___________

Update: Biswarup Basu in an IRFCA posting pointed out that based on the current schedule this train is  competitive with the 8005/06 Koraput-Howrah Express; 1 hr 5 minutes faster towards Howrah and 15 minutes slower in the other direction.  So many may not mind traveling end-to-end on this train. He thinks there is enough traffic to introduce a daily train in this route.

East Coast Railway is running eight pairs of a special train between Sambalpur and Howrah via Angul. Following is its schedule.

From end-to-end connectivity point of view the path taken by this train is longer than the regular Sambalpur-Rourkela-HWH path.

• SBP – Howrah : 563 kms
• SBP – Kapilas Rd (273-15 = 258) + Kapilas Rd – HWH 396  = 654 kms

However, this train would give a direct connection between Howrah and places like Angul, Talcher and Dhenkanal. A train in this route with different times and more stops could also provide direct and useful connection between Sambalpur/Redhakhol/Angul/Talcher/Dhenkanal and Jajpur Rd/Bhadrakh/Balasore.  Perhaps ECOR is exploring a regular train in this route. 

Following is an excerpt from a report in TimesofIndia.

The Union government is planning to develop such parks in the state with state-of-the-art infrastructure for the plastic industry and if everything works out according to plan, Balasore will have the country’s first such park. Inspired by the success of software technology parks across the nation, the Centre is planning to set up these parks, which will provide raw materials, power and land for plastic companies.

Moreover, the companies will also be helped to market their products. These parks are expected to generate huge direct and indirect employment. A technical team led by Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology director general S K Nayak, was recently here to survey the feasibility of the project. "We held a meeting with local industrialists who were given a broad idea about the plastic park and its facilities. The response was good. We will submit a report to the Union government and later have a discussion with the state government for land and other facilities. At least 250 acres of land is required for the project," said Nayak.

According to sources, Balasore, which is known as the plastic hub of the state, has about 42 plastic companies with a combined turnover of more than Rs 200 crore. While all the companies come under the small scale industry category, the range of products include plastic pipes, pipe fittings, furniture, woven sack bags, polythene bags and sheets and general moulded items.

"As plastic has become an integral part of everyday life, the Centre is planning the park, which would house at least 100 companies. Existing industries can shift their units to the park and new units can also be set up. Since several facilities are being offered at the park, it will attract new entrepreneurs. We are excited to have the park in the region," Balasore Chamber of Industries and Commerce president Himanshu Das said. "The park will promote development and growth of the plastic industry. It will provide land and efficient power supply at subsidised rate. There will be a bank, common raw material depot, testing centre, common tool room for maintenance and finally an effective marketing system within the park," he said.

This apart, the government of Orissa is also planning to start a "plastic cluster" at Balasore. The Union government has already approved 14 clusters out of 20 notified by the state government for Central assistance.

"Two proposals – one plastic cluster at Balasore and another engineering cluster at Mancheswar have been sent to the Union government for assistance under Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme. Each of these units will avail Rs 60 crore under the scheme," said an official. The team also visited some unutilized government buildings built at the cost of Rs 4.5 crore at Baliapal during the late 80s. The structures were built on around 150 acres of land under the rehabilitation package during the proposed National Test Range which was stalled in 1992 due to vehement opposition.

"We are planning to start the technical training institute here. …

Kudos to Balasore MP and MOS Srikant Jena for playing a major behind the scenes role on this. Now if only Hemanada Biswal, the chair of the labor committee which has a MOS rank, would show similar leadership with respect to Sundergarh and Rourkela. 

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.

Following is an excerpt from a PIB release dated Nov 25, 2008.

Infrastructure Development

The Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned Rs. 610.51 crore for Infrastructure development in the year 2007-08 and Rs.482.07 crore in the year 2008-09.(Upto Oct.2008)

The Ministry has launched a scheme for development of nationally and internationally important destinations and circuits through Mega Projects. To date 22 mega projects have already been identified and of these 15 projects have been sanctioned for an amount of Rs.320.15 Crore . Of these, Amritsar, Agra, Varanasi, Gangtok, Bhubaneswar, Aurangabad and Hyderabad are also being developed as mega destinations through the joint plans of all the key Ministries of Government of India, which includes connectivity through road, rail and air and upgradation of civic infrastructure.

Following is from the year end review of the Tourism ministry as given in the PIB release dated Dec 30, 2008.

2. Infrastructure Development:

Infrastructure Development holds the key to India’s sustained growth in the tourism sector. Therefore, the Ministry of Tourism has been making efforts to develop quality tourism infrastructure at tourist destinations and circuits. The Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned 91 projects for an amount of Rs.503.56 crore for infrastructure augmentation including rural tourism projects in the year 2008-09 (up to November 08).

The Ministry has launched a scheme for development of nationally and internationally important destinations and circuits through Mega Projects. To date 22 mega projects have already been identified and of these 17 projects have been sanctioned. In the year alone the Ministry has sanctioned 11 mega projects at Amritsar, Bhubaneshwar-Puri-Chilka, Tirupati (Nellore-Chittor), Dwarka, Haridwar-Rishikesh, Vidarbha Heritage Circuit, Hampi, Gangtok, Kadapa, Mahabalipuram and Ganga Heritage Cruise Circuit. The mega projects are a judicious mix of culture, heritage, spiritual and ecotourism in order to give tourists a holistic perspective.

Ministry of Tourism is also taking initiatives with other Central Govt. Ministries, such as Railways, Civil Aviation, Road Transport & Highways, Food Processing and Urban Development and also the concerned State Governments to achieve convergence and synergy with their programmes so that the impact of investment on these destinations is maximized. Based on continuous coordination and interaction, 6 tourism sites – Agra, Varanasi, Gangtok, Bhubaneswar, Aurangabad and Hyderabad are being developed as mega destinations through the joint plans of all the key Ministries of Government of India. With the loan assistance of JBIC, the Ajanta Ellora Conservation and Tourism Development Project (Phase-II) is under implementation.

Following is from another PIB release dated December 30, 2008.

In addition, Mega shopping festivals are also being organized in cities of different regions of the country such as Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad, Aurangabad and Noida where artisans and artists from rural tourism sites would be given a platform for exhibition and sale of their handicraft products and for cultural performances.  This kind of exposure to the domestic and international tourists would have far reaching benefits for the socio-economic development of the rural artisans. 

Following is an excerpt from a report in Financial Express.

The proposed port town of Dhamra in Bhadrak district and the coastal village of Astaranga in Orissa are going to get two ultra mega power projects (UMPPs). The Centre, which has awarded two more UMPPs to the state besides the one at Sundergarh, is zeroing in on these two sites for the proposed projects.

A high-level team of experts and officials from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and Power Finance Corporation (PFC) identified the two sites after examining five possible sites located near the coast in the state. The five sites are Kirtaniya (on the mouth of the Subernarekha river) in Balasore district, Dhamra in Bhadrak, Paradip in Jagatsinghpur, Astaranga in Puri and Ganja in Ganjam district.

…  The CVR Navayuga Group has signed an MoU with the Orissa government to set up a 60 million tonne cargo handling capacity port at Astaranga with an investment of Rs 6,000 crore in three phases. The Hyderabad based company is also proposing to set up a 2×660 mw coal-fired thermal power plant and a 12 million tonne steel plant near the port.  

A state government official said DPCL and the Navayuga Group has no objection to the UMPPs coming up near their ports. The two UMPPs with 4000 mw capacity each will be developed through special purpose vehicles promoted by the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) with a proposed investment of Rs 32,000 crore.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

The state-level single-window clearance committee, headed by the chief secretary, today cleared proposals to set up industrial projects drawing a total investment of Rs 2,037 crore.

With the decision, decks have been cleared for signing MoUs by promoters concerned with the state government, sources said.

The committee also forwarded two more proposals for setting up of two thermal power plants to generate 3,300MW with a total investment of Rs 14,275 crore to the high-level clearance authority, headed by the chief minister.

…  While JR Power Gen has proposed to set up a 1,980MW thermal power plant at an estimated cost of Rs 7,988 crore at Kishore Nagar near Angul, BGR Energy has submitted proposals for establishment of a 1,320MW power plant with an investment of Rs 6,287 crore in Nayagarh district.

… the committee gave its final nod to Hindalco’s proposal for setting up an aluminium re-rolling plant with a capacity of 2.85 lakh tonnes at Hirakud in Sambalpur district with an investment of Rs 850 crore.

The proposal of Rashmi Cement Limited to establish a 2 lakh tonnes ferro manganese plant at Haridaspur in Jajpur district with an estimated cost of Rs 300 crore and Dhananjay Industries’s 40,000-tonnes ferro alloy plant at Choudwar near Cuttack with an investment of Rs 180 crore were also cleared.

The committee also cleared the proposal of Kaushal Ferro Manganese for establishment of a re-rolling mill with a production capacity of 2 lakh tonnes at Padiabahal in Sundergarh district with an investment of Rs 82 crore.

The last proposal, which got the nod, was submitted by Bhubaneswar Power Limited to set up a 135MW power plant at Anantpur near Athgarh in Cuttack district on joint venture with Tata Steel and Jasper at an estimated cost of Rs 625 crore.

Following items are from http://twitter.com/orissalinks:

• Bhubaneswar development authority (BDA) plans 1st satellite city at Jagasara-Madanpur; taking lessons from NOIDA. http://bit.ly/8xBnc 
• Rungta mines plans Rs 600-cr cement unit in Orissa. Economic Times. http://bit.ly/3kxe0H7.
• Beautiful beaches in and near Talasari, Balsore District, Orissa. A nice article in Telegraph. http://bit.ly/ISbBn.
• Orissa Sands Complex, at Matikhala near Chhatrapur in Orissa is expected to have a captive power plant. http://bit.ly/aglpH .
• Infosys to invest 600 cr for new facilities @ Mangalore, Pune, Thiruvananthapuram, Chandigarh & Bhubaneswar this year. http://bit.ly/WKjtt.
• http://www.odisha1.com has released tools for learning Odia and provides links for Odia Entertenment.
• Excellent resource on Poet Sri Jayadeva of Orissa. http://www.jayadevfoundatio… He wrote Geetagovinda.
• Superior health care at Nandankanan Zoo in Barang near Bhubaneswar, Orissa. http://bit.ly/qVB5h.
• An excellent blog tracking the progress of Berhampur, Orissa by R. P. Tripathy. http://futureberhampur.blogspot.com/.
• ITC plans hotel in Bhubaneswar, Orissa. Already has land. http://bit.ly/HVrz0.
• I&B ministry gives nod to Community Radio Station (CRS) at Konark, Orissa. http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k9/july/july296.php.
• The Orissa govt. plans a ‘bamboo garden’ on 15 acres inside the Patrapara Medicinal Plant garden in Bhubaneswar.
• Toy making from paper pulp empowers tribal women in Orissa http://bit.ly/1afm0K.
• Bhitarkanika in Orissa shortlisted with 3 others to be presented to UNESCO for world heritage status. http://bit.ly/svKqD.
• PIB: Captive breeding centers for Vultures set up at 4 Zoos: Bhopal, Bhubaneswar Orissa, Junagarh and Hyderabad. http://bit.ly/iYPfg.
• Swosti Plaza Bhubaneswar upgrades. Free airport pick up and drop off. Wi-Fi in rooms. Upgraded health club. http://bit.ly/6mUFg. Swosti Plaza Bhubaneswar upgrades to Swosti Premium. http://bit.ly/6mUFg.
• SRPL plans to launch restaurant brands like Oh! Calcutta, Sigree and Machaan in Orissa by March 2010. http://bit.ly/afzPN.
• Orissa has 8 large and 38 medium reservoirs. Work on 16 reservoirs is in progress. Rs 230.4 crore budget for this. http://bit.ly/109dUK.
• Apollo will be commissioning a 350-bed multi-speciality tertiary hospital at Bhubaneswar before September this year. http://bit.ly/wzae2.
• MP Baijayanta Panda has introduced several private bills. A good step. http://164.100.47.132/lobte….
• Orissa yet to submit final proposal on PCPIR in Paradeep? http://bit.ly/p1YiM.
• Rs1462 crore for Orissa to raise tree cover in degraded forest land. http://bit.ly/UPltI Money had accumulated through CAMPA.
• People blindly opposing industrialization of Orissa should read http://www.counterpunch.org… Orissa needs more job ops.
• Orissa has proposed 4 sites for international size shipyards. http://bit.ly/HJ6DA. Those sites are: Astaranga (in Puri), Palur, Gopalpur and Bahuda muhana/Sonepur (all in Ganjam).
• Next yr Rail budget should have the new trains Bhawanipatna-BBS, Gunupur/Parlakhemundi-BBS and the extension of BBS-Baripada to Bangiriposi.
• MP Tathagat Satpathy wants BBS-NDLS non-stop express to go through Talcher-Angul. How will it benefit his constituency Talcher-Angul?

Following is an excerpt from a release by the Resident Commissioner of Orissa:

Shri Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, Orissa met Shri Anand Sharma, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry at New Delhi and discussed various issues pertaining to development of Industry Clusters and handicrafts in Orissa.

… The Union Minister also agreed to the proposal of the State Government for providing infrastructure support for development of industrial clusters under the Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme (IIUS) of GoI for the clusters located at Balasore (Plastic Products Cluster) at a project cost of Rs 62.50 crore and another at Mancheswar (Engineering Cluster) at a project cost of Rs 61crore. He complimented the State Government for smooth implementation of the Metallurgical Cluster Project in Jajpur (Kalinganagar) which has already been sanctioned for Orissa under the IIUS.

Following is from Samaja:

In the following Business standard reports on progress on the proposed Aluminum park in Angul.

The proposed aluminium park of the public sector National Aluminium Company (Nalco) at Angul in Orissa, which was mired in uncertainty, is finally set to see the light of the day.

The proposed venture will be set up jointly by Nalco and the state owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (Idco). The two partners are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in this regard soon.

Sources said, Nalco and Idco will have equal stake in the project. …

“All the contentious issues have been resolved and the terms and conditions of the draft MoU have been agreed upon by both the partners. The signing of the MoU is a matter of technical formalities”, a senior official of the state industry department told Business Standard.

Sources said, the MoU will be signed by the end of this month and the chief minister Naveen Patnaik will lay the foundation stone for the project in the first week of September. The proposed park will come up adjacent to the existing smelter plant of Nalco at Angul.

The complex will house various downstream and ancillary aluminium industries. Though it was originally planned to develop the project over 200 acres, it has been decided to acquire 50 to 100 acres more to increase the size of the park. This will take care of the future growth requirement and creation of some social infrastructure.

… Sources said, the cost of developing the land in the park will be borne by Nalco and Idco equally and this will be recovered from the units which will come up in the park. An innovative pricing structure is proposed to be put in place for this.

The aluminium park, once fully developed, is expected to attract investment of Rs 300 to 400 crore. It may be noted, the project passed through uncertainty as the state government was earlier reluctant to join the project as a joint venture partner.

Update: Aug 18, 2009 – As Dilip comments below the train should start its maiden run any day now.

Dilip Mohanty writes the following in an IRFCA posting:

The much awaited Rourkela-Bhubaneswar Express (declared in the current budget in an addition to the 57 new trains) remains a mystery. A leading local daily named "SAMBAD" has reoprted that the train will start within a few weeks and the Railways Authorities at Rourkela have already received an additional time table for this train. It reports that the train will depart Rourkela at morning 05:15 hours and reach Bhubaneswar at 13:15 hours in the afternoon. After a stay of about 30 minutes at Bhubaneswar, it will depart at 13:45 hours and reach Rourkela at 21:45 hours(an expected Superfast). This train is supposed to be operated by South Eastern Railway.

This train will bring up some new convenient 1-change connections.

• From Bhubaneswar (BBS) to Mumbai: Using this train one can go to Jharsuguda (JSG) and then take Gitanjali that leaves JSG at 21:43. 2860 Gitanjali Express reaches Mumbai CSTM at 21:30 the next day. The total time from BBS to CSTM would be 31 hrs 45 minutes, much less than 1020 Konark which takes 36 hrs 40 mins. The weeklies 2146 and 2880 take 32hrs 15mins and 30hrs 15mins respectively.
• From Mumbai to Bhubaneswar: 2859 Gitanjali leaves CSTM at 6:00 and reaches JSG the next day at 04:25. One can then take the above Rourkela – Bhubaneswar Express to reach Bhubaneswar at 13:15. The total time from CSTM to BBS would be 31hrs and 15 mins.
• From Rourkela to Secunderabad: Using this train one can go from Rourkela to Bhubaneswar and then take Konark to go to Secunderabad. Konark leaves Bhubaneswar at 15:15 and reaches Secunderabad the next day at 11:35. The total time from Rourkela to Secunderabad would be 30hrs 20 mins. (One can take Falaknuma that leaves BBSR at 14:05 instead of Konark; but the connection time would be much less making it risky.)
• From Secunderabad to Rourkela: 2704 Falaknuma leaves Secunderabad at 16:00 and reaches BBS the next day at 10:40. One can then take the BBS-ROU Express to Rourkela to reach ROU at 21:45. The total duartion will be 29 hrs and 45 mins.

(A draft of the Bhubaneswar part of the CDP is at http://www.orissalinks.com/bigfiles/Draft%20Proposal_CDP%20BDPA-2008/).

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business standard.

The implementation of the Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) of Bhubaneswar prepared by the department of architecture and urban planning of IIT-Kharagpur would involve an investment of Rs 31,450 crore on different sectors by 2030.

Out of the total investment of Rs 31,450 crore, the public investment would be Rs 15,000 crore which is to be raised through a specially created fund called Bhubaneswar Cuttack Urban Complex Infrastructure Fund.

The balance requirement would be met through long-term loans, capital finance through devolution of funds, user charges and improved collection of taxes.

KC Satpathy, planning member, Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) said, “Out of the total investment of Rs 31,450 crore for the CDP, the amount spent on traffic and transportation would be Rs 9,990 crore while Rs 7,500 crore would be invested in building 4.31 lakh dwelling units spread over 9,286 acres by 2030.”

The draft CDP of Bhubaneswar is expected to be finalised by the end of October this year, he added. It may be noted that the last CDP for Bhubaneswar was prepared in 1994.

…  Speaking on the occasion, Vishal Dev, commissioner, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) said, “There is scope for developing projects like affordable housing, city transportation, solid waste management and preservation of heritage structures on the public private partnership mode.”

The traffic and transportation plan of the CDP includes among other things the construction of a regional rail passenger terminal facility near Barang at a cost of Rs 400 crore and the setting up of a regional bus passenger terminal facility near Barang at an investment of Rs 100 crore.

Besides, Rs 250 crore would be invested in construction of a multi-modal logistic hub at Jatni while a wholesale trading and truck terminal facility would be set up near Pahala at a cost of Rs 150 crore.

As per the CDP, 4.31 dwelling units would be built in areas like Chandrasekharpur, east Kuakhai, Aigania, Tamando, Gangapada, Bhubaneswar New Town, Khurda and Jatni to help accommodate the projected population of 30 lakh in and around the city by 2030.

The CDP says that the water requirement would reach 88 million gallons per day by 2030 and the plan has envisaged an investment of Rs 1,125 crore to ensure 100 per cent water supply.

The creation of additional social infrastructure facilities including schools, colleges, hospitals, telecommunications facilities, postal services, recreation halls, commercial banks, parks and playgrounds, community halls and electricity substations by 2030 would involve an investment of Rs 3,310 crore.

The CDP has also emphasised on development of tourism projects. According to the CDP, 316 hectares of land in and around the city would be earmarked for various tourism projects at a cost of Rs 580 crore.

Moreover, Rs 300 crore would be invested on preservation and promotion of heritage structures in Bhubaneswar and Khurda.

An excellent blog on Berhampur’s growth is at http://futureberhampur.blogspot.com/.

(Thanks to reader Abhisek for the pointers.)

The following is from Orissa gazette of December 30 2008 making the declaration.

 

EXTRAORDINARY

PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY

No. 2382, CUTTACK, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2008/PAUSA 9, 1930

HOUSING & URBAN DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT

NOTIFICATION

The 29th December 2008

S.R.O. No. 641/2008

In exercise of the powers conferred by clause (2) of article 243 Q of the Constitution of India the Governor of Orissa hereby specifies the local area comprising the whole of the Berhampur Municipal Council in the district of Ganjam with the boundaries described in the Schedule given below as a larger urban area.

SCHEDULE

North : Chandaniapahada, Ambagada, Ratnapur, Jagadalpur, Nimakhandi, Luchapada, Bhavinipur, Bada Gumula, Pali Gumula, Sana Kausasthali and Narendrapur.

South : Aruva pali, Ganja, Brahmapali, Khajuria, Phulata, Haladiapadar.

East : Raghunathpur, Pathura, Dura, Mandiapalli, Aruvapali.

West : Bendalia Lathi, Sukunda, Chandania pahada, Ambagada.

[No. 33010-Ele(Con)6/2008/HUD.]

By order of the Governor

Dr. A.K.PANDA

Commissioner-cum-Secretary to Government

Following are some excerpts from a report in Hindu.

The Berhampur Development Authority (BDA) organised a launching workshop on Saturday on the preparations of Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) for a greater Berhampur. The CDP is to be prepared by the Town and Country Planning Organisation (TCPO), the technical advisory body of Central Ministry of Urban Development. The new master plan would be Geographical Information System (GIS)-based. It would depend on remote sensing data provided by satellites as well as the ground level data collected through surveys. …

The preparation of the CDP would cost around Rs. 1,09,75,000. The State Government, which would bear the cost, has provided Rs. 35.50 lakhs for it in the first phase.

It may be noted that Berhampur, a major trading and cultural centre had its last master plan way back in 1969. This master plan envisioned the urban growth and required basic amenities for a population of over two lakh persons by the year 1986. The present CDP however would provide urban development plan for the area now under the BDA which includes areas of urban bodies like Berhampur, Gopalpur and Chatrapur and 139 villages. This would be part of the greater Berhampur with a vision of development for next 30 years. The CDP would comprise a total area of 317 square km having a population of 5,13,760 persons. It is expected that the CDP would be ready in 18 months.

Update: Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Kolkata-based Speciality Group of Restaurants, a leading restaurant chain in the country, plans to introduce its restaurant brands like Oh! Calcutta, Sigree and Machaan in Orissa by March 2010.

The group is also exploring the possibility of opening standalone restaurants that would exclusively serve the Oriya delicacies.

Specialiy Group, which is run by more than 2,500 people, has set up the Mainland Institute of Oriental Catering in Kolkata keeping in view the group’s increasing requirement for hospitality professionals to meet its expansion plans.

The group is also keen on setting up an institute in Bhubaneswar. … China restaurant in the city is the 53 rd restaurant opened by the Speciality Group of Restaurants. It is the second restaurant of the group in the city after Haka.

Mainland China is the flagship brand of the Speciality Group with 17 standalone outlets in the country. This restaurant is present in cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Nashik and Baroda.

The other restaurant brands of the Speciality Group include Sweet Bengal, Just Biriyani and Mostly Kabab.

Haka location in Bhubaneswar is:

Haka-Bhubaneshwar
MLC-Aditya Park,
10, Bhouma Nagar,
Unit No. – 4,
Bhubaneshwar – 751 001.
Tel        :   (0674) 6943954/55

An Economic Times news report mentions that Mainland China is opening at Hotel Crown. Following are some excerpts.

Speciality Restaurants [SRPL] the country’s largest chain of fine dining eateries of reputed brands on Monday will open Mainland China – the flagship brand of the group with 23 standalone outlets in the country, at the Crown Hotel, here.

Though the Group has already got its footprints here with the opening of Haka – one of it’s ‘casual dining’ brand, the Mainland China is all set to offer exotic Chinese delicacies at an affordable price.

“Bhubaneswar is the much happening state capital in the east. The opening of Mainland China will go a long way to satisfy food connoisseurs looking for vast spread of rare delicacies from the varied regions of China. We have an ambitious plan to open at least half-a-dozen restaurants in the state capital, Puri and other small towns with an investment of about Rs 15 crore”, SRPL founder Anjan Chatterjee on Sunday told “The ET”.

It also plans to invest abut Rs 50 crore for an entertainment and food park near the Infocity here. The company has already acquired one and half acre land from the state government.

… Meanwhile, SRPL has set an ambitious target of investing around Rs 200-250 crore through both the organic and inorganic routes to become a 100-resturant company in the next one year from its present strength of 52 restaurants.

It also has firmed up plans for backward integration in the form of trained manpower and food processing. Aware of shortage of skilled and trained manpower to manage restaurants in the country, Mr Chatterjee is planning to set up a Restaurant Management School here.

“We have a Speciality Catering College at Kolkata for our in-house requirements. I am looking for vertical knowledge based schools which can run one-year course to manage restaurants. Managing hotel and managing restaurants are two different things”, he observed.

… “We will first launch select ready to cook Mainland China poly packs followed by ready to eat food. We have identified Khurda Food Processing Zone, near Bhuabneswar for packaged food items”, Mr Chatterjee reveals saying that the expansion plan will be funded througha mix of debt and equity.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Indopia.

  … "The first phase with 0.8 Mtpa capacity is expected to be commissioned by June-July, 2010. Work for the stainless steel plant is going on in full swing,"JSL Vice President and Managing Director Ratan Jindal told reporters after meeting Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Though there has been some delay in the Rs 6,500 crore project …

Once the first phase is commissioned, work for the next phase would be expedited to achieve the 1.6 Mtpa capacity at the earliest.

… He said 50 per cent of the electricity generated from the captive power plant (cpp) of the company is being provided to the state government.

On the proposed 1,000 mw thermal plant to be set up in Dhenkanal, Jindal said details were being worked out for the project.

Tathya.in has a few statements on the simple style of Billionaire owner Ratan Jindal.

Ratan, in fact, known for his down to earth approach and simple life style.

He like others never moves in his personal jet and does not shows off his wealth, said an industry watcher.

He simply moves in Jetlite or Indigo with a few of his officers.

Ratan Jindal is the one of 4 sons of late O. P. Jindal. His mother is a minister in the Harayana state government and one of the brother Naveen Jindal is an MP. There are many colleges and a university with O. P. Jindal’s name. This includes the:

• O. P. Jindal Global University in Harayana with Jindal Global Law School as its first school
• O. P. Jindal Institute of Technology in Chhatisgarh under the aegis of Jindal Education and Welfare Society

The Orissa government should push Mr. Ratan Jindal for an engineering college and a medical college in Orissa.

Following is from a web site of world bank about doing business in various cities of India. This site has the main findings. The full report is at http://www.doingbusiness.org/Documents/Subnational/DB09_Subnational_Report_India.pdf.

The overall ranking of the 17 cities are:

1. Ludhiana
2. Hyderabad
3. Bhubaneswar
4. Gurgaon
5. Ahmedabad
6. New Delhi
7. Jaipur
8. Guwahati
9. Ranchi
10. Mumbai
11. Indore
12. Noida
13. Bangalore
14. Patna
15. Chennai
16. Kochi
17. Kolkata

Why is Pune not in the list?

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

Land has been identified near Amarda in Mayurbhanj district for establishment of the Army base in the State.

General-officer-commanding (GOC), central command, J.K. Mohanty met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here at the Secretariat today to discuss the issue.

Mohanty told mediapersons that it is now for the State Government to acquire the land and hand it over for establishment of the base.

The Centre recently informed the State Government that it had decided in principle to establish an Army base in the State and requested it to provide the required land. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had assured the Centre that it will extend all cooperation including provision of land for this purpose.

Amarda is close  to NH 60 on State highway 61. Its about 15 kms west of from Jaleswar. It is 10 km from Rasgobindpur airport and is about 50 kms from Baripada. There is an Amarda Road station between Basta and Rajghat stations.

The sequence of Railways stations around Amarda Rd are: Balasore, Rupsa Jn (18), Basta (28), Amarda Rd (34), Jaleswar (48).

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Gurgaon-based real estate firm Vipul Limited, one of the leading real estate developers in the country, plans to invest Rs 80-100 crore in setting up a four-star business hotel in Bhubaneswar .

Vipul Limited had identified Bhubaneswar as one of the 5-6 strategic locations in the country where it intends to set up three-star and four-star business hotels.

Apart from Bhubaneswar, these business hotels are set to come up in the states of Punjab, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. Each of these business hotels would cost Rs 80-100 crore.

“We have identified two to three plots of land in Bhubaneswar, including one close to the airport for setting up a four-star business hotel. "

The proposed hotel would come up on an area of 2-3 acres”, Punit Beriwala, managing director, Vipul Limited told Business Standard.

He declined to comment on the time-frame of setting up of the business hotel as the details were yet to be worked out.

Following is an excerpt from a report in http://www.mydigitalfc.com/companies/tatas-hire-singapore-firm-sez-273.

Tata Realty & Infrastr-ucture (TRIL), Tata Group’s real estate and infrastructure development arm, has hired Singapore-based Jurong International as the master planner for its special economic zone (SEZ) project in Gopalpur (Orissa).

“We have shortlisted Jurong for this important project,” said a Tata group official. Jurong offers design and build, consultancy, construction, and facilities management services and its India office is located in Hyderabad.
The multi-product SEZ, with all infrastructure facilities and required amenities, will cost the group nearly $ 1billion.
So far, Jurong has done master plans for 380,000 hectares, 10 million square meters of industrial land and 5.8 million square meters of residential space.

The SEZ in Gopalpur will focus on minerals, mining and associated industries. At present, Tata Steel possesses the land slotted for SEZ. In 1995, Tata Steel acquired the land for Rs 150 crore to set up a 2.5 million tonne per annum port-based steel plant in Orissa and spent. This plan had to be abandoned due to lack of amenities such as adequate water and iron ore linkages at the site. Now, Tata Steel is putting up a multi-million tonnes per annum steel plant at Kalinganagar in Orissa.

We plan to focus on industries that are downstream value-added in the metals and minerals space and allied industries such as gem and jewellery for the SEZ, which is planned to come up in 2,900 acres. The land is already in our possession and the necessary approvals are in place. So we expect that this development will not face any land acquisition related problems,” a TRIL official told Financial Chro-nicle.
“The positioning of the SEZ has been made keeping in mind the advantages of the local area and infrastructure such as a functioning port that’s capable of deep draught, an air strip and railway slidings that could be utilised by the industrial units in the zone,” added the official.

I hope this is for real and not because TATAs are due for some mining lease renewal. They have been accused of using such strategy with Orissa during mining lease renewal times.

Following is excerpted from a report in Business Standard.

Though Orissa has 183 million tonnes of chrome ore, constituting 98 per cent of the total chrome deposits in the country, only 3.27 per cent of this, which comes to about 6 million tonne, has been fully explored till date.

To expedite the exploration and exploitation of chrome reserves in the state, the government has granted mining leases to 15 companies including Ferro Alloys Corporation (Facor) and Balasore Alloys.

Of the total chrome reserves in Orissa, Sukinda area in Jajpur district has the lion’s share of 173 million tonne (mt). This includes low grade chrome.

The places in Sukinda where the chrome deposits are found are Kamarda (2 mt), Saruabili (9 mt), Sukrangi (7.5 mt), Kaliapani (25 mt), Bhimatanger (98 mt), Kalarangi (0.5 mt) and Chingudipal and Tailangi (13 mt).

Out of the total deposits found in Sukinda area, 18 million tonne are of inferior quality, says the state steel and mines minister, Raghunath Mohanty said.

The Kamakshyanagar in Dhenkanal district, which adjoins Sukinda valley, has about 4.42 million tonne reserve of chromite in locations like Sandhasar, Tulasiposhi, Haladigunda and Kathapal. The estimated reserves at Kathapal are 2 million tonne.

Mohanty said, the total chromite reserve of the state is estimated at 183 million tonne, out of which 177.42 million tonne occur in Sukinda and Kamakshyanagar area.

Following is from Samaja:

Following is from a report in Economic Times:

Union minister of state for chemicals and fertilizer, Srikant Jena on Sunday said the fertilizer plant at Talcher, 126 km from here would be revived with an investment

of Rs 12,000 crore. It provided direct and indirect employment to 30000 people in the area.

“The government will appoint consultants to suggest the modalities to raise finance, identify appropriate technology to revive the closed fertiliser unit at Talcher”, Mr Jena told ET.

The union government already had decided to revive Talcher plant. In fact, last October the Cabinet had set up an Empowered Committee of Secretaries under the chairmanship of Fertiliser Secretary Atul Chaturvedi to come up with possible financial models for the revival of the closed plants at Talcher, Barauni, Haldia, Ramagundam, Durgapur, Gorakhpur, Korba and Sindri.

The Talcher plant had liabilities of over Rs 4000 crore and assets worth of Rs 225 crore. “The liabilities comprise of mostly loans from the government of India and interest on loans. This can be waived once all the modalities of revival are worked out. We propose to expand its capacity to 12 million ton per annum [TPA].

Commercial production of Ammonia and Urea at the Talcher unit commenced in November 1980. Urea and Ammonia plants have been designed with a capacity to produce 4.95 lakh and 2.97 lakh tpa respectively.

However production of Urea and Ammonia was first suspended from April 1, 1999 due to its economic non-viability. In 2002, it came to grinding halt after the NDA government decided to close the unit following BIFR sanction.

Last year, the union government decided to renew Talcher unit and consulted with the companies like the Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers and National Fertilisers. It even decided to put in an investment of Rs 5,000 crore in the project in view of the ambitious target of production of 40 million tpa of urea by 2012.

… RCF is the only profit making public sector fertilizer company which has evinced interest to take over Talcher and Durgapur (West Bengal) Fertilizer plant for revival. In fact, the feasibility report on Talcher had already been submitted to RCF.

The revival plan included proposal to convert Talcher plant from a coal based urea plant to a gas-based urea unit with capacity to produce 2000 ton of ammonia per day. There is no problem of water in Talcher, non-availabilty of gas remains the biggest hurdle in the way of reviving the plant. There is no source of gas nearby.

The proposed gas pipe line to be laid by Reliance Industries carrying gas from Krishna-Godavari basin to West Bengal via Bhadrak in Orissa could be the solution, sources said. However, the ministry will take a final view after the consultants submit detailed report on the financial model and technological options available for the revival of the Talcher unit.

Following is from a report in Pioneer:

Union Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Srikant Jena has to push a few major projects for Orissa, feel industry watchers. One of the largest projects waiting for clearance is the Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) project at Paradip.

The State Government has proposed a PCPIR expecting an investment of Rs 2.75 lakh crore.

While PCPIRs have been approved for Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, the fate of Orissa’s proposal for it is still hanging. The PCPIR policy, notified in April 2007, seeks to ensure adoption of a holistic approach to the development of global scale industrial clusters in the petroleum, chemical and petrochemical sectors in an integrated and environment-friendly manner.

The Government of Orissa has taken the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) as the anchor investor. The IOCL is investing nearly Rs 30,000 crore for a greenfield refinery project at Paradip. The PCPIR proposal is, however, gathering dust in the files of the Ministry. So, it is high time Jena pushed the project to the Union Cabinet for approval by convincing the Cabinet-rank Minister MK Ajhagiri.

With this single clearance, Paradip will be in a position to attract huge investments in the petroleum, petrochemicals, fertilisers and other related areas. Similarly, Jena can push for the establishment of a NIPER (National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research) in Orissa.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

As regards Orissa projects, where 80% of the employees are from the state, we have resolved not to go for any layoff. In fact, we are appointing more and more people in our projects here,” Vedanta Group chairman Anil Agarwal told reporters here on Saturday on the sidelines of his first meeting with Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik after the latter swept the just concluded polls.

Mr Agarwal claimed that Vedanta had already invested Rs 25,000 crore of its promised Rs 50,000 crore investment in the state. “The rest will be spent in the next two years”, he assured.

Meanwhile, the VAL had secured Stage I clearance for mining of bauxite in Niyamgiri hills to feed its Lanjigarh project. …

Mr Agarwal also stated that Vedanta had got coal block for its Jharsuguda smelter project and it will soon start coal mining. To a query on the University project, Mr Agarwal said: “We are going to start our university project very soon.”

Mr Agarwal hoped that the state government would soon pass the Vedanta University Bill in the Assembly. “We have already submitted all papers to the state government required for passing of the Vedanta University Bill. I hope it will be passed in the House shortly,” he added.

He informed that Anil Agarwal Foundation – which is setting up a world class university at Puri that includes a 1000-bed hospital – will have its extended centre in Bhubaneswar. “During the meeting, the CM was contemplating if we have can have an extended centre of our hospital project in Bhubaneswar to set up a trauma centre for burn and coma patients. We have in fact agreed for it,” he said.

Following are some of the items mentioned in the article below:

• The 2.5 km from Vani Vihar to Master Canteen will be made 8 lanes. (Janpath from NH 5 to Mahatma Gandhi marg) This will be the second 8 lane segment in Bhubaneswar after the Sainik School to Acharya Vihar segment. (Sachivalaya marg from NH 5 to Sainik School)
• The six lane road from airport to KIIT will be extended all the way up to Nandan Kanan.
• A flyover from Lingaraj station to Pokhariput is planned.
• Another flyover from Rasulgarh to Sainiki School via Mancheswar Railway workshop and VSS Nagar is planned.
• A road from Nandan Kanan Lake to Trishulia through Barang bypass
• Fourlaning from Siripur to Fire station (Azad marg)