Policy for leasing out the mineral resources of the state is faulty and not at all in the best interest of the state, said a financial analyst.

To take the advantage of high price in demand of metals and minerals in the international market, corporate giants and multinationals like POSCO, Arcelor- Mittal, Essar, Vedanta, Jindal, Bhusan and many others are flocking to Orissa to corner mining leases.

The State Government  … Yet they do not learn from the Tangarpada experience.

… Under the MMDR Act, mines can be reserved for the PSUs and leased out to the State owned companies like IDCOL and OMC.

These PSU can auction the mines among the credible parties after floating world tender for value addition and derive bonanza.

Till date no body knows about the “Policy of Value Addition” of the Government of Orissa.

The Policy should come up immediately and it should be implemented in letter and spirit for the interest of the state.

The positive changes of Policy will not effect industrialization, but it will give substantially higher rate of revenue to the state exchequer as demonstrated in case of Tangarpada.

The state’s entire requirement of funds for eradicating poverty and developing the state can be generated with the policy change, said a former Union Minister.

However there is no effort in this direction.

…  Instead of Centre bashing the State Government should make efforts to maximize revenue from mineral resources through PSU mode, observed a former Secretary of the Government of India.

Definitely the state can earn much more on just the minerals by leasing it to state companies like OMC and IDCOL and then letting those companies auction the mineral. The possible negative of completely following that approach, especially with respect to iron ore, is that the winner of the auction can then take the ore and set up plants in other states. If that happens Orissa will lose out on the side developments associated with plants such as infrastructure building, jobs and the tax that the state can get from the companies.

What the state should do is to try for the best of both worlds. I.e., offer other facilities and enticements to keep the companies in the state but go the route of auction. What other facilities and enticements can the state offer?  Orissa being on the coast, availability of ports nearby is an important factor and it is good that the state is working on the development of many ports and railway lines to those ports. Easy availability of land for the companies will help. More thoughts need to be put in this direction.

There is a chance that some companies will not set up shop in Orissa under these conditions; but these days there seems to be a lot of companies who want to set shop. So perhaps the time has come for the state to change its approach of leasing mines to attract companies to auctioning minerals via IDCOL and OMC and using other methods to attract value addition companies.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

The Gitanjali Group, one of the oldest leading names in gems and jewellery, has proposed to set up a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the State. The group’s infrastructure arm, Gitanjali Infratech Limited (GIL), has approached Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to set up its eighth SEZ for gems and jewellery.

The company’s chief executive officer Ajit A Vaidya has requested the State Government to allocate land for the purpose. If allowed, it will be the first of its kind in the State, said an officer of the Industries Department. The Gitanjali Group is known for its jewellery brands, Nakshatra, Gili, Desire, Asmi, Sangini and D’dmas in both domestic and international markets. GIL’s existing seven SEZs are spread over Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.

While the gross size of the Indian gem and jewellery industry is 20,889.21 million dollars, the country’s jewellery manufacturing is currently only a fraction thereof.

This is predominantly due to lack of availability of organised infrastructure, structured manufacturing and exporting environment, said Vaidya.

Therefore, setting up of more SEZs for this sector would promote export of the Indian products, he said.

The gems and jewellery sector, which is labour-intensive, currently generates more than 3 million jobs with the setting up of SEZs.

As there are more than 2 lakh workers from Orissa engaged in the diamond cutting and polishing industry in Surat, this will help them find jobs in their homeland, feels a senior official.

Following is an excerpt from a report in the Statesman.

The CapEx database of The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, which provides project-wise information of new and ongoing capital expenditure projects in the country, has ranked the state first in terms of value of total envisaged projects for the period ending December 2007.

With an estimated investment of Rs 59,9181 crore the state ranks ahead of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.

The state also ranks first in terms of value of total projects under implementation in the country at Rs 308,589 crore. The other top ranking states in this category are Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Haryana.
Orissa also holds the number one position in the country in terms of value of total envisaged projects since the last three years.

At present there are 483 projects being carried out in the state out of which 52 per cent are under implementation stage while 48 per cent are in the announced stage.

The investment projects in the state include sectors like aluminium, airport, mining, port, power, steel, railway, road and tourism. In the manufacturing sector aluminium, ferro-alloys, steel and refinery are the main sectors attracting investments. Electricity sector has also attracted major investments.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

While the volume of envisaged projects in Orissa was Rs 5,99,181 crore, ahead of many developed provinces including Maharashtra and Gujarat, the state also tops the list of places in terms of prorject implementation.

Stating that majority of investment proposals came in aluminium, air port, mines, port, energy, steel, railway and tourism, the state government claimed that Orissa also led the states in project implementation. About Rs 3,08,589 crore investment was being implemnted in the state.

"The state continues to top the list of project implementation in 2005, 2006 and 2007," an official said quoting the study report of Capex Database Centre.

He pointed out that as much as Rs 5,99,181 crore investment was proposed in 483 projects of which 52 per cent (rs 3,08,589 crore) were in implemntation stage.

However, the official said that rest 42 per cent which amounted Rs 2,90,592 were in announced stage.

The state government also claimed that a large number of investors were in queue for putting their money in power sector.