___________

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

With more than 1,050 species of finest and richest varieties of cacti and succulents grown in an area of 20,000sqft, the centre — established by the state government — has been evolving many new inter-generic and inter-specific hybrids adding new names to the existing list.

Continuing with the effort to popularise the collection, curation and propagation of cacti among the public, the centre would soon open a new cacti house.

The house is likely to be opened by the last week of this month, the centre’s chief executive officer, A.K Mahapatra said.

The centre already has a series of poly-houses covering an area of 20,000sqft. The new addition would house 500 t0 600 varieties of cacti, he added. Apart from collecting samples from different parts of the world, the centre has many indigenously developed varieties. Out of several varieties of cactus found across the world, Echinocactus grusonii, Gymnocalycium, Mammillaria, Melocactus, Ferocactus, Astrophytum, Sulcorebutia, Opuntia, Parodia and Hildwintera are prized possessions of the centre

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The Anil Agarwal-owned Vedanta group has made substantial headway in land acquisition for its three projects in Orissa which entail a combined investment of over Rs 30,000 crore.

The group needed 11,700 acres for its university at Puri, an alumina refinery at Lanjigarh, and its smelter and power project at Bharkhamunda near Jharsuguda. It has already acquired about 7,515 acres.

The total land needed for the Rs 15,000-crore university is 6,000 acres. The company has to date acquired 3,155 acres and taken possession of 2256.49 acres, which includes 385.15 acres of government land and 1871.34 acres of private land.

… Vedanta Aluminium has acquired the 2,000 acres it needed in Lanjigarh in the economically-backward Kalahandi district for its one-million-tonne-per-annum (MTPA), Rs 4,000-crore alumina refinery. Besides, it has got 80 per cent of the 200 acres needed for a rail corridor for the project.

“About 80 per cent of the 200 acres needed for the railway link has been acquired. We hope to complete the process very soon”, said Mukesh Kumar, chief operating officer, Vedanta Aluminium.

In a relief to the company, the Supreme Court recently cleared the diversion of 660.749 hectares of forest land for mining bauxite in Niyamgiri hills in the Kalahandi district.

While the mining plan has been approved by the Indian Bureau of Mines, the company hopes to start operating the mine in the next four-six months. However, it will have to get clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests.

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

… With the state attracting around Rs 6,00,000-crore investments, including two biggest FDI proposals from ArcelorMittal and Posco, property prices in the city have jumped 4-8 times in five years.

Rapid urbanisation coupled with positive developments in sectors like information technology, biotechnology and mega investments in airport, steel, aluminium, mining, power, railways, road, port, hospitality and manufacturing has given a boost to realty in the state capital. A 1,200 square feet apartment in an up market area such as Kharabela Nagar, Forest Park and Saheed Nagar now costs between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 40 lakh.

“There is a mismatch between demand and supply, leading to steep hike in property prices in Bhubaneswar. Against a demand of 2,0000 houses in the medium and upper housing categories, the supply is mere 1,000 houses only. …

In the last five years, the city has witnessed tremendous growth in all segments,IT park, BPO, call centres, hotels, technical institutes, medical colleges and hospitals. In fact, the rise in number of world-class educational institutes has put the pressure on the city. This also has attracted many leading real estate companies in the country, which have taken the land for different projects.

But confusion is writ large among both the developers and customers with the government owning around 80% of land. “The state government is yet to come out with a clear policy on real estate for the capital city. Besides, land consolidation policy is conspicuous by its absence. …

The state government owns about 80% of the land in the state capital while 10% of private land is under legal dispute and the rest 10% is in the hands of landlords. The leading real estate companies from the country have taken land from the government to put up huge properties.

DLF has taken 54 acres of land from the state government owned IDCO near Infocity at Chandrasekharpur where it is coming up with 40 lakh square feet floor space to accommodate an IT Park, shopping, hotels, retail and residential apartments. Similarly, Unitech emerged as a successful bidder for 11 acres of land leased out by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority to develop commercial properties like multiplexes, retail and office space.

Vipul Group is developing a 19-acre township in a public private partnership mode with Orissa State Housing Board (OSHB). Similarly, Mumbai-based K Raheja Corp proposes to set-up a Mindspace IT Park here through a joint venture with the government or any of its agencies over 30 acres in three years at an investment of Rs 250 crore.

Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (IIDCO) will acquire land for the project. FIRE (First Indian Real Estate) Capital Fund, a global PE Fund, is eyeing major investments in Bhubaneswar. …

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pragativadi.

Jindal Steel and Power Ltd is optimistic about commissioning the first phase of the proposed six MTPA steel mill in Orissa’s Angul district by October 2010.

… Briefing newsmen after the meeting, Jindal said that the work for the first phase of the project was progressing well.

The company had already spent Rs 4,000 crore so far for it and has placed an order for equipment for the purpose.

Of its total project cost of Rs 13,135 crore, JSPL had also spent a lot on land, construction, equipment and other activities, he said.

Jindal said JSPL has a small iron ore mine at Tensa in Keonjhar district and is hopeful of getting raw material linkage to its Angul project. 

We have been allotted coal block for the requirement of our captive power plant and the steel plant, he added.

He said that the company apprised the chief minister about the progress and made a presentation before him, while seeking the state government’s help in availing new raw material linkage early.

The JSPL which signed an MoU with the state government for setting up a beneficiation plant at Deojhar in Keonjhar district and the Angul steel plant on November 11, 2005, had progressed well besides tackling local problems, he said.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pragativadi.

The Supreme Court on Friday permitted South Korean steel major Posco to set up Rs 51,000-crore mega steel plant and captive minor port at Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district.

A special environmental bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan allowed Posco India Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of South Korea-based Posco, to go ahead with its plans.

With this order, the apex court has also cleared forest diversion proposal for the plant site which require 1253.225 hectares of forest land.

The court, while directing the Orissa government to dispose of all the Posco’s applications seeking prospecting licences within four weeks, also asked the state government to send its recommendations to the ministry of environment and forests that would proceed in accordance with law.

The bench also asked the state government to undertake implementation of compensatory afforestation plan under the supervision of a Supreme Court-appointed committee comprising top officials of the state government.

… Posco counsel Mukul Rohtagi contended that the state government-owned Orissa Mining Corporation had agreed to supply uninterrupted iron ore and other minerals for its steel project and had identified mines in the western part of the state, some 300 km away from its project site.

… The company can source raw materials on its own and can buy the same from the open market, he said, adding that the company is not dependent on prospecting licence.

Following is from a report in hospitalitybizindia.

Eleven hospitality majors like the Indian Hotels Company, ITC Welcomgroup, Dubai-based Emaar MGF, DLF, IHHR Hospitality, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels, Goa-based VM Salgaonkar Bros Pvt Ltd, Unitech, Delhi-based Zoom Developers, Kolkata-based Shristi Infrastructure Development Corporation and Mumbai-based Subha Hospitality have been selected by the Tourism Department of Orissa to convert Samukha Beach, the long virgin beach situated near the Konark Temple, into the biggest beach city of India.

The project was planned to be completed in two phases on a public private partnership (PPP) format in October 2007. The beach city will house five-star properties, golf courses, convention centres, handicrafts centres, art centres and conventions halls. It will also include special varieties of housing estates, social housings, condominiums, budget hotels and villas.

The Tourism Department inaugurated the commencement of the awaited hop-on and hop-off bus services, recently. Sasank Rath, Officer on Special Duty, Orissa Tourism said that the work for sizing of the lands is currently going on, while lands will be disbursed by the end of August 2008. The Tourism Department plans to invest Rs 2000-3000 Crore to build the whole project. The State Government will invest Rs100 Crore for infrastructure development. Work on the project is expected to start in August 2008 and it will take another 42 months for it to be completed.

 

Following is an excerpt from a news report in the Telegraph.

Painter Jatin Das’s dream of a museum for traditional and contemporary art in his native Orissa has gone international.

Das was in Washington and New York last week outlining his plans for the J.D. Centre of Art in Bhubaneswar to his American and Indian American fans.

At an interactive evening at the Indian embassy here, hosted by India’s deputy chief of mission Raminder Singh Jassal, with slides of his life’s work, Das said the proposed centre would be the first in India to display both traditional and contemporary art in 14 permanent galleries under one roof.

The Orissa government has allotted an acre of land to the painter, who was born in Mayurbhanj. B.V. Doshi, the famous architect from Ahmedabad and associate of Le Corbusier, has designed the master plan for the ambitious centre.

The painter said he had been dreaming of the project for almost a decade and expected that it would cost Rs 50 crore to make it a reality.

“I have been funding the centre, which has a board and a small staff of six people, with money from my paintings. They are temporarily working out of a house in Bhubaneswar given by the state government,” Das told this correspondent.

But he plans to make international requests for funding and hopes Indian Americans will join in the effort.

When the centre is ready, Das will donate his entire collection of 45 years, including paintings, books and antiquities, to the new venture to be housed in one place.

Following is the news report on the discussion (almost a confrontation) with the Railway Board Chair, as reported in India Abroad. The basic premise behind our grievances against Indian Railways and our demands is simple.

• Indian railways is scheduled to make 2500-3000 crores/year from Orissa, but spends only 1000 crores/year on Orissa in terms of new lines, doubling and gauge conversion.
• Its current plan for major spending includes freight corridors, metro rails, and high speed rails, none of which touch Orissa. It plans to do gauge conversion of 12000 kms, most of which is unprofitable (this proves that Indian Railway lies when it says it only does profitable lines), very little (less than 100 km) of which is in Orissa.
• Orissa is already behind the national average in terms of rail density and way behind its neighbors such as West Bengal and Bihar. If no changes are made to the 11th plan IR allocations Orissa will further fall behind.
• Indian Railways must not take money from its profit in Orissa, and spend it else where, until it takes care of proper connectivity to Orissa’s tribal, backward and maoist infested areas. The 2500-3000 times 5 = 12,500 -15,000 crore that Indian Railways will profit from Orissa during the 11th plan must be spend in new lines in Orissa until the (i)-(v) lines below and other port and mine connectivity lines are completed during the 11th plan.
• To Mr. Jena’s retort that Mumbai earns so much in taxes and not all of it is spent in Mumbai; we reply that it is often acceptable to take from rich and give to poor; But when did it become acceptable to take from poor (Orissa) and give to rich (freight corridors etc. in other states)?

The lines in Orissa connecting to the tribal and backward areas that we demand to be finished during the 11th plan are:

• (i) Khurda Rd – Nayagarh – Balangir: Lack of connectivity was one of the reasons a recent Maoist mayhem happened in Nayagarh. It seems after recent events, including the confrontation with the Railway Board Chair and various dharanas in Bhubaneswar, IR has started responding to this demand, but not to the extent to promise its completion during the 11th plan. Note that Balangir is the B in the KBK districts that are the most backward in India.
• (ii) Lanjigarh Rd – Junagarh – Nabarangpur – Jeypore – Malkangiri – Bhadrachalam Rd in Andhra Pradesh: Only small part of this is approved. Most of it is not even surveyed. In the long run this will really bring those parts of Orissa closer to the rest of Orissa. This is the most important connection and has to be take care of at the earliest. Like the approved Vijaywada-Ranchi highway, this line will create an alternative Hyderabad – Ranchi path passing through backward and tribal areas of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Jharkhand. This line will connect the Kalahandi and Koraput districts, the two K’s in KBK. The recent Maoist attack and killing of the Greyhound forces in Malkangiri might have been prevented if this line existed as then the forces would have used the train rather than being seating ducks taking a boat across a lake in Malkangiri.
• (iii a) Rayagada – Gopalpur: This has been surveyed and but work on it has not started. Note that Rayagada is part of the undivided Koraput district, one of the K’s of KBK. This line could come under port connectivity and will be a viable line connecting the industries near Rayagada with the upcoming port in Gopalpur.
• (iii b) Gunupur – Theruvali: This will add to the Naupada-Gunupur line and make it an economically viable line. (IR and Mr. Jena agree about its importance.) This line will be completely inside the Raygada district, part of the undivided Koraput district, one of the K’s of KBK.
• (iv) Talcher – Bimlagarh (connectivity to the tribal district of Sundergarh): This line has been approved but is only being given a few crores each year, which is less than the inflation. This line will reduce the distance between Sundergarh district and teh coastal areas significantly. For example, it will make Rourkela only 4-5 hrs from Bhubaneswar.
• (v) Baripada/Buramara – Chakulia: This line will connect the tribal district of Mayurbhanj to tribal areas of Jharkhand. It will add to the Rupsa-Baripada-Bangiriposi line and make it an economically viable line. (IR and Mr. Jena agree about its importance.)

All these lines can be completed if Indian railways just suspends its practice of taking from poor (Orissa) and giving to the rich for only a few years (may be just 3-4 years). The following maps show the above mentioned lines.

Following is from a report in steelguru.

TATA Power Company & Indian Oil Corporation have decided to float a new company for jointly developing a 1,000 MW coal based power project at Paradip in Orissa. The shareholding pattern of the JV would be 74-26 for TPC and IOC, respectively.

As per report, the proposed project is essentially being set up as a captive project to meet the power requirements of IOC’s 15 million tonnes per annum integrated refinery cum petrochemicals complex at Paradip. The plant may also supply power to the proposed steel plant of the TATA group in Orissa as also other industries in and around the Paradip complex.

Under the JV agreement, Indian Oil is committed to source at least 51% power and the surplus generation can be traded by the JV company. The authorized share capital of JVC will be INR.1,200 crore and the capital will be increased to meet the requirement of further investment as and when called for.

Based on a feasibility study carried out by TPC & IOC the tariff for power supply to the Paradip complex has been estimated on annual levelised basis for 25 years operation at INR 2.46 per unit. The levelised power tariff on similar basis for captive generation within Paradip complex has also been assessed jointly with Foster Wheeler which indicates a significantly higher value of over INR 5 per unit.

Following is  from a report in New Indian Express.

The State Government will lease out unused land of Orissa State Road Transport Corporation (OSRTC) at Cuttack, Baripada and here to the Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) for commercial purpose.

The OSRTC has prime land at Master Canteen, Pala Mandap in Cuttack and Baripada town. The corporation will lease out the Master Canteen land to RIL for 33 years for Rs 20 crore. Reliance has proposed to open retail outlets and has agreed to pay a monthly rental of Rs 15 lakh.

The company has reportedly deposited Rs 6 crore with the Government for the OSRTC land at Baripada town. However, OSRTC will collect monthly rent from RIL for all the leased out plots. Rent will be revised every five years.

The proceeds from leased out land will be invested for procurement of more buses and modernisation of the Government bus stands.

In the first phase, five bus stands at Angul, Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Dhenkanal and Sambalpur will be modernised under the public-private partnership.

While the bus stands of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Sambalpur will be renovated, two new bus stands will be developed at Angul and Dhenkanal.

The public utility has 230 on road buses and plans are afoot to add another 50 to its fleet. The corporation has submitted a proposal to the Government for pay revision of the employees, official sources said.

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

New York based NGTech, a versatile group of IT professionals who offer wide array of consulting services, promoted by Dr.Namita Deo, Dr.Ramachandra Deo and Ms.Mymoona Shereen will invest in IT and Biotechnology sector.

NGTI Private Limited will install facilities like IT Development and Outsourcing Project Services, chemical & Biotech Research & Development, Medicianal Green House, Bioinformatics, IT& Biotech Training and Medical Research Centre, said sources.

According to the application presented to the Government of Orissa, the group will fund major part of the project from own sources.

While promoter’s contribution will be Rs.948 crore, loan from financial institutions will be Rs.240 crore and the company expects Rs.12 crore as subsidy from the Government.

NGTI has identified a patch of 100 acres of land at Deras, on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.

The group proposes to acquire land through IDCO for setting up the facilities.

There is huge potential for employment as these facilities will be requiring 25,000 man power.

Annually Rs.103 crore of revenue will be generated on account of VAT, other taxes and duties assuming cent per cent capacity utilization, said the sources.

Following is from Samaja.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pioneer.

Investment proposals worth Rs 1,825.61 crore were cleared by State-level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) here on Saturday.

The SLSWCA meeting, chaired by Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy, gave its nod to the Rs 900-crore investment project of Oceanic Shipyard Limited (OSL) along with two cold rolling mills with an investment of Rs 925.61 crore.

… IPICOL managing director Ashok Kumar Meena told the media that OSL, a subsidiary of Bengal Shipyard Limited (BSL), has proposed to set up an oil rig, offshore structure and a support vessels manufacturing and repairing unit at Dhamra in Bhadrak district with an investment of Rs 900 crore. BSL, a joint venture of Apeejay Shipping Limited and Bharati shipyard Limited, is setting up a shipyard at Dhamra with an investment of Rs 2,400 crore.

Meena said the company had asked for 950 acres of land at Dhamra to set up the facility in a period of 60 months in three phases from the date of allotment of land. The project would generate direct employment opportunity for 7,500 persons. As the net worth of the group is Rs 647 crore in 2006-07, there would be no problem of raising the funds for the greenfield project, added another official.

The proposal of the Bhuvee Profiles & Stainless Limited (BPSL) to set up a 0.790-mtpa hot rolled plates and coil rolling mill with an investment of Rs 492.66 crore at Kuranti in Dhenkanal district was cleared by the Authority, said Meena.

According to him, a sister concern of the BRG Group, BPSL would be the downstream project of the group. The company has asked for 90 acres of land, though the requirement for the project would be 45 to 50 acres, said an official.

Meena said the proposal of Rabirun Vinimay Private Limited (RVPL) to set up a 0.240-mtpa cold rolling mill complex at Kuranti with an investment of Rs 432.95 crore was also okayed.

Following is an excerpt from a report in the Statesman.

Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) offers the best rehabilitation package in the state, claimed company sources here recently. The company aims to reduce the impact of its activities on the environment, wherever feasible. The majority of the sites are certified by the international environmental management systems standard ISO 14001. This includes the requirement that environmental impacts are identified. There are ongoing programmes for improvement across key impact areas, they said.

Responding to the critics of its bauxite mining project at Kalahandi, Vedanta officials said that all 120 families that were displaced for the project have got pucca houses with round-the-clock electricity and water supply. Besides one youth from each displaced family has been trained and given a job in the refinery, adding that a total of 2,500 local people have found employment in the refinery project till date. “While about 2000 people had got direct employment at the refinery in Lanjigarh, over 2000 others were getting indirect income generating opportunities,” company sources said.

Vedanta has also started the ‘Sasya Silpa Abhijan’ an initiative of vegetable cultivation, run in collaboration with the Asian Institute of Sustainable Development to give a boost to agriculture in the area. “On an area of 550 acres of land, nearly 500 farmers are participating in the project as partners,” said a senior official. “Although we bear the expenses for irrigation through a diesel pump set by us, yet the training and support provided by Vedanta through this programme has helped us a lot,” said Mr Dinanath Pangi, a farmer.

Vedanta also offers various self-employment schemes for residents of the villages nearby and especially for the womenfolk. Women self-help-groups have been started under public-private partnership in collaboration with the district health department on the Swastha Parivar project. In a bid to widen its corporate social responsibility, the Vedanta group has also adopted 400 Anganwadi centres in Kalahandi district and will look after more than 40,000 children in some of the state’s most backward areas.

“Vedanta has signed an MoU with the state government and the Sterlite Foundation for the adoptions,” said Vedanta group spokesman Mr CV Krishnan. “As a part of the arrangement, every pre-school child aged between three and six years will be provided a cooked meal of 300 calories at noon. The company will also look after the health of the children through regular check ups and medicines,” he added.

He further said that the company is also undertaking the beautification of the Anganwadis by erecting green boundaries, whitewashing buildings and providing see-saws and slides for the children. Furthermore incentives are being provided to Anganwadi workers. While Anganwadi workers receive Rs 250 per month, each helper is given Rs 150 extra by the company. “The same exercise will also be replicated in Jharsuguda,” Mr Krishnan said. The total expenditure on child welfare activities in the two districts will be over Rs 15 crore, company officials revealed In order to ensure that everything goes as per plan, the process will be reviewed by a committee headed by the district collector, the local MLA and the chairman of panchayat samity, they said.

Mr Krishnan said that Vedanta further aims to improve the electricity network, construct roads and develop better educational and healthcare facilities.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pragativadi.

Laying the foundation stone for the Integrated Sewerage System for Bhubaneswar city at a grand function on Tuesday, chief minister Naveen Patnaik said that all measures were taken by the state government to improve infrastructure of the city in an effort to provide basic amenities to people.

Speaking on the occasion, housing and urban development minister KV Singhdeo said that the detailed project report (DPR) of the project was presented to the ministry of urban development, Government of India, Japan Bank for International Cooperation and 12th Finance Commission of Government of India for funding.

Finally, after due approval by the H&UD Department, the project got the financial assistance from different sources, he said, adding, the sewerage system would be developed with the technical assistance from IIT, Roorkee at an estimated cost of Rs 754.23 crore.

… The sewerage system of Bhubaneswar envisages laying of 412 km underground gravity sewer for collection of sewage of each household and establishment throughout the city in uncovered area, replacement and renovation of all existing old sewers, construction of main, intermediate and lift pumping stations, construction of sewage treatment plants and construction of low cost sanitation units in the city area.

The new sewerage system has been planned by diving the city are into six sewerage districts that shall be provided with an independent sewerage network, pumping system, sewage treatment and disposal system.

The sewerage system has been designed for a projected city population of 22 lakh upto 2041.

The project area of 145 sq km includes all wards of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (except wards beyond river Kuakhai) and fringe areas covered under city master plan.

The project will ensure proper treatment of generated sewage in the city area with provision of modern treatment technology like Standard Activates Sludge Process.

The project will provide good and effective sewerage services to the urban population and will reduce non-point sources of pollution. Overall sanitation condition of the city will be improved.

The project has been planned to be implemented by 2011.

The sewer laying work of three districts via sewerage district- I, II and III has been awarded to the East Coast Construction and Industries Ltd, Engineers and Contractors, Chennai through a transparent system.

Update: See http://picasaweb.google.com/ahimanikya/BhubaneswarFresco for hundreds of pictures.

See pictures at http://www.bhubaneswar-images.blogspot.com/ and http://indiahistoryspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/05/bhubaneswar-from-city-of-temples-to.html.

Following is an excerpt from a news report in Financial Express.

The Centre has selected Bhubaneswar as one of the 40 ITIRs planned in the country. It will provide financial assistance for development of infrastructures required for the ITIRs.

The state IT secretary, PK Mahapatra, said the Centre has aksed the state government to prepare the DPR so that fund could be provided for developing the infrastructures of the ITIR.

The detailed project report (DPR) for the Bhubaneswar ITIR will be prepared by IL&FS Infrastructures Ltd in collaboration with the state-owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corp (IDCO).

The Centre plans to set up the ITIRs in line of the Petroleum, Chemicals & Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIRs) in the country to attract investment into the IT sector.

Mahapatra said the government has decided to put in place a new Information & Communication Tehcnologies Policy (ICT) in the state. The last ICT Policy was announced in 2004. The new policy will be formulated after studying the ICT polices of IT-advanced states like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, he said.

The chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, on Thursday reviewed the development taking place in the IT sector in the state at a high level meeting. The Infocity-II will come up at Jalna in the outskirt of Bhubaneswar over an area of 500 acres. A sum of Rs 150 crore will be spent for developing the new IT facility.

The government, meanwhile, has asked the IIT Kharagpur, which is preparing the master plan for the greater Bhubaneswar city, to ease the traffic for the Infocity-I. At the meeting it was told that the Software Technology Park (STPI) at Berhampur is going to be functional from the first week of September, 2008. Orissa has two STPIs at Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. Another STIP is coming up at Balasore.

Following is some additional information on this from a report in Telegraph.

In April 2008, the cabinet committee on economic affairs had cleared a policy to set up ITIRs over a minimum area of 40sqkm each. The Centre last month confirmed the identification of Bhubaneswar as one of the sites for the proposed ITIRs, he said.

The ITIRs have been conceptualised as magnets for investment creating employment opportunities and growth in the area. They are expected to reduce the pressure on existing urban centres by enabling growth of new townships and dispersal of industry. The regions would be a combination of IT, ITES and electronics hardware manufacturing units, public utilities, residential area, social infrastructure and administrative services.

Every state government is supposed to ensure provision of physical infrastructure such as power, water, road, transportation, sewerage and effluent treatment facilities, the Centre is supposed to facilitate development of national highways, airport and railway links for ITIRs.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Times of India.

Venezuela’s national oil company PdVSA is in talks with IndianOil Corporation for taking up to 49% stake in a 15 million tonne refinery the flagship Indian refiner-marketer is building in Orissa’s Paradip at an investment of a little under Rs 30,000 crore.

“We have received interest from PdVSA. We are evaluating the offer,” a senior company executive, requsting anonymity, said on the sidelines of the 19th World Petroleum Congress here. “We want a partner not for money but for some value. In this case, PdVSA has said it can supply Venezuelan crude to the refinery. IndianOil would look at getting at least half, or 7.5 million tonnes, of Paradip refinery’s crude requirement from Venezuela.”
…

there are other factors that could work for the PdVSA deal. Venezuelan crude is one of the toughest to process and needs refineries with high complexity ratings. IndianOil has designed the Paradip unit to accept the toughest, heaviest and the dirtiest crudes. “Our refinery will have a Nelson Complexity Index of 15,” the IndianOil executive said. Reliance Petroleum’s upcoming export refinery at Jamnagar, which is billed the most advanced, is rated at 14. Besides, India offers strategic locational advantage from where exports can even happen to as far as the US.

Following are excerpts from a report in the Economic Times.

A 12-member Chinese team will arrive here on July 12 on a week-long visit to inspect the railway stations at Bhubaneswar and Byppanahalli in Bangalore.

The countries had signed a Memorandum-of-Understanding (MoU) in this regard on January 14 during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Beijing. The agreement, valid for three years, envisages development of rail-related programmes of mutual interest.

The high-level delegation headed by Wu Wei, Director of Sino-India Railway Cooperation Working Group, will be assisted by RITES, which will provide details required for the work.

However, a senior official of the Railways Ministry said a preliminary assessment has revealed that the land available at Bhubaneswar railway station is inadequate for the project.

In that case, a nearby station at Baranga may be chosen for development into a world class station, he said, adding a final decision will be taken only after consultations with the Chinese team.
…

“After visiting these places, the team will share their views with us about the way to go ahead with the project.”

Following is excerpted from a report in tathya.in.

The proposed corridors are:

• Corridor I is planned between Rasulgarh to Samantarapur via Central Jail Road Junction, Kalpana Square, Museum Square and Ravi Talkies Square.
• Corridor II will be covering Biju Patnaik Airport to Kalinga Hospital via AG Square, Raj Bhawan, Power House Square and Jaydev Vihar Square.
• Kalpana Square to KIIT Square will be covered by Corridor III.
• Corridor IV will begin from Head of the Building to Baramunda Bus Stand via Stewart School and CRP Square.
• Baramunda Bus Stand to Tamndo will be connected with Corridor V.
• Corridor VI will be connecting to Khandagiri to IIIT via CET.
• Corridor VII will be covering Raj Mahal-Master Canteen (Bhubaneswar Station)-Utkal University.

I hope Corridor III goes via Secretariate, Regional College, Acharya Vihar, Institute of Physics as that segment is not covered by any other corridors.

Following is from a PIB report.

Ministry of Tourism has taken the programme of integrated development of mega destinations and circuits further. During the first quarter of 2008-09 mega tourism projects have been sanctioned at a cost of Rs.8474.20 lakh for development of the following 3 tourist circuits in the country:

1. Bhubaneshwar-Puri-Chilka Tourist Circuit in Orissa

2. Dwarka-Nageshwar-Bet Dwarka Tourist Circuit in Gujarat

3. Heritage Tourist Circuit at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh

The project for development of Bhubaneshwar-Puri-Chilka circuit includes development of interchange nodes, upgradation of protected/ unprotected monuments, development of parking/anchor points, upgradation of approach roads to monuments/temples, lighting of monuments/temples and creation of a multimedia museum.

The project for development of Dwarka-Nageshwar-Bet Dwarka as a mega tourist circuit includes development of beach area, development of parikarama path and lakes, repair and restoration of ghats, development of camping sites for eco tourism and development of a village haat.

The heritage circuit project at Tirupati includes construction of tourist arrival centres/tourist information centres, landscaping, street lighting, drinking water points, relaxation huts, public conveniences and children park with all amusement facilities.

These projects are expected to greatly enhance visitors’ experience in all the mega destinations.