___________

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

State-owned Indian Oil Corp (IOC) today said its Rs 29,777-crore Paradip refinery in Orissa will be commissioned by March 2012 and will cater to domestic market rather than exports as previous thought, due to rise in fuel demand at home.

…The refinery will produce 5.97 million tons of diesel, 3.4 million tons of petrol, 1.45 million tons of kerosene/ATF, 536,000 tons of LPG, 124,000 tons of naphtha and 335,000 tons of sulphur, all of which will be for sale in domestic market.

Some of 200,000 tons of propylene to be produced by the unit may be exported, he said.

Bankapur said the refinery will start producing fuel by March 2012 when it will commission the primary units like Crude Distillation Unit. Secondary units will be commissioned by July, 2012, and operations stabilised by November, 2012.

Besides the Rs 29,777 crore cost of refinery, the Paradip project also includes a Rs 1,793 crore pipeline to Raipur and Ranchi. The 1,100 km pipeline will carry fuel produced in the unit to consumers in Orissa, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Besides, a marketing terminal at the cost of Rs 414 crore is also being built.

IOC may take companies like Saudi Aramco and Kuwait Petroleum as equity partner in the Paradip refinery if they agree to supply most of the crude oil requirement of the 15 million tons unit.

The company wants someone who can commit long-term crude supply as equity partner but so far nothing has materalised.

IOC had last year signed a loan agreement with a consortium of lenders led by State Bank of India for term loan of Rs 14,900 crore for the project.

Bankapur said the company had some time back split the refinery-cum-petrochemical complex into two, deciding to complete the refinery first and follow with the chemical unit.

The feasibility of setting up the petrochem complex will be studied in next 3-4 months, he said.

The Paradip refinery is being configured to process the toughest, heaviest and the dirtiest crudes which are cheaper than the cleaner and easier varieties.

The refinery will have a Nelson Complexity Index of 13, the highest in the world.

Following is from a PTI report in http://www.smartinvestor.in/market/Marketnews-45973-Marketnewsdet-Tata_Steel_project_to_come_upinOrissaby_2014.htm.

Tata Steel is optimistic about operating its proposed industrial park project at Gopalpur in Orissa’s Ganjam district and commissioning the steel plant at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district by 2014.

The company gave this assurance to the state government today when Tata Steel’s Managing Director H M Nerurkar met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at a review meeting on the proposed industrial park at Gopalpur.

"We will be able to operate the industrial park at Gopalpur by March 2013 and commission first phase (3 mtpa) of the steel plant at Kalinga Nagar by March 2014," Nerurkar told reporters after meeting the chief minister.

Stating that work on both the projects is going on smoothly, the Tata Steel MD said that a peaceful industrial environment was gradually being established at Kalinga Nagar where the company’s proposed 6mtpa steel plant was being set up.

Though the company had signed MoU to set up a 6mtpa greenfield steel factory at an investment of Rs 15,600 crore in 2004, the project could not meet the deadline of 2010 due to opposition from the local people.

However, now the new commissioning target was March 2014, Nerurkar said, adding that the company had so far invested Rs 1,500 crore in the steel plant project. Tata Steel has also placed equipment orders worth Rs 6,300 crore and some machinery had reached the project site.

About 60 per cent of the land at Kalinga Nagar industrial complex had been acquired so far, Nerurkar said.

Referring to the Industrial Park, the foundation stone of which was laid by the Chief Minister on August 20 earlier, Nerurkar said that construction of the boundary wall work was going on smoothly.

The industrial park is expected to attract investment of Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 15,000 crore and generate employment for about 10,000 people, company sources said, adding Tata Steel would invest Rs 1,000 crore in the project.

The proposed Industrial Park includes a 50,000-TPA ferro chrome plant and 400,000-TPA rebar steel mill. Both the units were expected to generate employment opportunities for more than 1,000 people.

The park will primarily attract investments in steel and allied downstream industries, engineering, chemicals and other emerging sectors.

The company which had initially acquired land for setting up a steel plant in mid 90s, however, scrapped the project due to non-availability of water for the purpose.

Tata Steel would use techniques to use sea water by desaliation besides designing rainwater harvesting and 100 per cent recycling.

Tata Steel group is investing Rs 35,000 crore in the steel, ferro alloys, port, power and other sectors in Orissa.

Following is from http://dailypioneer.com/290501/Why-I-would-prefer-a-captive-port-for-Posco-steel-project.html.

Getting into the port town of Paradip after the ordeal of a tiring long journey from Cuttack on the State Highway is refreshing; sweeter than reaching an oasis after a long wandering in a vast desert depicting inertia and obscurantism. The experience of the musical fountain in a well-nurtured garden, the sight of a modest golf course, the neat avenues and bountiful hospitality linger on for long. The port has been expanding. Whereas the port handled 30 million tonnes (MT) of cargo in 2004-05, it handled an impressive 57 MT in 2009-10. This is the port I had served as chairman for five years, many years ago.

Many incidents surface in my memory — the removal of the two sunken dredgers close to the entrance channel of the port; the visit of the chairman of Indian Oil Corporation for setting up a refinery. Then, the Posco team’s visit for setting up a steel plant at the port town and Chief Minister Biju Patnaik’s long discussion on the issue with the visiting Koreans at the port guesthouse. At the guesthouse, one finds the foundation stone for the port with the prophetic description of the birth of the port ‘as yet another national adventure’ by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

History is perhaps going to repeat itself. We are likely to see yet another national adventure on the coast, about 10 km south of the Paradip lighthouse. Should this happen, India’s east coast would have the most modern captive port at Jatadhari that would handle vessels of 170,000—220,000 DWT. The port would have facilities for handling smaller vessels as well. This port would be coming up at a time when the country is in great need to increase port capacity to bridge a huge anticipated capacity-gap of around 250 MT for dry cargo by 2013. On any given day, about 150 ships are waiting at anchorage in Indian waters. This amounts to an annual loss of `2,400 crore. Kandla Port handled the highest traffic in 2009-10 with 79.52 MT, and all the Major Ports handled 561 MT during the year. Share of traffic of the non-major ports has been increasing. It has risen to 206 MT in 2009-10 representing 37.5 per cent of the traffic of Major Ports.

The port sector, however, has to do much more. India’s Shipping Minister recently announced plans to triple capacity in the next 10 years so that India’s total capacity is boosted to 3,200 MT. Therefore, pace of entry of private players into the port sector has to gain momentum. Pipavav, Mundra, Krishnapatnam and Dahija are successful ports developed though private investment. Private developers would also be creating new ports at Dighi and Rewas (Maharashtra), Vizhinjam (Kerala), Kalpi (West Bengal), Gopalpur and Dhamra (Odisha). Private investments have also been made in different terminals of Major Ports like JNPT, Cochin, Haldia, Vizag, Tuticorin and Chennai. More private investments would only make our port sector viable and competitive.

The location of the proposed port at Jatadhari, south of the existing Paradip Port, would create immense opportunities for development of infrastructure facilities. Most promising opportunity for the people could be in the eight-lane expressway to connect the new port with Bhubaneswar.

One would only wish that the planners for the highway do not succumb to pressure for a zigzag alignment for the road so that it runs close to thick habitations .A straight line alignment, on the other hand, would induce planned development of the area. The proposed 12-km six-lane road along the coast would connect Paradip and the new port and make this stretch of the shore extremely popular with tourists. Besides, the new port would have connectivity with the NH-5A and the State Highway connecting Cuttack. At least two rail connections, one with Cuttack-Paradip line and the other with the proposed Haridaspur-Paradip line, would provide access to the steel plant and the new port. Plans are afoot for a dedicated rail-line from the mines to the new port. Though linking Jakhapura (on Kolkata-Chennai trunk route) with Banspani (in the mining belt) would be helpful, this line would not provide convenient access to many rich iron ore deposits of Sundargarh and Keonjhar districts. A new line should therefore connect Barsuan with the Banspani-Keojhar section and Barsuan should be connected with Talcher. The new port should be connected by a new rail-line with either Barang or Bhubaneswar by avoiding Cuttack. Such a comprehensive rail network only would ensure complete integration of the existing and the new ports with the hinterland.

Some view that the proposed port would have adverse effect on Paradip Port. People connected with Paradip are aware of the littoral drift of sand along the coast from south to north; the gradual accretion of land south of the southern breakwater of Paradip Port and erosion of land north of the northern breakwater. To contain the erosion, a seawall has been constructed north of the northern breakwater that runs up to the point of confluence of the Mahanadi with the sea. The northern breakwater of the proposed port is sometimes perceived as a feature, which could induce similar erosion of land towards Paradip. This apprehension however is unfounded, as this problem would surely be tackled through suitable engineering measures. The embankment form is expected to have in the middle portion quarry-run materials like boulders of different sizes; the seaside of the embankment is likely to be protected with acropodes and the landside with a concrete surface. The embankment is likely to be 7.5 metres high from the mean sea level and there is to be a wide road on top of it. The northern portion of the north breakwater of the new port is to be more effectively protected through better engineering measures. The southern breakwater of the port would arrest good quantity of north-moving sand and this would in fact help Paradip Port where the annual dredging would be less.

The other area of concern relates to the possible adverse impact on the business of Paradip Port. The cargo for the new port, it is pointed out, could be easily handled by Paradip Port. Actually, there is greater advantage in having two ports. The new port is expected to handle ultimately around 40 MT of cargo, but the development of the port has to go in tandem with the development of the steel plant. A port captive to the mother industry alone would be in a position to develop in conjunction with the development of the mother industry whereas such coordination may not always be possible if the port is a public port. A public port is meant to meet the requirement of many users in the hinterland.

Landlocked States in the hinterland of Paradip Port, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, are poised for rapid industrial development and their industries along with those in Odisha would depend on Paradip Port. Paradip Port would not be in a position to handle an additional cargo of around 40 MT of Posco plant. It is therefore only appropriate that the existing and future capacity of Paradip Port is taken advantage of by a large number of users and the Posco cargo handled by a captive port.

The new port should not therefore cause any concern; it is only a logical and welcome part of Posco-India’s project that is surely going to bring in an integrated development of the hinterland.

— The writer, a former IAS officer, can be reached at punarbashu@gmail.com

(Thanks to Purna Mohanty for the pointer.)

Following is from PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=66381.

Development and promotion of tourism is undertaken primarily by the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations. The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, extends financial assistance to the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations for tourism related projects which are identified in consultation with them, under various tourism schemes of the Ministry. In the year 2008-09 a mega circuit project named development of tourist circuit “Bhubaneswar-Puri-Chilka” in the State of Orissa was sanctioned for an amount of Rs. 30.23 crore.

The Biju Patnaik Airport at Bhubaneswar has been taken up for development and upgradation to international standards, with a new terminal building with all modern facilities including two aerobridges and expansion of apron.

****

AD/DB

Following are some pictures of the planned new terminal for Bhubaneswar. One of them appears in the web page of http://auroraconsultingengineers.com/reference.html. Thanks to Devasis Sarangi, Rajeswar and others for the pictures.

Tourism is only one aspect of Bhubaneswar. The others include: capital city, metropolitan area of 1.9 million, educational and knowledge hub (e..g., 70+ engineering colleges) and surrounded by emerging industrial and business centers (Berahmpur, Angul, Kalinganagar, Paradeep) and existing and emerging ports (Paradeep, Dhamara, Gopalpur and many new ones in pipeline).

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

Construction work on the Rs 100-crore Konark Knowledge Park, a biotech-pharma-IT hub, being developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International Limited on around 65 acres of land at Andharua on the outskirts of the city, is set to take off by March 2011.

"The biotech park would have all statutory clearances within four months and construction work will begin soon after that", an official source told Business Standard.

… The land leveling for this project is already over and efforts are underway to provide piped water and power supply to the park.

The park is set to be completely operational within eight years of the commencement of construction work.The park would have a Biotechnology Incubation Centre spread over 10 acres. The incubation centre to be developed within the park would cater to the needs of the researchers, entrepreneurs and students.

The Centre would provide equipment called the biotech incubator worth Rs 25 crore for the incubation centre.The biotech industry in the country is growing at a very good pace and this incubation centre is set to emerge as a Centre of Excellence.

The Konark Kowledge Park is the first of its kind venture to be developed on the public private partnership (PPP) mode in the state in the field of science and technology.

… The Industrial Infrastructure Corporation of Orissa (Idco) has been appointed as the nodal agency for the development of this integrated park would provide all external infrastructure facilities like roads, water supply and electricity for this complex.

The following numbers are obtained (with some calculation) from http://www.aai.aero/traffic_news/traffic_news.jsp. (Thanks to Devasis Sarangi for the pointer.)

The numbers in the last column are not directly in any file in the above site, but were calculated using data in multiple files. No assumptions were made.

The following pages give comparative numbers of domestic passenger traffic in Bhubaneswar airport with respect to other airports in India. Note that the decline from 2007-08 to 2008-09 was across the board. However,  the decline of 4.3% with respect to Bhubaneswar airport during that time was much less than the national decline of 11.2% for the same period.

With respect to the above data the domestic passenger traffic in Bhubaneswar is close to the domestic traffic in the international airport of Lucknow and is more than the domestic traffic in the international airports of Trivandrum, Calicut, Amritsar, Port Blair and Nagpur; It is more than the domestic traffic in the custom airports of Mangalore, Trichy, Bagdogra, Varanasi, Patna and Gaya and all other domestic airports that include Indore, Vizag, Vadodara, Jammu, Raipur, Chandigarh, etc.

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

The wildlife wing of the Forest department has raised concerns over the setting up of 1,000 mw thermal power plant proposed by Tata Power Company at Naraj.

Its proximity to critical sites, impact of pollution on them as well as on the wildlife are issues the wildlife wing is worried about. The ` 4,900 cr coal-based power project is proposed at Naraj Marthapur, about 12 km from Cuttack and 20 km from Bhubaneswar.

“The Centre had referred the project site matter to me. Subsequently, I inspected the proposed power plant site and submitted a report in which I have indicated certain concerns relating to environment and wildlife,” Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) P N Padhi said on Monday.

One of the major issues is its location. According to Padhi’s report, the power plant is proposed amidst six critical sites.

It has Bhubaneswar and Cuttack on both sides and it is located between two major rivers __ Mahanadi and Kathjodi.

Besides, it is flanked by two wildlife habitats __ Chandaka- Dampara wildlife sanctuary on the one hand and Nandankanan Zoological Park and Zoo, also a notified sanctuary, on the other.

“With two protected areas (PAs) on its sides, a thermal power plant may have adverse impact on wildlife,” Padhi said. Chandaka, for one, is an elephant sanctuary and has witnessed growing man-animal conflict over the past 10 years.

Besides, the jumbos are known to stray out of their habitats more frequently in the last few years.

Similarly, apprehension of pollution is a major concern …

The power project, which is located in Cuttack Sadar tehsil, needs about 990 acres. It is well close to a road that connects Khurda, Chandaka, Barang and Gobindpur. …

That location (close to Sri Sri University) is apt for a knowledge park. Since the Tatas have already worked hard on the land acquisition Odisha government should tell them that instead of a power plant they should create a Knowledge Park there. It could include a large operation of TCS, a TCS training center like the Infosys center in Mysore, space and infrastructure for multiple universities, medical colleges, etc.

There the total land area is about 990 acres. Currently such an amount of contiguous land is not available so close to Bhubaneswar where one can build IT parks and knowledge parks.

So the Odisha government should consider giving the Tatas some other land for their power plant and use that land for a knowledge park, possibly even built by the Tatas.

My position is that the ministry is most welcome to make Vizag an international airport; but it should not deprive Bhubaneswar the same. Since the above article pokes holes on Bhubaneswar’s claims for international designation and explicitly mentions Vizag, hence my following attemp to compare the two in terms of daily non-stop flight connectivity. I used http://www.cleartrip.com and used the dates of 18th and 26th Novmeber. (This is an initial attempt. If I missed something please let me know.)

* The Kingfisher Delhi-Bhubaneswar flights are canceled for now, in November they show twice a day and in some December dates they show once a day. Its exact schedule is at http://www.flykingfisher.com/Flex/schedules.pdf. There it shows the following:

Delhi (DEL) IT 3346 19:30 21:25 320 0 03 Oct 2010 24 Oct 2010 7 Kingfisher Red Service
Delhi (DEL) IT 3346 20:30 22:40 320 0 31 Oct 2010 22 Mar 2011 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 Kingfisher Red Service
Delhi (DEL) IT 3350 09:10 11:20 320 0 31 Oct 2010 22 Mar 2011 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 Kingfisher Red Service

Bhubaneswar (BBI) IT 3345 17:05 19:00 320 0 03 Oct 2010 24 Oct 2010 7 Kingfisher Red Service
Bhubaneswar (BBI) IT 3345 17:45 19:55 320 0 31 Oct 2010 22 Mar 2011 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 Kingfisher Red Service
Bhubaneswar (BBI) IT 3349 06:30 08:40 320 0 31 Oct 2010 22 Mar 2011 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 Kingfisher Red Service

That is it will have twice daily flights between Bhubaneswar and Delhi.

Some other comparative numbers:

• As per http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=55629 average number of flights operated in a day from Bhubaneswar is 50 and from Vizag is 33.
• As per the world-gazetteer the population of the Bhubaneswar metropolitan area is 1,696,807 and the population of the Vizag metropolitan area is 1,534,162. 

On Jharsuguda airport there seems to be a deadlock. It is clear that the center wants 815 acres land and the state is offering only 734 acres.

Why is not the state giving the amount of land the center is asking for? Is there some genuine reason behind it? I don’t know. Perhaps someone who knows can help.

Also is the amount of land that the center is asking an absolute must? Are there other operational airports with less land? (I don’t know.) Ofcourse more land would mean a bigger airport. But is not it possible to use the land the state is giving to make the airport and then pursue the additional land for future expansion.

Update: Just did some search and found that:

• Patna airport covers an area of only 254 acres.
• Varanasi airport covers an area of 582.5 acres.
• Trivandrum airport is a 583 acres campus.
• Tirupati airport: Currently at 293 acres and will grow to 690 acres.
• Dibrugarh airport: 253.96 acres.
• Jaipur airport: 716 acres.
• Tiruchi airport: 702 acres.
• Jammu airport: 88.7 acres. (??)
• Srinagar airport: 52.6 acres. (??)
• Ranchi airport: 526 acres.

Outside India there are some very busy airports that have around 700 acres of land. For example:

• La Guardia Airport in New York is 650 acres. (It is next to a river through.)
  • In 2008, 176,373 flights departed LaGuardia. That makes it an average of 483 flights a day.
• Reagan National Airport in Washington DC is 733 acres. (It is also next to a river.)

Following is from a Business Standard report in sify.com.

Orissa has continued its growth momentum as a favourite destination for investors attracting investments worth Rs 98,929.49 crore in the April-June period of this fiscal. The most of these new investment proposals are in sectors like power, steel, cement, food processing and downstream industries.

The single largest investment proposal of Rs 45,000 crore has come from Strategic Energy Technology Systems Pvt Ltd for a coal to liquid project at Angul on May 12, 2010.

The bulk of the investments- Rs 33,569.25 crore has been proposed in the power sector with proposals for setting up of Independent Power Plants (IPPs) with a cumulative capacity of 7740 MW.

Ferro Alloys Corporation (FACOR) Power Limited has proposed to set up a 270 MW (2×135) coal-based thermal power plant at Haridaspur in Jajpur district. Similarly, KU Projects intends to set up a 1320 MW (2×660) power plant at Thakurpur in Sonepur district at an investment of Rs 7260 crore. This project has been cleared by the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) of the state government.

Similarly, Shivani Thermal Power Station of Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) has proposed to set up a 1320 MW (2×660) power plant at Chhotapadagan in Cuttack district at a cost of Rs 7554.54 crore.

Visa Power has submitted a revised proposal to the state government owned Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Ltd (Ipicol) to set up a 1320 MW (2×660) power plant at Brahmanabasta in Cuttack district, entailing an investment of Rs 6319.48 crore.

Shri Anant Infra Energy Pvt Limited has evinced interest to set up a 210 MW coal-based power plant at Garjan Bahal in Sundergarh district.

Responsive Industries Ltd has proposed to set up a 1320 MW (2×660) power plant at Manmunda in Boud district at a cost of Rs 6487.50 crore.

CLP Power India Pvt Ltd plans to set up a 1980 (3×660) MW power plant at Majhapada in Sundergarh district at a cost of Rs 10,000 crore.

Among the investment proposals in the cement sector, Kolkata-based Icore Super cement Ltd has proposed to set up a cement plant at Somnathpur in Balasore district at an investment of Rs 151 crore.

While Ramco Industries Limited has evinced interest to set up a 120,000 tonnes per annum asbestos fibre cement sheet plant at Jharsuguda at a cost of Rs 35 crore, Madras Cement intends to set up a 4000 tonne per day cement plant at Nandibera in Malkangiri district at a cost of Rs 750 crore.

Reliance Cementation Ltd has submitted proposal for a 2.8 million tonne per annum cement plant at Jallangbara in Sundergarh district at a cost of Rs 970 crore.

Similarly, Binani Cement plans to set up a one million tonne per annum clinker grinding unit at Dhamara in Bhadrak district at a cost of Rs 130 crore.

In the steel sector, Rashmi Metalliks Limited has proposed to set up a three million tonne per annum pelletisation plant and 44 m captive power plant at Baliarpur in Bhadrak district at an investment of Rs 3465 crore.

The Orissa Minerals Development Company Limited has evinced interest for a two million tonne per annum beneficiation and pelletisation plant at Dalki in Keonjhar district at a cost of Rs 889 .

Following is excerpted from a report in indiainfoline.com.

The statewise breakup of investment under implementation as on June ’10 (Rs. Crores) has been Maharashtra (666065), Orissa (498190), Gujarat (487361), Andhra Pradesh (478612), Tamil Nadu (334960), UP (326356), Haryana (318488), West Bengal (288109), Karnataka (279033), Jharkhand (173008), Chhattisgarh (167557), Madhya Pradesh (165848), Kerala (126223), Punjab (115683), Rajasthan (84955), Bihar (59339), Jammu & Kashmir (44339), Himachal Pradesh (43928), Uttrakhand (38869), Assam (36124).

… The capital goods industry’s performance is mainly on account of spurt in investment activity in Haryana, UP, Kerela, Orissa and Uttarakhand in the first quarter of 2009-10.

… The rate of implementation (% share in total live investments) as per June 2010 in prominent states, has been the most in Haryana (81.5) followed by UP (70.6), Assam (65.9), Maharashtra (61.7), Punjab (60), Andhra Pradesh (58.5), Himachal Pradesh (56), Jammu & Kashmir (53.1), Kerala (51.9), Bihar (50.5), West Bengal (49.4), Tamil Nadu (47.7), Orissa (44.3), Chhattisgarh (40.6), Madhya Pradesh (40.2), whereas states like Uttrakhand (39.1), Gujarat (38.9), Rajasthan (34.7), Karnataka (32.7) and Jharkhand (28.2) are lagging behind in this aspect.

Following is from a report in Orissadiary.

The 6-million tonne Essar Steel pellet plant here will be made operational by October this year. The `2,200-crore project includes an 8-MT ore beneficiation plant at Joda and Barbil and a 250-km slurry pipeline from Joda to Paradip. The company plans to expand the beneficiation and pellet manufacturing capacities to 12 MT in the future.

Initially, the company will source iron ore from private mines at Joda and Barbil. However, the company expects that the State and Central Governments will grant it lease for a captive mine in the long run.

The pellets to be produced at Paradip would be exported through the Paradip Port to Essar’s steelmaking unit at Hazira in Gujarat, which is undergoing a capacity expansion to 9.6 MT from 4.6 MT by 2012, said sources.

Following is excerpts from an interview in Business Standard. The investment numbers mentioned there does not quite gel with the numbers mentioned above.

Is there a time frame for realising the long-term vision?

It arises from the commitments, as well as MoUs (memorandums of understanding) with various state govts. These are linked to raw material. It’s a chicken and egg story. You need the raw material, otherwise you are not going to invest. We have our plans in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh. In Orissa, we are already completing the first phase. In Karnataka, we have signed the MoU and the government is looking to provide land. But we also want the mines. We don’t want to create a situation where all the investments are done and then you say the mines are not available.

The Orissa government has a clause in the MoU that the state will recommend mines once you have made commitments for 25-30 per cent.

Yes, commitments have to be made, which implies it could be orders. But a 12-million tonne plant will cost anything between $12 billion and $15 billion. Thirty per cent of that will be $4.5 bn. How can anyone expend $4.5 bn in the hope that one will get the mines? It’s easier for smaller players.

Following are extracted from his article in Economic Times.

• The port town in Jagatsinghpur district, about 120 km from the state capital of Bhubaneswar, has already emerged as one of the country’s major investment hotspots by attracting investment in excess of Rs 3.5 lakh crore including the Rs 2, 74,134 crore Petroleum Chemicals and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) and the biggest FDI proposal by Posco to build a 12-million ton steel plant at an estimated cost of Rs 51, 000 crore.
• The port town already boasts of major fertilizer manufacturers like IFFCO and Paradeep Phosphates Limited, a brewery along with central depot of Indian Oil and other small industries like Kargil Oil, Paradeep Carbon and a host of other units.
• … an integrated Petroleum, Chemicals, and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR), a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) promoted by the state government on the lines of Pudong in China, Rotterdam in Europe and Houston in North America.
• IOC is already coming up with 15 MMTPA grassroot refinery cum petrochemical complex five kilometer to the south of Paradeep Port at an estimated cost of Rs 25,646. For this, the state government has given incentives to IOC by exempting entry tax on crude oil and sales tax deferment for 11 years. The IOC already has got the required 3344 acres of land.
• The Railways is also committed to boost connectivity in the Paradeep region which includes the 82-km Paradeep-Haridaspur broad gauge line, being taken up at an investment of Rs 577.78 crore. East Coast Railway (ECoR) has acquired 1,146 acres of private land out of the total of 1,653 acres of land required for the project. This project being implemented by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) is scheduled for completion by March 2011.
• The other projects in different stages of implementation Hydrate Pellets Ltd’s six lakh tone hydrate pelts plant at Rs 10,724 crore, Essar Steel Orissa Ltd’s six million ton steel plant at Rs 10,721 cr], Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd. (DFPCL’s three lakh mtpa green-field complex for Nitric Acid and Ammonium Nitrate at Paradeep at a cost of Rs 400 crore NSL Sugar Ltd’s sugar plant at Rs 800 crore and other mini projects.
  

One other thing that is not elaborated in the article is that as part of the PCPIR several things will be funded by the state government and several other things will be funded by the central government.The following is excerpted from an older article in Business Standard.

• “The Centre would provide this money in two phases. While Rs388 crore would come in the first phase of the project, the balance Rs328 crore would be provided by the Government of India in the second phase”
• … six-laning of NH-5 (A), building a greenfield coastal corridor, construction of all-new greenfield road from Bhubaneswar to Paradip and upgradation of port infrastructure.

• The six-laning of the NH-5 (A) will be taken up in the second phase of the PCPIR project at a cost of Rs76 crore. The greenfield coastal corridor will involve an expenditure of Rs410 crore out of which Rs 264 will be invested in the first phase while the remaining expenditure of Rs146 crore will be incurred in Phase-II.

• The construction of all-new greenfield road from Bhubaneswar to Paradip will be taken up at a cost of Rs190 crore while Rs40 crore would be provided by the Centre for upgradation of port infrastructure.

• Meanwhile, the Orissa government has committed an expenditure of Rs1796 crore on infrastructure development for the PCPIR hub. Out of the envisaged expenditure of Rs1796 crore, Rs 754 crore will be spent on development of arterial roads, Rs 465 crore on water supply, Rs 410 crore on power distribution and Rs136 crore on canal upgradation.

To match these industrial investments in Paradip, the Odisha government needs to make plans for a university, an engineering college and a medical college for this area. Similar plans need to made for the other upcoming industrial hubs at Angul,  Kalinganagar, Jharsuguda and Rayagada; as well as the only existing industrial area of Rourkela which neither has a medical college nor has a regular university.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

Peerless Hotels is looking for land to set up four-star facilities in Bhubaneswar, Noida and Navi Mumbai, according to a senior official of the company.

“Our negotiations with the Orissa government for the Bhubaneswar project are at an advanced stage, and if we get the land that we have chosen, the construction of the 80-room hotel will start in another one year,” Peerless Hotels chief executive officer Kunal Sen said.

… “The setting up of a four-star hotel with 80-100 rooms entails an investment of between Rs 75 crore and Rs 95 crore, including land cost that may be between Rs 15 crore and Rs 35 crore depending on location,” Sen said.

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

Paradip Port Trust is planning to have an airstrip within the port premises to facilitate movement to and from the port.

A resolution in this regard was recently passed by the board of trustees of the port. Mr Biplav Kumar chairman of PPT told Business Line that "We’ve also received in-principle consent of the Shipping Ministry.”

… The land for the proposed airstrip, as the port Chairman informed, has been identified.

Since the PCPIR in Paradip has been approved, I expect this airstrip will be established soon.

Following is from the PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=65819.

The Board of Approval of the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) met here today to consider proposals for setting up of Special Economic Zones and also to approve other miscellaneous requests pertaining to SEZs.

Addressing the Board of Approval members, the Chairman informed that so far 577 formal approvals have been granted for setting up of SEZs out of which 363 have been notified. …

In this meeting, the Board recommended grant of Ten Formal Approvals and one In-Principal Approval.

· Formal Approvals:

… IT/ITES – M/s. Suryo Infra Projects Private Limited, Mouza – Tulasideipur, Chandaka, Bhubaneswar, Orissa.

Following is  from a report in Telegraph.

Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL), which is setting up a six million-tonne steel plant here, has proposed to the state government to set up an industrial park at Parang.

… “The park, with an investment of Rs 5,500 crore, will provide employment to about 30,000 people, directly and indirectly, and would go a long way for economic empowerment of the state,” he said, adding that the park was also likely to generate about Rs 636 crore revenue for the state.

“For our steel plant, we require a lot of finished materials such as by-products, semi-products, fabrication units, etc. These could be available from the facilities at the proposed industrial park,” he added.

According to project report, JSPL would spend Rs 500 crore while the remaining Rs 5,000 crore would be raised from the parties who would set up the park. JSPL would provide all sorts of infrastructural facilities including water and power to the units at the park. The site selection has been completed and a pre-feasibility report has been prepared and submitted to the Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation Limited (PICOL) by the company in May. The company requires 1,381 acres of land at Parang for the park. Water will be sourced from the Mahanadi river situated at a distance of 65km from the site.

The project report also said that there would be 250 units of 42 different varieties at the park. Inside the industrial park would be a knowledge park where two colleges — National Training Institute and Industrial Training Institute — would be set up.

Following is from a report in http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/HeadlineNews/Metals/7176480/.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Following is from a report in Business Standard.

The food processing sector is gradually gaining momentum in the state. After a string of investment proposals from biggies in the sector like Britannia, ITC, Parle Agro Indo Nissin and Future Foods, another behemoth in the packaged food industry-Nestle has evinced interest in setting up a state-of-the-art food processing unit in the state at an investment of around Rs 500 crore.

The food processing facility of Nestle would be spread over 50 acres and the Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa Ltd (Idco) has already identified land for the purpose between Bhubaneswar and Khurda, an official source told Business Standard.

Nestle India’s Orissa facility will manufacture the entire gamut of the company’s products including milk products, beverages, chocolates and confectionery.

… Among the other big players in the food processing sector- Parle Agro’s unit has been cleared by the State Level Single Window Clearance Authority while the site selection is underway for the proposed project of Indo Nissin Foods, the noodles maker.

ITC has so far remained non-responsive after initially evincing interest to invest in the food processing sector.

Following is from http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100913/jsp/orissa/story_12929859.jsp.

Following is from the page http://kalinganagar.tatasteel.com/kalinganagar/vision-kalinganagar.asp.

Kalinganagar Industrial Area is projected to be developed for a population of over 10 lakh by 2025 and it will be extended to 177 square kilometers as envisaged by the State Government. In this connection, Lea Associates of South Asia in association with the School of Planning and Architect, New Delhi and the Centre for Environment and Planning (CEPT) presented a vision document to the Chief Minister for the development of Kalinganagar Industrial Area.

The Kalinganagar Industrial complex in Odisha has been a true realisation of the socio-economic dream that would lead the State into a new era of prosperity. Made possible through dedicated efforts of the State Government over several years, the complex is slated to contribute to the net GDP of Odisha and provide its people with sustained employment and other forms of gainful engagement in the upcoming projects and their ancillaries.



After the success of Asia’s first integrated steel plant set up by Tata Steel in the undivided Orissa-Bihar-Bengal in 1907, or the employment potential revealed by the Rourkela Steel Plant (operated by the state-owned Steel Authority of India), the demand for another mega steel plant in Odisha was strongly felt. This led Biju Patnaik, the then Chief Minister of Odisha to plan the Kalinganagar industrial complex, once 13000 acres of land was acquired in the Sukinda constituency of Jajpur district in 1992.



Today, the Government is stepping up the presence of industry as co-incidentally, the infrastructural boom in the global markets has generated high demands for steel. To strengthen the century old relationship between Odisha and Tata Steel, the Company signed the MoU for its most ambitious steel project in Odisha on November 17, 2004. As per this MoU, the Company will set up a six million ton green-field integrated Steel Plant at Kalinganagar in Jajpur District of Odisha. 



The other industrial projects in various stages of completion at the Kalinganagar Industrial Complex are M/s Nilachal Ispat Nigam Ltd., M/s Mid-East, M/s Jindal Stainless Steel Limited, M/s VISA Steel Ltd., M/s KJ Industries, M/s Maithon Alloys Ltd., M/s Rohit Ferro Tech, M/s Dinabandhu Steel, M/s Uttam Galva Ltd., etc.