___________

Following is from a report in Economic Times.

The government has identified site for setting up Rs 18,000-crore imported coal-based ultra mega power project in Orissa, power secretary Uma Shankar said.

The 4,000-mw plant, one of the three such proposed projects in the state, will be located at Bhadrak. A team of Central Electricity Authority will on April 21 visit the state for finalising location of the third ultra mega power project that would be run on imported coal, he said.

Orissa’s first ultra mega power project at Bedabahal is under bidding.

An important reason behind Bhadrak being the location must be the Dhamara port and its competitive pricing. This is a glimpse of the impact of having new ports. Odisha must push the other new ports that are in various stages of planning. As we have discussed before, the ports will serve the traffic from/to the countries in the east.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

… the first unit of the project will be completed by 2014 and the second unit will be made operational a month later.

The proposed plant will be based on environmentally efficient supercritical technology and operate with effluents of less than 50% of the limits fixed by the union ministry of environment and forests.

"This proposed plant will be based on advanced technology of world with participation of Korea East-West Power Co Ltd, a company owned by the Government of Korea. The facility will operate with high pressure and high temperature thereby reducing coal consumption," Mr Bharagava said.

He added that the chimney height of 275 meter will keep the environment clean.

The proposed plant requires 950 acres of land. The state-owned Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Limited (IIDCO) has been entrusted the task of land acquisition.

"What is heartening to note is that there will be no displacement in the area. There are no forest lands within the area earmarked site. The Orissa water resources department has sanctioned 50 cusecs water to be drawn from the Tel River," the CEO said.

Mr D L Sapra, chief project coordinator, said the project would create direct employment opportunities for nearly 2000 people.

As per memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with the state government, 90% of unskilled people, 60% skilled people, 30% supervisory managerial people will be filled up by project affected people, the CEO Mr Bhargava said.

Following is an excerpt from a report in the Economic Times.

The Handloom Export Promotion Council (HEPC) …

The council decided to set up three more design centres at Varanasi and Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh and Bhubaneswar in Orissa. These centres would help handloom weavers improve product quality and design and thereby, fetch a better price.

The HEPC web site is http://www.hepcindia.com/. From that site I could not find information on existing design centers. However I came across the site of National Center for Textile design in Delhi. My guess is that similar centers will be established in the three locations mentioned above. The About Us page of the this center says the following:

The National Centre for Textile Design (NCTD) has been setup in January 2001, by the Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India,  with the objective of making innovative, ethnic and contemporary design available to the textile sector.

The main aim of the centre is to link people working in the centre with each other and to give the weavers & workers better exposure to the markets. This will enable them to have better livelihood and more sustainable development.

The centre has both online and offline activities.

The online sector will exhibit these designs nationally and globally to facilitate the textile sector in getting designs in time as per seasonal forecast requirements and to enable regions as well as to develop on each others’ concepts.

We would like people, like power loom workers etc. also to benefit from the centre. This is done in several ways as for instance exhibiting their designs on NCTD website. This will give them exposure to exporters, international buyers, design houses and will help to obtain a better price for their designs through design trends and forecasts on the website and they can respond to the demands of the market in a better way.

NCTD plan to link up Weavers’ Sevice Centres, Powe4rloom Service Centres and all other textile related sites to our main website through internet connectivity so that these centre can take quick and necessary advantages of the centre for the benefit of their members.

Trends and Forecasts
Both domestic and international forecasts are collated and provided in one place to cater to many middle level and smaller apparel and furnishings manufacturers, exporters and domestic textile traders and producers so that they can respond adequately and in a timely fashion to market requirements.

Virtual Museum of Heritage Textiles
This is a cyber museum of textiles collated down the ages. The material is sourced from other resources and kept as a library for future references. 

Design Pool
This is one of the most important components of the NCTD. This is basically a cyber collection of new individual designs, collected from different sources and posted at one location.

Handicraft Fabrics from India
This section is essentially a directory of handcrafted textiles from India which contains a visual factual information and technical specifications of the items produced.

The proposed design center will nicely compliment the following textile and handloom related institutes in Odisha.

• IIHT (Indian Institute of Handloom Technology), Baragarh
• NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology), Bhubaneswar
• ATDC (Apparel Training and Design Centers) centers in Odisha:
  • An Eastern zone hub at Bhubaneswar
  • An Eastern zone center at Rourkela
  • Eastern zone satellite centers at Berhampur, Baripada and Cuttack

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 an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

… "The state has received an investment proposal of Rs.101,100 crore (Rs.1 trillion/$22 billion) from Jindal Steel and Power. About $10 billion has been proposed for the new coal-to-liquid project," a senior official of the state steel and mines department said.

The project includes the coal-to-liquid plant, the thermal plant and a coal washery.

A coal block has already been allocated to the company in Angul district, over 160 km from here, by the central government. And the steel producer and power utility is now looking for about 2,000 hectares of land for the project, Naveen Jindal said.

"About three sites were being explored and the company prefers a location near the coal block," a senior company official said.

Also, Jindal is building a 12.5 million tonne steel plant, a 1,320 MW capacity power plant and an industrial complex in the same district. The company requires about 4,500 acres land for the steel and the power plant. "About 4,000 acres has already been acquired," the official said.

"The work on the steel and the power plant is going on and we hope to commission one part of the power plant and the steel plant by the end of this year," he said.

The above headlines is partly an excerpt from a Telegraph report. Following are excerpts from an Economic Times report by Nageswar Patnaik.

Orissa is currently implementing project proposals worth of Rs.3,06,575 crore, about 32.6% of total investment proposals received by the state government, which is higher compared to other states, according to the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).

Releasing a Paper titled ASSOCHAM Strategy : “Creating and Sustaining Growth Momentum in Orissa” here on Wednesday at a press conference here by Assocham President, Swati Piramal and Secretary General, D S Rawat, however, said at the end of September 2009, the state had 486 live investment projects worth Rs 9.4 lakh crore.

“This is 27% higher than the live investment reported as on September 2008”, Dr Piramal said adding that the respective shares of electricity, manufacturing, mining and services sector in total live investment are respectively 42.8%, 34.7, 56.6% and 6.3%.

… Explaining the reason for the state having more than 65% of investment proposals at announcement stages, the Paper clarifies that lower implementation rate of projects, of late, has become a phenomenon across states in India. “ …

According to the Paper, more than 10% of total investments

announced by both government and private sectors in India as on March 2009 have gone into Orissa. The state has attracted Rs 9,28,834 crore out of a total of Rs 88,71,867 crore announced in India. The state’s share was mere 0.87% in the total investment undertaken by different government sources. “In contrast, the share of Orissa was 13.29% in total investment made by the private sector in India. All most all of the investment that Orissa has seen has come from the private sector while government sources accounted for insignificant amount (Rs 500 crores out of Rs 9.28 lakh crores)”, it adds. .

The Assocham has emphasized on the need for infrastructure development in the state for faster pace of economic growth. “Good infrastructure facilities would not only reduce the transaction costs of the established economic agents but also make the State an attractive destination for new investments. The critical elements of infrastructure development in India are leveraging public resources to access a large pool of private resources and providing an environment that help take advantage of liberalized policies”, the Paper argues.

I have not been able to locate the report from the ASSOCHAM site. If anyone finds it please leave an URL in the comment. Besides the positive news in the above paragraphs, one issue to note is that Odisha is only getting 0.87% of the government investments. I wonder what the number would be if it is narrowed to central government investment. My guess is that the number would be similar. Odisha must make efforts to get its fair share with respect to central government investment, and not just in mining and metal sector. In that regard in http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3298 we listed the central PSUs in Odisha and India.

Business Standard focuses on a different aspect in the ASSOCHAM report. Following is an excerpt from the Business standard report.

Citing lack of new age industries in Orissa, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) today called upon the Orissa government to focus on the development of IT, real estate and service sectors.

It also laid emphasis on the development of human resources to bridge the skill gap and improve the employability of manpower in the state.

it strongly pitched for the development of infrastructure, focus on sunrise industries like pharmaceuticals, small and medium industries, adequate importance on climate change and global warming, removal of regional inequalities particularly in KBK districts and connecting the ports with the industrial corridors. Similarly, promotion of employment through cluster development, setting up of ancillary industries, linking industries to supply chain and creation of opportunities for self-employment need to be given priority. …

ASSOCHAM has suggested that the land acquisition need to be left to the buyers and sellers of land and the role of the state should be that of a facilitator only. The project proponents have a role to rehabilitate all those families being uprooted for a project.

On Orissa specific initiative, Rawat said, an Orissa Desk has been set up in Delhi to focus on the human resources development and the development of food processing industries. Berhampur University has been roped in as the partner for the purpose.

The desk is working on the growth of agriculture and food processing industries in the state and drafting Orissa Vision-2020 to provide a road map for the development of the state. An investment seminar called “Orissa Calling Investment”, is proposed to be held in Delhi in October this year to promote investment in the state, he pointed out.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

Aditya Birla Group chairman, Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla is very hopeful of completion of the Rs 4,500-crore alumina refinery plant coming up at Kashipur in Koraput district and expansion of Hindalco aluminium smelter project at Hirakud in Sambalpur district. 

… In June last year, the Orissa government had recommended the union mining ministry to allot mining lease of Lakharis bauxite deposit in Koraput district in favour of Hindalco Industries Limited, the flagship company of Aditya Birla Group.

This is the second bauxite deposit to be allotted to the Group, which entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Orissa government in April, 2005 is to set up a world-class aluminium complex in the state.

Officials said the Lakharis mine is estimated to have about 45 million bauxite deposits.

Earlier, the Hindalco was allotted Kodingamali bauxite deposit in the district for its proposed aluminium complex at Kansari.

Aditya Aluminium (another unit of Hindalco) had signed a MoU with the Orissa government on April 8, 2005 to set up an integrated aluminium complex in the state. The project involves a total investment of Rs 11,500 crores for production of 1.5 lakh tones of alumina and 3.25 lakh tonnes of aluminium per annum.

Aditya Aluminium has already signed a joint venture umbrella agreement with the Orissa Mining Corporation for bauxite mining in Koraput district.

The company has sought 2012 acres of land for its refinery and 3331 acres for the smelter, sources said.

The state government is in the process of acquiring land for the project, but faces problem in some villages, the sources added resulting in the delay in grounding of the project.

The above is from Samaja. Following is an excerpt from a report in Economics Times by Nageshwar Patnaik.

A knowledge park is coming up here at an estimated cost of Rs 100 crore. This is the first public private partnership integrated industrial park by Government of Orissa and Bharat Biotech International [BBI].

Work at the 100 crore ‘Konark Knowledge Park’ at Mouza-Andharua near the state capital here began today with the ground breaking ceremony held here on Sunday. …

The project aims to boost investments in the areas of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals in the state of Orissa. When completed, this infrastructure will create world-class, state-of-the-art research and development enterprises in an exceptional environment designed to foster novel approaches to healthcare and its delivery.

The state government has allocated 64.86 acres of land (30 acres in Phase I and 24.86 acres in phase II) including 10 acres of land for development of Biotech Incubation Centre through a Special Purpose Vehicle [SPV] for development of an integrated industrial park to attract and promote biotechnology, pharmaceutical and information technology industries here. The land for park has been allocated in the form of a long term lease to the SPV named Konark Knowledge Park Pvt. Ltd.

The SPV will execute the Lease cum Development Agreement with Orissa Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO). The project is expected to be completed over a period of 8 years.

… Orissa Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) will provide all external infrastructure facilities, such as four-way lane roads to the gate, uninterrupted water supply, uninterrupted power with 33KVA sub-station, sewage etc to facilitate rapid development of internal infrastructure.

BBI has successfully developed an integrated Agri-Biotech Park in Bangalore and establishment of Genome Valley BioPharmaceutical cluster located in the outskirts of Hyderabad.

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

The Aditya Birla group on Thursday signed a MoU with Orissa government to develop a sea port on Build Own Operate [BOO] basis at Chudamani in Bhadrak district on an investment of Rs.1,500 crore.

The projected capacity of the port to be developed over four years will be three million tons per annum [MTPA] in the first phase. This will be expanded subsequently to 10 mtpa.

The port will have two berths, and will handle bulk cargo such as cement, aluminium, iron ore, thermal coal, limestone, gypsum, clinker and copper. The port will be connected by a rail corridor from Markona Station to port site.

  … "In this port, directly or indirectly, about 5,000 people will be employed. By operation of the port, the state government will get revenue about Rs.20 crore per annum."

Mr Patanik hoped that the port promoter would work with the district administration and other agencies to plan and develop a port-based industrial township. …

Speaking on the occasion, Aditya Birla group executive president, Ravi Kastia said, "… We are confident that the Aditya Birla Group’s experience in putting up as many as six port facilities in the Western Coast, backed by the unstinting support of the Government of Orissa, will help us create a much required port in the state."

Following is an excerpt from a report in TimesofIndia.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Economic Times has an article each on Jharkhand and Orissa’s mineral reserves and the current industrial climates and mineral policies of  both states. The two articles are:

• On Jharkhand.
• On Orissa.

Following are some additional comparison between both states:

• Orissa being a coastal state has coast related opportunities (ports) as well as problems (hurricanes, floods)
• Jharkhand has more larger metro areas than Orissa. Following are some population numbers.
  • Jharkhand’s top 4 metro areas are: Ranchi (1.07 m), Jamshedpur (1.25m), Dhanbad (1.21 m) and Bokaro (592k).
  • Asansol (West Bengal) with population of 1.3m borders Jharkhand (59km from Dhanbad) and together with Durgapur (544 K, 40 kms from Asansol) is being built as the second largest metro area of West Bengal.
  • Orissa’s top 4 metro areas are: Bhubaneswar-Cuttack metro (1.67m in Gazeteer, 1.9m in CPD estimate), Rourkela city (551K in gazeteer, 1.1 m unofficially estimated in metro area), Berhampur metro (514K in CPD estimate), and Sambalpur city (258K in Gazeteer).
• At present Orissa is a bigger knowledge and education hub.
• Orissa has more well known tourist locations.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Haka location in Bhubaneswar is:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Note: There are often many PR related activities by Vedanta and we usually don’t cover them. But this is an exceptional act of good citizenship on the part of Vedanta when the state is going through an extremely difficult time with respect to its power situation. The excerpts below are from an article by journalist Nageswar Patnaik, who is often very critical of industrial houses. Coming from him, this reinforces the genuineness and the importance of this good action by Vedanta and thus needs to be highlighted.

This should be contrasted with the Jindal group, which was reported to have violated the agreement it signed with Orissa government, and siphoned off extra power, until it was stopped by the high court.

Vedanta Group has finally come to the rescue of Orissa which is currently facing an acute power shortage due to scanty rainfall and "almost dried-up" reservoirs and breakdown of certain thermal power units in the state.

The London-based company on Thursday announced to provide 200 MW power daily to the state grid from its own power plants with immediate effect.

Vedanta has managed to get a better price for offloading power to the grid at the rate of Rs 3.60 per unit against the current Rs 3 per unit bought by the state from the CPPs.

In fact, Vedanta had been providing 115 MW of power from its Group Company BALCO in Chattisgarh to Orissa since July 4 by depriving its own smelter.

"Looking at the continuous demand in the state, Vedanta extended its supply with effect from July 9 from Jharsuguda and has managed to provide additional 100 MW of power to the state grid. The total capacity provided by Vedanta will cover up to the tune of one third of overall power shortage in the state," a source in the company said.

This was accomplished in the face of severe challenges, including shortage of coal and non availability of railway "rack," Mr Siddiqi said, assuring, to stand solidly behind the state in all its critical times.

On an average, Orissa’s daily requirement is around 2400 MW, which goes up to 2,800 to 3,000 MW during the peak hours in the evening. The state has a combined installed capacity from hydel projects to the tune of 1,900 MW. But they are generating around 1,000 MW.

Orissa is passing through power crisis forcing the authorities to restrict load restriction on industrial users by 50% among other measures to tackle the situation.

The state is facing shortage of power by 300 MW on an average and 450 to 500 MW at peak time. The delayed monsoon made things worse while the breakdown in the coal fired power plants operating in the state added to the crisis.

The VAL has set up a Greenfield alumina refinery in Orissa’s Kalahandi district with a capacity of 1 million tons per annum. It is also setting up a 0.5 MTPA aluminum smelter, 1215 MW captive power plant at Jharsuguda.

The Group Company Sterlite Energy Limited is also setting up a 2400 MW Independent Power Plants at Jharsuguda.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

IT major Infosys today said it would invest Rs 500 crore in Orissa for setting up an SEZ in IT and ITeS sectors and take care of children’s mid-day-meal scheme and healthcare services.

“We have proposed to set up an IT SEZ in Bhubaneswar. The project will require 50 acres of land”, T V Mohandas Pai, Director HR, ER and administration and member of board of Infosys, told reporters here.

… Pai who had been funding mid-day meal for 10,000 school children in Nayagarh district, also agreed to extend the programme to Gajapati and Kandhamal districts, official sources said. Besides, 30,000 children in Puri district were also getting midday meal in Puri district.

“We have been spending Rs 6.50 per child to provide quality food,” Pai said pointing out that Infosys had spent Rs 5.5 crore towards its corporate social responsibility.

Shetty, who had been providing health care service to BPO staff, urged Patnaik to allot five-seven acres of land in the city for setting up a 1,000-bed heart hospital.

As the city was gradually becoming a IT hub of Eastern India with almost all major players opening their development centres, employees required quality heath service, Shetty said.

“We have also requestedthe state government to help Shetty set up a heart hospital here”, Pai told reporters.

Following is an excerpt from a report in the Economic Times.

Railways may seek Chinese help in developing railway stations at Bhubaneswar and Bypanahalli in Bangalore.

A high-level Chinese delegation is visiting India from tomorrow to understand the Indian Railway system in a better way as part of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between both the countries.

The 13-member delegation headed by Wu Wei, Director of Sino-India Railway Cooperation Working Group will visit Agra, Bhubaneswar, Mumbai and Bangalore during their 12-day visit.

… The two countries’ cooperation in rail sector is envisaged in the MoU signed 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 team would visit railway station at Bhubaneswar and Bypanahalli to explore the possibility of developing these stations at the international level. "After visiting these places, the team would share their views with us about the way to go ahead with the project, said the official.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

IT consulting firm MindTree Consulting Ltd would the start construction of its proposed development centre here from April, official sources said.

MindTree Consulting is one of the four major firms which had proposed investment in Orissa’s IT sector, the others being Genpact Limited, ICICI Eastern Regional Hub and Wipro Limited.

According to Orissa’s Information Technology Minister S N Patro, MindTree Consulting Limited had proposed to invest nearly Rs 200 crore in its project here.

"While Wipro will invest Rs 100 crore in its project, ICICI Eastern Regional Hub proposes to spend Rs 500 crore here," the Minister said, adding that Genpact had proposed to invest Rs 200 crore.

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

… the state government signing three fresh MoUs for setting up units, taking the total proposed capacity of output to 75.66 mtpa, involving a total investment of nearly Rs 2,00,000 crore, official sources said.

With this, the number of MoUs for establishment of steel units touched 49, including 11 for mega projects. Besides MoUs with the largest steel maker in the world Arcelor-Mittal and South Korean gaint Posco, the government had signed agreements with domestic firms such as Jindal, Tata Steel and others for mega projects.

All the MoUs were signed during the last six years, they said, adding 26 steel projects had already become partially operational while the mega ones were facing land acquisition problem.

The production capacity so far achieved by these companies was 3.96 mtpa in sponge iron, 0.45 mtpa of pig iron and 3.32 mtpa of steel, besides 308 mw captive power plant.

said the three companies would produce one million tonne of steel per annum.

The companies which signed MoUs are Pradhan Steel and Power Private Limited, Atha Mines Private Limited and Tecton Ispat Private Limited.

While Pradhan Steel proposes to set up a 0.50 mtpa steel plant in over 460 acre land with an investment of Rs 606 crore at Dhurusia in Cuttack district, Atha Mines would set up a 0.25 mtpa capacity unit at an investment of Rs 291.60 crore at Tarkabeda in Dhenkanal district. Tecton Ispat would set up a 0.25 mtpa steel unit over 150 acre of land at an investment of Rs 227.13 crore at Tarkebeda in Dhenkanal district.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Pragativadi.

The meeting …accepted two out of the eight project proposals.

The meeting decided that the state government would seek necessary environmental clearance from the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) before giving the nod to any proposal for new thermal plants in the Angul-Talcher belt.

Briefing newsmen after the meeting, industry secretary Ashok Dalwai said that state government had asked the IBM to make a detailed study on the environmental sustainability of the Angul-Talcher areas.

He said that the meeting, while discussing about the setting up of a number of thermal plants in the state also took note of the searing heat in this industrial belt during summer.

The Committee gave its nod to Jindal Photo Ltd’s proposal to enhance its power production capacity from 1,000 MT to 1,200 MT in its proposed plant at Angul.

The SLSWCC also approved the Well Spun Power and Steel Ltd’s proposal to set up its ore beneficiation and pelletisation plant at Dhamra.

The company aims to produce ductile iron and spiral iron from this plant, for which Rs 1,830 crore would be invested.

The company has asked the state government to arrange 2,000 acres of land.

The state government will scrutinise the land requirement proposal. The company had earlier inked an MoU with the state government to set up a 3-MT plant at Angul.

The following is from Samaja:

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

The Orissa government has given administrative sanction for acquiring land at Patana tehsil in Kenojhar district for Arcelor-Mittal’s proposed 12 million tons per annum steel plant.

The company … has already deposited Rs 4.03 crore with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDCO) as processing fee for phase-I land acquisition.

The government has also appointed a nodal officer to oversee land acquisition process and other issues concerning the company’s greenfield project, said Steel and Mines Minister Padmanabha Behera.

Arcelor-Mittal is understood to have sought nearly 8,000 acres of land for the purpose and the state is believed to have agreed to the request.

The government has, however, cleared acquisition of only 1,224 acre of land spread over three villages like Angikala, Baradangua and Bhrungaraj under Patana tehsil in the first phase of land acquisition.

The 1,224 acres demarcated for the first phase acquisition comprised 431 acres of government land and 739 acres belonging to private owners.

While the government had fixed price per acre of state land at Rs two lakh, it was yet to decide cost of private land which would be fixed according to rehabilitation and resettlement policy.

Following is a collection of links about Orissa on-line media.

• Dharitri
• Sambada
• Pragativadi
• The Samaja (epaper)
• Janamukha (from Sambalpur)
• Prajatantra (not regularly updated)
• Samaya (nor regularly updated)
• Orissa TV
• Navratna TV, Bargarh.
• Insight Orissa
• Orissamatters.com
• Orissapolitics
• Worldorissa.com
• Odisha.com
• Orissadiary.com
• Kalingatimes.com
• Global Oriya
• New India Press: Orissa section
• The Statesman: Orissa Plus
• Daily Pioneer: Bhubaneswar section
• Twin City Plus: Biweekly supplement in Times of India
• Press releases of Resident Commissioner of Orissa in New Delhi
• Orissa news in Business Standard
• AIR Cuttack Regional News (Aanchalika Sambada)
• Google news on Bhubaneswar – sorted by relevance
• Google news on Bhubaneswar – sorted by date
• Google news on Orissa – sorted by relevance
• Google news on Orissa – sorted by date
• List of Orissa government accredited media correspondents