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

"All the six coal-blocks are part of the IB Valley coalfield and only one (Meenakshi-A) is presently in the ‘go’ area, the other five being in ‘no go’ areas. All six blocks will now be considered by FAC ( Forest Advisory Committee) as ‘go’ areas," Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said in a statement.

Giving green signal to clear coal-blocks linked to UMPP, NTPC and OPGC power plants, the Minister said the Power Ministry should give "special focus" on ash disposal and water availability.

Three coal-blocks (Meenakshi-A, Meenakshi-B and Meenakshi Dipside) have been allocated to the 3960MW/4000MW Ultra Mega Power Plant (UMPP).

Coal-blocks (Manoharpur and Manoharpur Dipside) have been allocated to the 1320 MW power plant of Orissa Power Generation Corporation (OPGC). One coal-block (Dulanga) has been allocated to NTPC’s 1600 MW power plant.

Following is from Sambada.

The various news reports that initially came after Mr. Jindal met the CM, such as the above, did not mention anything regarding Mr. Jindal wanting iron ore linkage for his steel plants. But reports on the next day mentioned that. Following is an excerpt from a report in Financial Express.

The Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL), which is all set to commission its 2 million tonne steel plant next month, is desperately looking for iron ore linkage.

JSPL vice-president and managing director Naveen Jindal urged Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik for allotment of a captive iron ore mine for the plant.

Jindal met the Orissa CM on Tuesday and discussed the steel project and the captive power plant.

Sources in the government told FE that the JSPL managing director has requested the chief minister Naveen Patnaik to ensure raw material security for the plant through suitable iron ore concession.

Following is excerpted from a report in Business Standard.

• Overall: employment for 39104 people in the state by the end of December 2010.
• Steel sector: 31164 jobs which includes employment for 22399 people from the state and 8765 people from outside the state.
• Aluminium sector: 5474 people including 3657 from the state and the remaining 1817 outside the state. Investment worth Rs 11017 crore has been grounded in this sector.
• In the aluminium sector, Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) has been the biggest job creator, generating over 5000 jobs through its one million tonne per annum (mtpa) refinery project and 75 MW captive power plant (CPP) at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district and aluminium smelter complex at Burkhamunda near Jharsuguda with a smelter capacity of 0.25 mtpa and a 675 MW CPP. At its refinery plant, VAL has employed 2523 people from Orissa and 1091 persons from outside the state. Similarly, 1026 people have been engaged from the state for VAL’s smelter plant while 686 others have been hired outside the state. VAL’s total investment on the refinery plant and smelter complex stands at Rs 9084 crore.
• Aditya Aluminium Ltd has invested Rs 1875 crore on its one mtpa alumina refinery at Rayagada and a 0.26 mtpa smelter plant cum 650 MW CPP at Sambalpur. The company has created jobs for 63 people from the state and 34 others outside the state.
• Cement sector: The total employment generated stands at 1502 by the end of December last year.
• OCL Cement Ltd has generated employment for 1494 people and the company has invested Rs 697.46 crore out of a total project cost of Rs 850 crore for its 1.10 mtpa cement manufacturing unit at Rajgangpur. The other two investors in the cement sector- Ultratech Cement Ltd and ACC Cement Ltd have made negligible progress on their projects in the state.
• In the power sector, the Independent Power Plants (IPPs) have generated employment for 964 people.
• Sterlite Energy Ltd has commissioned the first unit (600 MW) of its 2400 MW IPP, four other IPPs- GMR Kamalanga Energy Ltd, Monnet Power Company Ltd, Jindal India Thermal Power Ltd and Ind-Barath Energy (Utkal) Ltd have started construction.

Following is from Dharitri.

Following is from a Business Standard report.

The state has attracted investments worth Rs51963.54 crore in the July-September quarter of 2010-11, reinforcing its image as an investor friendly destination.

… Of the 22 proposals that the state has received in the July-September period of this fiscal, seven have been in the energy sector followed by six in the steel and mines sector and three in the cement sector.

Investment proposals in the energy sector have been to the tune of Rs32024.76 crore with a cumulative capacity of 5175 Mw. Hecate Power Company Ltd has proposed to set up a 1080 Mw (4×270) thermal power plant in Bolangir district at a cost of Rs5350 crore.

Samvijaya Power and Allied Industries Ltd has proposed to set up a 1320 Mw (2×660) thermal power plant at Rampela in Jharsuguda district at an investment of Rs6828.38 crore.

Another power firm- Arissan Energy Ltd has also proposed to set up 1320 Mw (2×660) thermal power plant at the same location, entailing an investment of Rs6828.38 crore.

Similarly, Action Ispat and Power Ltd has evinced interest in setting up a 1320 Mw (2×660) thermal power plant at Puruna Pani in Boudh district at a cost of Rs8079.74 crore.

Embassy Nirman Pvt Ltd has proposed to set up a 135 Mw coal based power plant at Ghantikhal in Cuttack district at an investment of Rs618 crore.

Moser Baer Power and Infrastructures Ltd has proposed to put up a 1320 Mw (2×660) power plant in Bolangir district at a cost of Rs7400 crore.

Sonepur Energy and Oil City Pvt Ltd has lined up an investment of Rs5000 crore in setting up a gas processing plant and petrochemical complex at Sonepur in Ganjam district.

In the steel sector, ARSS Steel & Power Ltd has proposed to set up a three million tonne per annum (mtpa) steel plant at Boinda in Angul district, involving an investment of Rs10900 crore.

Similarly, Neepaz B C Dagara Steels Pvt Ltd, has planned to set up a 0.4 mtpa integrated steel plant and a 45 Mw captive power plant (CPP) at Rairangpur in Mayurbhanj district at a cost of Rs1152 crore.

International Minerals Trading Company Pvt Ltd has proposed to set up an iron ore fines beneficiation plant at Barbil in Keonjhar district at a cost of Rs150 crore.

In the cement sector, Visa Cement Ltd intends to set up a portland cement plant at Bargarh at a cost of Rs1840 crore. Jaipur Cements Pvt Ltd has proposed to set u a 0.5 mtpa cement grinding plant at Kalinganagar in Jajpur district at a cost of Rs63.50 crore.

Bhushan Infrastructure Ltd has planned an integrated township at Mangalpur in Dhenkanal district at an investment of Rs425 crore. J K Paper Ltd plans to set up a paper board plant at Jaykaypur in Rayagada district at a cost of Rs1475 crore.

I don’t know if being the largest power producer city is something good by itself. In general heavy industrialization is happening in Jharsuguda, and a full-fledged airport is coming up there.
However, matching HRD institutions and other amenities are not being made there. There are universities (Sambalpur U and VSSUT) and a medical college in Burla which is about 50 kms away, but none (except the private engineering college, Black Diamond) in Jharsuguda or its adjacent industrial townships of Belphar and Barajarajnagar. This needs to be corrected. Following are some quick thoughts.

• Branches of Sambalpur U and VSSUT should be established there.
• Jharsuguda Engineering School should be upgraded to an engineering college.
• One of the local companies, especially the ones mining in Ib, should be pushed to establish a medical college there.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

… "After completing the official procedures, we will sign an MoU for the CTL project involving an investment of Rs 42,000 crore," JSPL Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Naveen Jindal told reporters after a meeting with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here this evening.

…Stating that he discussed with the chief minister the group’s four projects comprising the Rs 52,000-crore steel plant, a thermal power plant involving Rs 6,600 crore, the Rs 42,000-crore CTL plant and an industrial complex envisaging an investment of Rs 500 crore, Jindal said a total of Rs 1,01,100 crore would be invested in Orissa over the next decade.

"We also discussed (with the chief minister) on our proposal of enhancing steel capacity from 6 million tonne per annum (mtpa) to 12.5 mtpa," he said, adding the department of steel and mines is likely to list this project for consideration of the task-force by the end of July.

Jindal said, on completion, "about 80,000 barrel of oil per day will be manufactured from the proposed CTL plant." The project is likely to be listed in next task-force meeting in July itself, he added.

… Earlier, the Tata Group, in collaboration with Sasol of South Africa, had evinced interest in setting up a similar coal-to-liquid plant in the state.

… Jindal indicated to set up the unit in Angul district where its steel plant is being built.

JSPL, which had already been alloted a coal block in the state, would complete its proposed CTL petroleum project in eight years, a company executive said, adding about 32,000 would get employment in the project.

… While many mega industries face difficulties in implementing their MoUs, the JSPL chief said his company got support of the local people in Angul district.

Besides these four mega projects, JSPL is also working on setting up an engineering college and a power training institute, Jindal said adding the company is committed to recruit local youths in its plants.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The Orissa government today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ratan Jindal owned JSL Ltd (formerly Jindal Stainless Ltd) for setting up of a 1320 Mw super critical plant with Independent Power Producer (IPP) status at Luni in Dhenkanal district.

The project envisages an investment of Rs 7375 crore and it is expected to generate direct and indirect employment for 2600 persons.

The company has sought allotment of 2000 acres of land through the Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (Idco).

… This would be the second major project of the company in the state. The company is currently setting up a 1.6 million tonne integrated stainless steel plant at Kalinganagar. With this, the total projected power generation from the projects for which the state government has singed MoUs has increased to 32,420 Mw.

…Energy minister, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak said, the government expects the IPPs to be able to generate 2400 Mw by the end of this year and 6450 Mw by the end of 2012-13.

Ratan Jindal, vice-chairman and the managing director, JSL Ltd said, the group is producing about 4000 Mw power at present. This is likely to increase to 12000 Mw by 2012-13, which would put the company among the major power producers in the country.

Referring to the 1.6 million tonne per annum integrated stainless steel project being set up at Kalinganagar, he said, the first phase of 0.8 million tonne would be commissioned by the end of this year. Chief secretary Tarunkanti Mishra and other senior officials were present on the occasion.

One concern I have is the land requirement of these power plants. They should reduce this as much as possible. In this regard some pointers are:

• A 2006 NEERI report.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Mining major Coal India (CIL), Gas Authority of India (GAIL) and Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF) will come together to establish a project for producing urea and ammonium nitrate at Tachler, Orissa.

CIL has earmarked about 5.5 million tonnes of raw coal for the scheme, which once washed will come down to approximately 3.7 million tonnes of coal with less than 30 per cent ash content. Subsequently, GAIL is to gasify the fuel to produce urea and ammonium nitrate.

“The exact investment figures have not been fixed as the technology that will be utilised to produce urea and ammonium nitrate is still being studied. But an estimated few thousand crores are likely to be spent,” CIL chairman Partha S. Bhattacharyya said.

…“The joint venture (JV) has been mandated to produce a sizable amount of urea as well as 20-30 per cent of the annual ammonium nitrate requirement of CIL,” he added.

…  Moreover, the JV is expected to revive the Talcher unit of the Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI), as the project is expected to undertaken there.

Apart from easy access to coal, the Talcher unit has other infrastructural advantages including a coal-gasification plant, a heavy water plant and an urea plant already in place.

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.

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 Financial Express.

The Orissa government is proposing to develop a special corridor for coal transportation from the state’s coal-bearing district Angul. The 137 km long corridor, which would be developed with an investment of Rs 5000 crore, will connect coal deposits in Talcher, Angul, Meramundali, and Chendipada.

A state government official in the commerce and transport department said the corridor will be developed with rail and road networks with a view to facilitate coal supply to various industries and also transportation to ports for exports and coastal shipments.

Orissa has proven coal deposits of 6,53,53 mt. The Mahanadi Coalfield Ltd. (MCL), a subsidiary of Coal India (CIL), is currently raising about 70 to 90 mt per annum. However, as many private and public sector companies are expected to make their allotted coal block operational, coal traffic from the Angul district is expected to increase manifold.

The state has lined up power plants by 21 IPPs (independent power producers) of a total capacity of 25,000 MW. Besides, a power plant of 4000 MW is coming up under the Ultra Mega Power Project(UMPP) scheme and another 4000 MW is being installed by NTPC. In brown field expansion, the AES-owned Orissa Power Generation Corporation and NTPC are adding 1,320 MW each to their facilities at Ib Valley and Talcher respectively. To add to it, several captive generating plants are being set up by aluminium, steel and ferro-alloys plants in the state. To feed these power plants, at least 142 mt of coal will need to be transported from the pit head to power stations every year. 

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

… Projects awaiting the chief minister’s nod include those proposed by National Thermal Power Corporation (Rs18,000 crore), L&T-Dubal (Rs 19,668 crore) and Lanco Babanh Power (Rs 11,402 crore) among others.

… The SLSWCA in its meeting held in March 2007 cleared the Rs 4232.54 crore investment proposal of Ashapura Minechem Ltd for setting up of a 0.5 million tonne per annum (mtpa) alumina refinery and 0.15 mtpa smelter with 300 Mw captive power plant (CPP) in Koraput district.

Similarly, NTPC proposal to set up a 3200 Mw thermal power project at Darlipali in Sundergarh district was approved by the SLSWCA in February 2008.

The fate of L&T’s proposal to set up an alumina-aluminium complex at Kusumsila near Rayagada and Vadrapali near Sambalpur in joint venture with Dubal is still uncertain.

Sources said, the HLCA is yet to consider the Rs 8,250 crore investment proposal of Orissa Thermal Power Corporation Ltd (OTPCL) to set up a 2000 Mw coal based power plant at Rengali. It is also yet to take up the Lanco Babandh Power’s application to enhance the MoU capacity from 1320Mw to 2640 Mw at Kurunti and Kharagprasad in Dhenkanal district.

The Rs 3101.86 crore proposal of Tata Sponge Iron to set up a 1.5 mtpa steel making capacity at Beliapada near Joda, recommended by the SLSWCA in May this year, is also pending for approval by the chief ministers.

… Though VAL had proposed to expand the capacity of its existing refinery at Lanjigarh from 1 mtpa to 6 mtpa, smelter plant capacity from 0.25 mtpa to 1.6 mtpa and the captive power plant (CPP) capacity from 674 Mw to 1350 Mw with a combined investment of Rs 37,440 crore, it was cleared in part by the SLSWCA.

The SLSWCA meeting held in May this year had recommended for a smelter capacity of 0.5 mtpa as the company had already achieved this level while approving the capacity expansion of the CPP to 1350 Mw without any increase in the refinery capacity.

Similarly, Hindalco Industries Ltd (Aditya Aluminium) had proposed to expand its alumina refinery capacity to 1.5 mtpa from 1 mtpa and expansion of its smelting capacity to 0.72 mtpa from 0.26 mtpa along with an increase in the CPP capacity to 1650 Mw from 650 Mw.

SLSWCA has only recommended a marginal increase in the smelting capacity from 0.26 mtpa to 0.36 mtpa and CPP capacity from 650 Mw to 950 Mw to the HLCA. Partial approval of these proposals was officially attributed to the non-availability of bauxite linkage and pending the final report of the environmental carrying capacity study taken up by the Orissa State Pollution Control Board.

That apart, the SLSWCA in its meeting on 26 August 2009 also recommended two projects of Rs 14,275 crore to HLCA. The Rs 7988 crore proposal of JR Powergen Private Ltd to set up a 1980 Mw power plant at Kishorenagar near Angul and BRG Energy Systems’s proposal to set up a 1320 Mw power plant at an investment of Rs 6287 crore at Bhapur in Nayagarh district are yet to be approved by HLCA.

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 Pragativadi.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Following is an excerpt from a report in sify.com. (This report is reasonable; the tall claims about making Naraj like Jamshedpur is reported in Sambada, which is given at the end of the excerpt.)

Optimistic about completion of land acquisition for its 1,000 MW power plant near Cuttack in five months, Tata Power has allayed fears that it may cause air, water and noise pollution and said the thermal unit would adopt latest environmental safety technology.

"We expect the whole process of land acquisition for the Naraj Marthapur coal-based power project to be completed by October, this year," Project Director (eastern region) of Tata Power, Praveer Sinha said.

Maintaining that the company was for fair and just compensation for land, structures and trees, Sinha, who visited the proposed plant site with other company officials, said price for land would be settled through ‘direct win-win negotiations with sellers’.

Rates offered would be higher than benchmark rates fixed by Orissa government, Sinha and other company officials pointed out, adding most advanced technologies would be used in the Rs 5,000-crore project to minimise plant emission.

… Ruling out any adverse impact on the air quality of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar due to the plant, he said water spraying would be undertaken in coal yard area to suppress the dust, while high efficiency electrostatic precipitator would be installed for removal of fly as from the flue gas.

"All these measures would keep emission of ash and coal dust to well below the statutory norms," a senior official at Tata Power’s Jamshedpur plant said, adding flue gas would be released through 275 metre tall stack, three times taller than Qutub Minar.

Explaining the steps to check water pollution, Sinha said fly ash generated from the plant would be stored within the plant premises and it would not be dumped into Mahanadi river or Puri canal.

Fly ash, said another senior executive, would be directly utilised by the cement industry, brick manufacturing, road and pavement construction, fertilisers and for bund preparation in farms. "Therefore, the quality of water in Puri canal or Mahanadi river or Puri canal will not be affected and will not impact marine life at all," he said.

Similarly, he said waste water generated from the plant would be reused within the plant and discharge, if any, was likely to take place only during rainy season when excess water is available.

"Such water will be discharged only after treatment of effluents and its quality will comply with the applicable effluents standards," he said.

Sinha said steps would be taken to ensure that no pollutant material is discharged into the river. Ash would not pollute ground water due to impervious lining of the ash pond into which the ash would be disposed.

Ruling out noise pollution due to the power unit, company officials also made it clear that the machinery and equipment would meet all the national standards of noise limits.

Further, thick green belt would be developed around the project site to minimise the impacts of noise created by transport of coal by railways. Around two lakh trees would be planted in the green belt to absorb dust and noise.

Following is  from a report in New Indian Express.

Raijharan area of Chhendipada near here where power grade coal is available just eight feet below would soon become a major coal producing area of the state. The coal rich area called "Utkal block" has attracted both private and public sector companies to open up open cast coalmines. The block has been divided into seven parts named Utkal-A, B1, B2, C, D, E and F.

According to district official sources there are about 900 million tonne deposit in the area. This is for the first time that private coal producers are going to open up mines in the area which come under Talcher coalfield.

As per the latest in formations available, Utkal-B1 block has been allotted to Jindal Steel and Power Limited in the year 2003 as a captive coal mine while B2 block went for Monnet Ispat &Power limited in 1998. The block C has been allocated to IMFA group may 1998 while Block F came under Tata Spong Iron Limited of keonjhar in 2006.

Orisa Mining Corporation got block D while block E has been given to Nalco for captive mining in August 2004. AS regards to Utkal block A the union Coal ministry has allotted it to public sector Mahanadi Coalfield Limited and four other companies including Jindal stainless limited. The block A was earlier allotted to Kalinga Power Corporation in 1996 which was to set up a power plant at kalinga nagar.

But when the company moved away from setting up the plant there the allotment was cancelled and given to MCL and four companies . All the coal blocks except Utkal D are captive coal mines for power plants. .Utkal D though is owned by OMC will be developed and mined by a private company called Kalinga Coal mining private Limited.( KCMPL).

It is in an advanced stage other than these companies to begin production by December if all goes well. It has successfully acquired all the required land by now without any trouble.As per the records of the district office here 4 (1) notifications for all the coal producers except Nalco and Utkal have been done. Monnet Ispat and Energy which is setting up a steel and power plant along with the coal mine is acquiring private lands on direct purchase basis.

Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) which opening a captive mine is also progressing well on the acquisition matters after the meeting of its chief Navin Jindal with state chief minister Section 7(1) of its land acquisition in under progress.

As regards to the environmental clearance all but Nalco got the clearance from the union ministry of Forest and Environment. TATA also did not have the clearance but its case is different as it got the block in last year while Nalco got in 2004.

Following is an excerpt from a report in New Indian Express.

… The coal rich Angul district alone shared 8050 mw out of these projected power generation. The figure may go up if Reliance Power Limited and Lanco Power who have also evinced interest to set up power plants, go for it.

Besides, there would be another 1900 mw power generation in the district for captive purposes. The district, virtually, is slated to be the power house not only of State but also of the nation as hardly any district in India would have so much of power generation capacity when these projects would go on stream.

The independent power producers are Jindal photo (2000 mw), Mahanadi Aban Power Limited (1050 mw), Bhusan Power Limited (2000), ESSSAR Power (2000 mw), Tata Sponge (1000 mw). All these are in very infant stages.

While Mahanadi Aban and Jindal photo would get their power plants set up at Talcher, the remaining producers will have their ventures at Angul area.

Besides these, steel producers like Jindal Steel and Power Limited would set up its 900 mw of captive power plant while Monnet Ispat will go for 1000 mw of power plant at Angul.

This would be the additional capacity generation of power in the district in addition to the existing generation capacity of 4500 mw of two NTPC and one Nalco captive power plant.

While at Kaniha, NTPC has 3000 mw super thermal power plant, it has another 460 mw plant at Talcher also. Nalco also has a power plant of installed capacity of 840 mw while another 220 mw addition is under way under the expansion.

Taking into account this current capacity, the total capacity of the district in coming years would be around 14000 mw. If Reliance and Lanco come, this figure will go up further.

Most of these upcoming power producers will have their own captive coal mines. Some of them got allotment while others are waiting.

Angul district unlike others is conducive for power plants because of availabity two key infrastructural bases. These are coal and water.

… but how far the area, already extremely polluted, could sustain such power generation on such a massive scale. Environmentalists fear the Talcher and Angul area which is experiencing 50 degree Celsius in summer could be led to catastrophe unless massive forestations and anti-heating measures are not taken right now on a long term basis.

A concrete environmental management plan should and must be in place along side of these power plants, environmentalists asserted.

Following is an excerpt from a report in New Indian Express.

Ferro Alloys Corporation Limited (FACOR), one of India’s largest producers and exporters of ferro alloys, is going to expand its integrated plant at a cost of Rs 2,700 cr in Orissa.

The company has initiated an ambitious expansion plan of setting up two power plants and a Stainless Steel Plant (SSP) in Orissa for which a consultancy has also been appointed.

The FACOR group is planning to set up the power plant for its own consumption. A 45 MW coal-based captive power plant is to be set up for Bhadrak near Randia of Orissa at a cost of Rs 180 crore.

The power plant work is scheduled to be completed by 2009 for which the FACOR group has inked a financial tie-up with Rural Electrical Corporation, New Delhi.

Another 250 MW coal-based power plant and a five lakh tpa SSP are also being planned to be set up to the tune of Rs 2,500 crore at Orissa. The expansion works will be completed by 2011.

… According to Ashim, for the Rs 2,500 crore 250 MW power plant and SSP, Rs 1,700 crore would be the debt component while Rs 400 crore would come from internal sources and another Rs 400 crore raised from a partner.

“We are looking for a strategic business partner either in the form of investment or through technological support,” he said.

Following is an excerpt from a news report in Livemint.

Infrastructure company, Lanco Infratech Ltd, … plans to set up its largest power generation capacity unit at Baban, Orissa, in an attempt to meet growing demand for power in an economy that is expanding at more than 9% a year.

The plant will have a capacity of 2,640MW and will require an investment of around Rs11,000 crore, said Lagadapati Madhusudhan Rao, chairman of the Lanco Group. It will have four units of 660MW each. “We are setting up this coal-fired power project in Orissa under a special purpose vehicle (SPV), Lanco Baban Power Plant Ltd,” added Rao.

Of the 2,640MW, 25% will be sold to Orissa and the balance will be sold to other buyers through tenders. The company also plans to keep a certain portion for merchant power, Rao said. Merchant power is the term used by power companies to describe power sold in the spot market (as opposed to that sold through long-term contracts).

The company claims to have lined up nearly 75% of its fuel supply arrangements in the form of captive coal and coal linkages. While coal for 1,000MW capacity would come from Rampia coal blocks, near Baban, which was allotted recently by the government, another 660MW will come from Coal India Ltd (CIL).

“We have applied to the Union ministry of coal for additional coal for the balance power capacity. We are expecting financial closure for the project by early 2009,” said Rao.

Following are excerpts from a report on this in Business Standard.

National Aluminium Company (Nalco), the largest producer and exporter of aluminium in the country, plans to set up an aluminium park at Angul to boost consumption of the metal within the state.

Most of the aluminium produced by the public sector blue chip company, at present, is either exported or sold outside the state for further value addition. Out of the average 30,000 tonnes of aluminium produced per month by Nalco’s smelter at Angul, 28,000 tonnes are dispatched outside the state, with only 2,000 tonnes being consumed in the state.

The proposed aluminium park is expected to increase the metal consumption within the state to at least 20,000 tonnes per month, says CR Pradhan, chairman and managing director of Nalco.

He said both national and international aluminium players would be invited to set up downstream units in the proposed park to facilitate more metal sales within the state. Nalco has approached the Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (IIDCO) to acquire about 1,000 acres to be handed over to it for the purpose.

Meanwhile, Nalco’s plan to set up a second smelter plant along with a captive power plant in Orissa depends on the company being allotted additional bauxite mines and coal block for the project. …

Allaying all apprehensions regarding delay in the ongoing expansion project of Nalco, both at Angul and Damanjodi facilities, he said they would be completed within stipulated time.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard on this.

Arcelor-Mittal’s proposed Rs 40,000 crore, 12 million tonne per annum greenfield steel project in Orissa has made headway with the start of the land survey at the proposed site in Patna tehsil in the Keonjher district.

While the company has launched the survey in 16 villages in the area, it has completed the process in four villages. The company has also submitted a land acquisition plan to the state government.

Meanwhile, though the company has finalised a rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) plan for the project-affected people, it is waiting for the land clearance from the state authorities to submit it to the government.

“We have our R & R proposal ready. Once the state government gives clearance of land, we will submit the proposal”, said Malay Mukherjee, member, group management board, Arcelor-Mittal.

Talking to mediapersons after a meeting on the progress of the project chaired by Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy, Mukherjee said about 70% of the detailed project report (DPR) work for the Keonjhar plant is complete. The report is expected to be finalised by June 2008, he added.

M N Dastur & Company is preparing the DPR. The scope of the DPR, among other things, includes captive mining facilities, captive power supply, water supply and other infrastructure facilities like effluent disposal, environment and township for the company�s employees. …

While the company has got a coal block along with five other companies in Rampia and dipside Rampia, it is exploring the possibility of forging partnership with a mining company to source iron ore till it is allotted captive mines. It has recently applied for a joint partnership with the state- owned Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) in this regard. …

While the total reserves in Rampia and dipside Rampia is estimated at about 600 million tonne, Arcelor-Mittal is expected to get about 85 million tonne.

Mukherjee said a 10-member team of Arcelor-Mittal is now finalising the technical specifications of the steel plant.