___________

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Topping the lists of the prospective investors is Gokul Agrawal of CTC Education Pvt Ltd who intends to invest Rs 6000 crore over five years in developing a 1000-acre knowledge city.

In the higher education sector, Silicon University of the Silicon Valley Group has proposed to set up its campus in the state at a cost of Rs 300 crore. Investments would also be pouring in for the state’s hospitality sector with the US-based Best Western Hotel lining up a Rs 100-crore investment plan for setting up a chain of properties at Bhubaneswar, Paradip, Chilka and Jharsuguda.

Land could become an issue with respect to the proposed knowledge city. A city/town/community that may want such a knowledge city which, I am told, would include multiple universities could offer help in the land part. They should of course first investigate if the group really has that much money and if their plan is for real.

The Coastal Belt.

The Western Industrial Belt.

The Southwestern & Central Outposts.

In 20 years (i.e., in 2030) the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Khurda population would be around 4 million plus. In addition the area would be surrounded by the following cities/towns within 150 kms radius (i.e., about a hour and half away).

• Berhampur-Gopalpur to the south (with a then population of 1.5 million; about 145 kms away)
• Puri to the south (with a then population of 700K; only 30kms away)
• Kalinganagar to the North (with a then population of 500K; only 50 kms away)
• Talcher-Angul to the West (with a then population of 500K; only 110 kms away)
• Dhenkanal to the west (with a then population of 200K and almost in the periphery)
• Paradip to the east (with a then population of 400K and 90 kms away)
• Dhamara-Chandbali to the Northeast (with a then population of 200K and 140 kms away)
• Bhadrak to the North (with a then population of 200K and 140 kms away)

A little farther is

• Balasore-Chandipur to the North (with a then population of 300K and 162 kms away from the Northern end of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Khurda area)

In addition there will be several port towns other than the ones mentioned above and a few smaller towns (For example, Nayagarh)  within 200km radius of greater Bhubaneswar.

Besides individual CDPs for these areas the Odisha governement should start making plans for this larger overall area. It would form a different kind of megalopolis than New Delhi, Mumbai or Kolkata with a well planned hub (Bhubaneswar) surrounded by mini-hubs and with rural areas in between. I can not off-hand think of another such area in the world; may be the readers can point me to some. Please suggest what kind of plans need to be made. (Please note that for something to be up and running in 20 years, plans need to be made now.) For example:

• Commuter trains at frequent intervals and the necessary infrastructure for that. Following are some of the segments
  • Bhubaneswar-Puri-Konark-Astaranga (Puri-Konark-Astaranga needs to be built; alternatively if Astaranga port comes up, then there may be a new line from Barang to Astaranga)
  • Bhubaneswar-Berhampur-Gopalpur (Berhampur-Gopalpur needs to be built)
  • Bhubaneswar-Jajpur Rd(Kalinganagar)-Bhadrak-Dhamara (Bhadrak-Dhamara is ready but no trains yet)
  • Bhubaneswar-Jajpur Rd(Kalinganagar)-Bhadrak-Balasore-Baripada
  • Bhubaneswar-Jakhapura(Kalinganagar)-Tomka (on the line to Kendujhargarh)
  • Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Paradeep (ready)
  • Bhubaneswar-Dhenkanal-Talcher-Angul (ready)
  • Bhubaneswar-Khurda-Nayagarh and beyond (being constructed; part of Khurda-Balangir)
  • Angul-Talcher-Sukinda-Kalinganagar (being constructed)
• Expressways linking these places
• Fast buses linking these places
• Fast airport shuttle
• Some of these places would be connected by waterways including National Waterway 5
• Express ring road around each of these places
• Co-ordinated public transport in each of these places
• ??

Please let your imagination run wild!

Following is from an article by Nageshwar Patnaik in Economic Times. Nageshwar is a big critic of the Tatas. So coming from him, I give a lot of value to the article.

Buoyed by successful resettlement of displaced persons after five years, Tata Steel, which is setting up a 6-mtpa steel plant at Kalinga Nagar in Orissa’s Jajpur district, has undertaken massive infrastructure development work at the project site to get support of the local people, especially the tribals.

Under its Tata Steel Parivar resettlement and rehabilitation (R&R) programme, the leading steel producer of the country has laid 20 km of quality motorable roads connecting all rehabilitation colonies, besides constructing 32 km of drainage system at adjoining tribal-dominated villages such as Trijanga, Sansailo and Gobarghati.

As many as 300 sodium vapour halogen lamp posts have been installed and pipe water provision made to provide better life to the displaced people living in rehabilitation colonies.

Each colony in the project area has a dispensary, community centre and several education centres offering management and technical courses.

“The Tata Steel Parivar rehabilitation scheme at Kalinga Nagar provides substantially better facilities than the government-framed R&R policy. The government policy provides employment for one member from each core household. On the other hand, Tata Steel Parivar policy provides employment opportunities for each major member of the core house. It also provides training facilities for technical skill upgrade,” a press statement, issued by the company here on Thursday, said.

The release also noted that scholarships were being provided for displaced persons pursuing higher education in professional fields such as medicine, engineering and management.

“An amount of Rs 2.21 lakh is also provided as onetime assistance in lieu of employment. Further, under the Tata Steel Parivar policy, each family is given a monthly maintenance allowance of Rs 2,000-2,300 till they get employment in the plant whereas the policy stipulates payment of maintenance allowance for 12 months only,” it added.

The opposition in Kalinganagar has finally seen light and allowed the Tatas to build the infrastructure of Kalinganagar. Related to this, The Telegraph of UK has apologized to the Tatas for their negative coverage.

Things also seem to be going in the positive direction in the POSCO front and I hope the people there visit Tata’s colonies in Kalinganagar and demand and get similar or better facilities and form a positive partnership with POSCO. In addition the Odisha government should push POSCO in developing a POSTECH like University in Paradeep.

However, there is not much progress with respect to Vedanta Aluminum in Kalahandi or Vedanta University in Puri. Here again it would be wise for the people there to visit Tata’s colonies Kalinganagar and demand and get similar or better facilities and form a positive partnership with Vedanta. But the time may be running out for Puri as Vedanta University Project has indicated that it may give up and move south where it will be welcomed with open arms. If that happens it would of course be a mistake of a century for Puri and Odisha.

In regards to the Arcelor-Mittal and Keonjhar the company really has not made much visible effort to woo the people.

Following is from a report by Bishnu Das in Business Standard.

Hyderabad based NSL group … has proposed setting up a food processing plant, a sugar refinery and a textile spinning mill in the state with a combined investment of Rs 2340 crore.

Sources said, the company keen to set up a seed processing plant at Bonda in Baragarh district at an investment of Rs 40 crore.

The project is expected to generate direct and indirect employment opportunities for 2100 persons. About 8,000 farmers would also get the benefit of contract farming. Similarly, the company proposes to set up a sugar refinery with a capacity to crush 5,000 tonnes of sugarcane per day at Paradeep.

The project is estimated to cost Rs 800 crore and it would directly and indirectly employ about 1000 persons. NSL also intends to invest Rs 1,500 crore for setting up a spinning mill in the state.

The project is expected to provide direct and indirect job opportunities and benefit about 1 lakh farmers through contract farming.

The company is in the process of submitting the detailed proposals to the state owned Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Ltd. (Ipicol) in this regard.

Following is from the PIB http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=60812.

IFFCO proposes to set up a farmers training institute hear its phosphatic fertilizers complex at Paradeep, Orissa. 

In the proposed institute, the farmers would be given training on best crop practices of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, vegetable and horticultural crops etc. Fruit preservation, fish farming, dairy and poultry, maintenance of agricultural equipments, bee keeping etc. alongwith demonstration farms. IFFCO proposes to carry out extensive analysis of soil samples through this institute for improving the soil health and productivity of crops with balanced and integrated use of nutrients. IFFCO proposes to set up only one training institute near its plant at Paradeep to cater to the needs of farmers of Orissa. IFFCO has applied to Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa (IPICOL) for allotment of suitable land near the plant for the purpose. The allotment of land is pending with IPICOI. 

This information was given by the Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Shri Srikant Kumar Jena in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

• See also the earlier report at http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3152.

Following is an excerpt from dnaindia.com.

… The port may be called the Adani-Kalinga Port.

The group has been nurturing a desire to have a port on the eastern coast in addition to the existing one on the western coast. It will help consolidate this group’s position in the port and shipping business in India.

Moreover, any group that owns major ports on both the western and eastern coasts of India could be expected to play a major role in coastal shipping as well, for ferrying goods from one coast to another, thus reducing costs, time and the incidence of pilferage that plagues road transportation.

… The proposed outlay is around Rs 10,000 crore. According to current plans, this port is to have 16 berths, and will have a capacity of 100 million tonnes —- almost similar to the capacity planned for Mundra.

… The interest of the Adani group has been confirmed by Satyabrat Sahu, transport and commerce secretary of Orissa, who is on record stating, “The Adani Group has given this proposal to set up a port. The state government is examining the proposal.”

… According to senior people in both the Adani group as well as the Orissa government, the process of examination is almost complete, and two of three approvals required have been obtained.

The last one should be in hand in a few days.

Adani officials said the port could be developed in two phases near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district, barely three km from Jatadhari Muhan, where Posco India plans to set up its own captive port.

The group plans to invest Rs 5,000 crore in each of the two phases. If all goes well, 12 of the 16 berths should be up and running by 2015-16.

According to current plans, the port will handle coal, iron ore, liquid and containerised cargo. It may be mentioned that the Adani group owns several coal mines in Indonesia. Some of this coal is already being imported into India through the Mundra port.

Similarly, the Adani-Kalinga port could be the entry point for coal imports on the eastern coast as well, to feed many of the power plans that are expected to come up south of the proposed Adani-Kalinga port.

Similarly, since the Adani group has already become India’s largest player in the edible oil market through Adani-Wilmar Ltd, and owns oil plantations in Malaysia, this port could also play a significant part in edible oil imports.

The Adanis have also shown an interest in mining projects.

What is not known at this stage is the amount of land that will be available to the port, since a successful port must have good draft (depth), lots of land for storing goods meant to be shipped, and for evacuation of cargo that arrives at the port and transportation linkages to the hinterland.

… Since the Adani group has offered to the state government that it will be willing to invest in road and railways networks in and around the port, such a move could help in the overall economic growth of the state itself.

Such efforts could be further buttressed by hectic lobbying by both the Posco management and the owners of Dhamra Port (jointly owned by Larsen & Toubro and the Tata Group) for improving rail and road linkages on the eastern coast in India.

As was the case with the Mundra Port, the Adani group also plans to invest in power projects near this port as well.

The Odisha government should propose that Adani fund a new railway line along the proposed highway between Bhubaneswa/Khurda to Paradip and also part of the Khurda-Balangir line. The advantage for Adani will be:

• They will have a shorter path for their oil and other imports to be distributed in south India.
• Similarly through the Khurda-Balangir route and with another short-cut from Balangir to Nawapara Rd (need to be constructed) they will have another quick access path to western and central India. 

(The above mentioned three segments are shown in brown below.)

This will be a win-win situation in that it will allow both Adani and Odisha government to industrialize the Khurda-Balangir corridor and the interior areas such as Nayagarh, Phulbani and Bouda. Unlike the Railway line via Talcher and Angul and the one via Paradip-Haridaspur-Jakhapura-Keonjhar, the Paradip-Khurda-Balangir path will have less traffic from other entities, including very little passenger traffic, making it faster for Adani to send goods that way. Since the Khurda-Balangir corridor lacks industries the government may find it easier to find land and local support for industries in that corridor. In that case, it can encourage Adani and others to set up some of their planned industries in that corridor.

All of the above assume that the above dnaindia.com report is correct in that Adani aims to import coal and oil through this port and not focus on exporting minerals from Odisha.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Financial Express.

The state-owned Industrial Infrastructrue Development Corporation (IDCO) chairman-cum-managing director, Priyabrata Patnaik, told reporters that the Union secretary urged the state government to provide land, water linkage and power supply besides other required infrastructrue for the project.

… The PCPIR project, which is going to spread over an area of 250 square kilometers at Paradip with the Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) oil refinery as anchor tenant, is expected to attract investment to the tune of Rs 2,75,000 crore.

The major chunk of investment, about Rs 23,000 crore, will come in petroleum and petro-chemical sector.

The project will generate employment opportunity for more than 2 lakh people when it is fully commissioned.

Following are some pointers on PCPIRs.

• Slides on the scheme.

Update: Following are excerpts from another report in Business Standard which has some extra information.

The port project called Adani Kalinga Port is to be developed in two phases at a distance of three km from Jatadhari Muhan, the proposed site of Posco India’s captive port in the state’s Jagatsinghpur district.

… The proposed port which would have 12 berths in all will handle coal, iron ore, liquid and containerized cargo.

… Besides the port, the Group plans to invest in other sectors in the state like power plant, edible oils and mining.

 

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

Ahmadabad-based Adani Group is keen on setting up a large port in Orissa coast and developing an industrial zone, including a power plant, at mammoth investment of Rs 98,000 crore.

A company delegation led by its Managing Director Rajesh S Adani met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here and made a presentation in this regard.

The company informed the state that it was interested in setting up a 100 million tonne capacity port in Jagatsinghpur district, near Paradip Port and a proposed captive port by Posco.

With an initial investment of Rs 5,000 crore, the company has proposed to start the first phase of the Rs 10,000-crore port project in 2013-14 and complete it by 2015-16.

It also has plans to set up an industrial zone close to its proposed port in Jagatsinghpur an investment of Rs 88,000.

…The company plans to send coal after mining at Talcher area, to Gujarat and Maharashtra from the proposed port.

"The coal will be sent after washing. The washery reject coal will be utilised for the proposed power plant," a company official said. The proposed power plant would be a part of the industrial zone.

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 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 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 from a report in Hindu.

Indian Oil Corporation has tied up finances for its Rs 29,777 crore Paradip refinery project in Orissa that would be commissioned by March 2012.

"We have received commitments from a consortia of banks," IOC Chairman Sarthak Behuria said.

SBI Caps, which was mandated to arrange Rs 14,700 crore debt for the project, has managed Rs 14,900 crore from 21 banks. State Bank of India (SBI) will be the largest lender with Rs 4,200 crore exposure.

IOC was likely to sign loan agreements with the consortia of banks on May 14.

"We will draw (from these loans) as and when we need them," he said but did not give details.

IOC is targeting commissioning of the refinery in first quarter of 2012. The board had recently split the refinery cum petrochemical complex into two, deciding to do the refinery first and the chemical unit will follow later.

Paradip refinery is being configured to process the toughest, heaviest and the most dirtiest crudes which are cheaper than the cleaner and easier varieties. The refinery will have a Nelson Complexity Index of 15.

The Anti-POSCO candidates for the gram panchayat elections have won. The details are below. I hope POSCO removes Dhinikia from its plan and both anti and pro POSCO people shun violence and illegal activities sich as blocking roads. Let POSCO be established in those areas where people want it and stay away from places where they are not wanted. Following is an excerpt from a report in orissadiary about the gram panchayat election results.

Posco Pratirodha Sangram Samiti … PPSS fielded its sarpanch candidate Mr Sisir Mohapatra and PS member candidate Mr Prakash Jena in this panchyat election. Mr Mohapatra is working as secretary of PPSS while Mr Jena has been languishing in Kujang jail since seven months after his arrest on Posco violence issue. PPSS candidate Mr Mohapatra has defeated his rival candidate Mrs Salila Nayak, wife of former sarpanch late Basant Nayak by margin 73 votes .Mr Mohapatra has got 2005 votes while Nayak has got 1932 votes.

Similarly, PS member candidate Mr Jena has also defeated his rivalry candidate Mr Nrusingh Das by 282 votes in which Jena has got 1672 votes while Mr Das has got 1390 votes. Sarpanch candidate Mr Nayak and PS member Mr Das who were defeated from this seat was backed by Posco supporters.

On the other hand, Zilla Parishad candidate Mr Saubhagaya Behera who was contesting as independent candidate has defeated his rival congress candidate Mr Rupakar Sethy by 995 votes. Mr Behera has got 6742 votes while Mr Sethi has got 5767 votes.

Following is from a report in Oil and Gas journal.

Indian Oil Corp. Ltd. has awarded a contract to Foster Wheeler Energy Ltd. and Foster Wheeler (GB) Ltd. for a grassroots refinery to be built in Paradip, Orissa state, India.

Foster Wheeler will manage the project for the major part of the development of the new 15 million tonne/year refinery and will also execute the engineering, procurement, and construction management for 15 of the key refinery process units, plus offsites, utilities, and infrastructure.

Foster Wheeler’s scope includes the crude distillation units, reforming, alkylation and butane isomerization units, plus significant offsites, utilities, and infrastructure. Commissioning of the project is expected during 2011-12.

They are:

• Approval of Chakulia-Buramarra line with an estimate of 468 crores.
• Proposal of a line via Banki for goods trains. (A line from Naraj to Banki to Khurda will form a circular Railway around greater Bhubaneswar.)

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Indian Railways has planned major infrastructure facilities like freight nodal points, container park and a coaching complex to cater to the proposed Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region in Paradeep.

… Mr KC Jena chairman of Railway Board said that “Paradeep is poised to emerge as one of the major industrial hubs in Orissa and it is also the site for the proposed PCPIR in the state. A master plan is being prepared for the Paradeep region and according to this plan, the Railways will set up infrastructure facilities like freight nodal points, container park and a coaching complex.”

Mr Jena said that the Railways is also committed to boost connectivity in the Paradeep region which includes the 82 kilometer Paradeep to Haridaspur broad gauge line, being taken up at an investment of INR 577.78 crore. East Coast Railway 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 is scheduled for completion by March 2011.

… On the 290 kilometer Khurda Road to Bolangir project, Mr Jena said that “Work is already in progress for the first 36 kilometer stretch of the project and the fund for the second phase of the project is likely to be sanctioned in this year’s railway budget.” He added that the project had suffered delay due to land acquisition problems and a fast track committee for railway projects formed under the chairmanship of the Orissa Chief Secretary was making efforts to expedite the process of land acquisition.

Mr Jena added that the overall outlay for the various railway projects in Orissa stood at INR 1,049 crore in 2008-09, compared to INR 764 crore in the previous fiscal and the sanctioned figure excludes the projects being implemented by Rail Vikas Nigam Limited.

Note, that Jajpur-Rd Duburi is also being 4-laned. With all these 4-laning, Kalinganagar area will be surrounded by four 4-lane segment: NH-5, NH-200, NH-215 and Jajpur Rd-Duburi.

(The above map fragment is from an wikipedia map.)

There will also be two four lane paths from Kalinganagar area to Rourkela.

 With approved plans to four-lane NH 42 between Angul and Sambalpur, the state govt. needs to four lane the segment between Angul and Talcher to have a seamless 4-lane transition between NH-42 and NH-200 at Angul-Talcher.

There is plan to four-lane Bhubaneswar-Puri. The Orissa government should pursue the four-laning of the following:

• NH-42 from Cuttack to Angul
• NH-23 from Talcher to NH-6

The Orissa government should team up with Jharkhand to 4-lane

• NH-23 from Rourkela to Ranchi
• NH-83 from Jamshedpur to NH-6
• NH-5 between NH-6 and Balasore (the last two need for port access in the upcoming ports in the Balasore district)

The Orissa government should team up with West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh and Maharashtra for four-laning NH-6 completely.

These actions will 4-lane the upper part of Orissa with fairly direct 4-lane paths from many areas of Orissa to Delhi and Mumbai. (Fairly direct 4-lane connections exist between Orissa to the south and Kolkata.)

Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=46329.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today gave its approval for the development of 4 laning of (i) Panikoili-Keonjhar-Rimouli, (ii) Rimouli-Roxy-Rajmundra sections of NH-215 and (iii) Chandikhole-Duburi-Talcher Section of NH-200 in the State of Orissa under NHDP Phase III A on BOT Basis.

The project cost of (i) Panikoili-Keonjhar-Rimouli section (163 km) is estimated as Rs.1170.59 crore including Rs.84.40 crore towards Land Acquisition (LA), Rehabilitation and Resettlement and preconstruction. Similarly, the estimated cost for Rimouli-Roxy-Rajmundra (106 km) and Chandikhole-Duburi-Talcher Section (133 km) are Rs.849.05 crore and Rs.969.63 crore respectively. The cost towards LA, R&R and preconstruction of other two projects are Rs.195.29 crore and Rs.185.63 crore respectively. The Government would provide the viability gap funding (VGF), which would not exceed 40% of the total project cost excluding the cost of LA, R&R and pre-construction.

The project will be developed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) through the Private Sector Concessionaires who will be selected by NHAI following two stage bidding process. The first stage of the bidding process i.e. pre-qualification of the bidders has already been completed by NHAI. The second stage of bidding process is in progress.

The Concession period for the Panikoili-Keonjhar-Rimouli section will be 20 years. For Chandikhole-Duburi-Talcher Section and Rimouli-Roxy-Rajmundra section the concession period is 18 and 25 years respectively.

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AD/SH/LV

Following is from http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=46317.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs today approved the project of Construction of Deep Draught Coal Berth at Paradip Port on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis at an estimated cost of Rs.479.01 crore, out of which Rs.408.90 crore will be borne by the BOT operator while Rs.70.20 crore will be borne by the Paradip Port Trust. The length of the approved BOT Coal Berth would be 370 meter, alongside depth of (-)17.1 meter which will be capable of handling vessels of 1,25,000 Dead Weight Tonnage (DWT) and will have developed stacking area of about 1,47,000 sqm. The project is to be implemented within a period of 36 months from the date of award of the concession.

The following are the benefits/results of the project:

(i) The project will help in de-congestion of Port due to handling of coal in higher capacity vessels upto 1,25,000 DWT.

(ii) Reduce Sea freight which will make imports cheaper.

(iii) Boost the industrial economy in the hinterland of Port leading to creation of job opportunities.

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AD/SH/LV

I believe that for Orissa to develop several urban centers and clusters need to be developed. So far many are developing. The ones marked with red are either developed or are in the path of development. The one in purple (Keonjhar) has a good chance of development. The three green ones in the big green zone, denoting Bhwanipatna, Balangir and Phulbani are in need of development. The following table lists what these various urban areas and clusters have or are going to have and what they don’t have and the govt. should make efforts to fulfill those lacunae.

As noted above, all these places should have a university, a medical college, good rail connectivity and several job centers.

Following is an excerpt from  a report in Financial Express.

The Public-Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPAC) on Friday approved two port projects worth Rs 1,008 crore proposed by the department of shipping, in a meeting chaired by economic affairs secretary Ashok Chawla.

The two projects, Rs 467-crore deep drought coal berth and Rs 541-crore deep drought iron ore berth, will come up at the Paradip port on a build-operate and transfer basis. The port situated near Kolkata serves the vast hinterland spread over the Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

"The projects will be awarded by early 2009 and the construction will be over within three years of awarding of the projects," said a top official in the department of shipping.

"The cargo, which is brought at Paradip port largely comprises coal and iron ore. Keeping this in view, the expansion aims at accommodating the extra large vessels. Dredging and construction of railway line will also be done as a part of the expansion plan," he added.

… The port registered an all-time record annual traffic of 42.44 million tonne during the year 2007-08.

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

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

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

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

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

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