___________

The following is from Dharitri.

The following is from Samaja.

The following details is from this webpage (pdf).

INLAND WATERWAYS AUTHORITY OF INDIA

National Waterway-4 & 5 Projects – Expression of Interest for short listing of firms for selection of Project Management Consultant (PMC) to take up development works in Public-Private-Participation (PPP) mode

Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) invites Expression of Interest (EOI) from experienced consultants having proven caliber, capacity and experience in the realm of Projects related to dredging, jetty/ terminal with allied infrastructure facilities, modification of bridges & navigational locks/ aqueducts and other cross drainage works, aids to navigation and other infrastructure, their operation and maintenance etc for selected stretches of National Waterways -4 & 5 (NW-4 & 5) Projects under PPP mode.

2. Projects: Government of India has declared Kakinada-Puducherry stretch of canals along with River Godavari and Krishna as NW-4 and East Coast Canal along with River Brahmani and Mahanadi detla rivers as NW-5 w.e.f 25th November, 2008. The responsibility of development, regulation and management of these waterways now rests with IWAI.

2.1 The stretch-wise break up of the NW-4 is given below:-

River Godavari (Bhadrachalam to Rajahmundry)- 157 km

River Krishna (Wazirabad to Vijayawada) – 171 km

Kakinada Canal ( Kakinada to Rajahmundry) – 50 km

Eluru Canal (Rajahmundry to Vijayawada) – 139 km

Commamur Canal ( Vijayawada to Pedaganjam) – 113 km

North Buckingham Canal (Pedaganjm to Chennai) – 315 km

South Buckingham Canal (Chennai to Merkanam) – 110 km

Kaluvelly Tank (Markanam to Puducherry) – 22 km

Total – 1077 km

Of this, 888 km length of waterway falls in Andhra Pradesh, 187 km in Tamil Nadu and 2 km in Union Territory of Puducherry.

In 50 km stretch of Buckingham Canal in Chennai area (Ennore to Muthukadu) there is no proposal for development of waterway due to the stretch being heavily encroached by MRTS and being urban area. Thus the effective length of waterway development is only 1027 km.

2.2 The stretch-wise break up of NW-5 is given below:

Rivers Brahmani-Kharsua- Dhamra (Talcher- Dhamra) – 265 km

Matai river (Charbatia- Dhamra) – 39 km

Mahanadi delta rivers (Mangalgadi- Paradeep) – 67 km

East Coast Canal (Geonkhali- Charbatia) – 217 km

Total – 588km

Of this 91 km of waterway is in West Bengal and the rest is in Orissa.

2.3. Considering limitation in availability of funds during 11th Plan it has been decided to explore the possibility of development of more viable stretch of the waterways under PPP mode with Viability Gap Funding (VGF) by the Govt of India, if so required. Further, based on the interaction with possible stake holders in development of these waterways it has been decided by the Ministry of Shipping, Govt of India to explore the possibility to develop the following stretches of waterways under Public-Private- Partnership (PPP) route, at the first instance.

Project-1 (NW-4- Godavari river, Kakinda canal and Godavari Eluru canal)

River Godavari (Bhadrachalam- Rajahmundry) – 157 km

Kakinada Canal (Kakinada-Rajahmundry) – 50 km

Godavari Eluru Canal (Rajahmundry- Eluru) – 88 km

Total – 295 km

Project- 2 (NW-5- Brhamani-Kharsua-Dhamra- Matai river system and Mahanadi delta rivers)

River Brahmani- Kharsua- Dhamra river (Talcher- Dhamra)- 265km

Matai river (Charbatia- Dhamra) – 39 km

Mahanadi delta rivers (Mangalgadi- Paradeep) – 67 km

Total – 371km

3. Project Components: The various components of these Projects are:

Project-1

a) Development of the navigable channel (of the following dimension) along with land acquisition for widening the narrow canals and provision of aids to navigation:

i) River Godavari

Bottom width – 32m

Depth – 1.8 m

Side slope – 1:5

This waterway stretch will facilitate movement of 350 tonnes vessel of 45 m length x 9 m breadth x 1.5 m loaded draft.

ii) Kakinada Canal & Godavari Eluru Canal

Bottom width – 14m

Depth – 1.6 m

Side slope – 1:3

This waterway stretch will facilitate movement of 100 tonnes vessel of 32 m length x 5 m breadth x 1.2 m loaded draft.

b) Construction of Inland Water Transport(IWT) Terminals and related infrastructure facilities (including land acquisition) at 3 locations namely Kakinada, Rajahmundry and Eluru

Project-2

a) Development of the navigable channel (of the following dimension) along with land acquisition for widening the narrow stretches and provision of aids to navigation: Brahmani-Kharsua-Dhamra river system, Matai river and Mahanadi delta rivers

Bottom width – 45 m

Depth – 2m

Side slope – 1:5

This waterway stretch will facilitate movement of 500 tonnes vessel of 50 m length x 11 m breadth x 1.8 m loaded draft. b) Construction of Inland Water Transport(IWT) Terminals and related infrastructure facilities (including land acquisition) at 4 locations namely Talcher, Jenapur, Dhamra & Paradeep (port facilities).

4. Quantum of works & Cost: DPRs have been prepared by the consultant namely M/s WAPCOS (I) Ltd, New Delhi for both the waterways. The quantum of works estimated in the DPR is as under:

Project-1:

a) Estimated Quantity:

Item – Quantity

i) Land Acquisition- 517 Ha

ii) Dredging- 19.12 lakh cu.m

iii) Bank Protection- 0.50 lakh cum

iv) Modification of structures- 496 pipe sluices+ 7 locks + 2 bridges

v) Navigational Aids- 125 FRP Buoys + 125 countryboats + 22 shore beacons + 273 lighted marks

vi) Buoy Laying Vessel- One

b) Estimated Cost: (in Crores)

i) Land acquisition- 118

ii) Dredging- 39

iii) Removal of pipe sluices- 6

iv) Modification of Locks- 8

v) Modification of Bridges- 12

vi) Navigational aids- 10

vii) Protection measures- 3

viii) Terminals – 48

ix) Facilities to local people for ferry Service etc.- 7

Total – 251

Project 2

a) Estimated Works:

Item – Quantity

i) Land acquisition- 23 Ha

ii) Dredging- 10 Million cu.m

iii) Barrages – 5

iv) Bank Protection- 0.76 Million cum

v) Navigational Locks- 5 (with barrages) + 2

vi) Navigational Aids- 190 Buoys + 55 beacons

vii) Buoy Laying vessel – One

b) Estimated Cost (in cr.)

i) Land acquisition- 2

ii) Dredging- 185

iii) Barrages with locks – 1598

iv) Raising banks- 245

v) Protection measures- 39

vi) Fenders – 1

vii) Terminals – 72

viii) Navigational Aids- 11

ix) Navigational Locks- 45

x) Bridges- 14

xi) For EMP implementation- 6

xii) For local public amenities- 12

Total – 2230 at 2010 prices.

The duration of completion of the project shall be Five Years, each. Thereafter, the selected concessionaire/ contractor has to maintain the project for a further period of 10 years.

Executive summary of the DPRs can be downloaded from our website www.iwai.nic.in. Other volumes of the DPRs can also be obtained from IWAI by the prospective bidders on payment basis.

5. Scope of assignment for the consultant: The selected consultant has to act as the representative of IWAI in monitoring the execution of project under PPP route. The consultant inter-alia has to prepare the PPP documents for selection of concessionaire/ contractors, check the adequacy of design of each component of works, do bid process management on behalf of IWAI, monitor and ensure quality of the work done by the contractors till the waterways stretches of Project -1 & 2 become fully functional/ operational. The waterways have to be developed for for providing 24 hour navigation for at least 330 days in a year with necessary infrastructure facilities

My thoughts: The National Waterway 5 would be a huge benefit to Odisha. Basically it will run from Talcher – Kalinganagar area (Jenapur)  – to Mangalgadi (a point in between Paradeep and Dhamara) and would connect Paradip to Dhamara to a point near Kolkata. The National waterway 1 runs from Kolkata to Alalhabad (Prayag) via Patna and Varanasi. I am not fully sure if the connection between NW 5 and NW 1 is seamless. Some maps suggest that while others suggest the opposite. But regardless, if Odisha takes proper advantage of this, this would be huge. Following are some possibilities. 

• Rail and highways could be planned along the bank of the waterway. While the central govt. is acquiring land for the waterway, the state should acquire land for rail and highways along the bank. This will form a big part of the coastal highway and railway that Odisha has been thinking about for a long time.
• The waterway would have tremendous tourism potential, both short tours as well long ones which can take people all the way to Prayag (Allahabad) and Varanasi and people can even take the sea route from Paradeep and go up to Puri (once some ports near Puri are developed.)
• Appropriate industries can be targeted all along the waterway. Districts such as Kendrapada, which do not have any industries and want to have them, can take advantage of the connectivity provided by this, and entice appropriate industries.
• This waterway will be a very long stretch close to the coast, all the way from Paradeep to near Kolkata.The area along the water way in both sides, as well as the area between the waterway and the Bay of Bengal and the beautiful beaches and the tourism spots (like Bhitarakanika) could be made to a special tourism zone with all kinds of tourism related projects.

For some time now people in Rourkela have been unhappy with Indian Railways. The situation was exacerbated since Utkal Express was temporarily diverted to go via Angul and Jharsuguda and skip Rourkela. Since then people in Rourkela have been struggling with their only connection to New Delhi broken.

Finally with the threat of a huge demonstration looming the IR seems to have taken notice and is talking to the CM. Following is from Dharitri.

Following is from Sambada.

I hope the Rourkela people do not cool down with this small gesture. They need to continue to push (but in legal ways) for their other demands, such as making Rourkela Station a world station, time bound completion of the Talcher-Bimlagarh line in 3-4 years, creating a Rourkela division and making the above extensions permanent.

I think the demand to take Rourkela out of SER has woken up the SER people. Until all the demands of Rourkelites are fulfilled SER needs to be put on its toes (but in legal ways). That seems to be the only way to wake SER from its slumber and get it to do the right thing for Rourkela.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

With land constraints impeding the upgradation of the existing railway station in Bhubaneswar into a world class station, East Coast Railway (ECoR) is seriously considering the possibility of developing a greenfield station at Barang on the outskirts of the city.

… According to minutes of the meeting provided by minister for commerce & transport minister Sanjeev Sahoo in the state assembly, Guru C Ray, commissioner (rail coordination) and special secretary (commerce & transport) had advised the Chief General Engineer of ECoR to prepare a power point presentation for development of both the Bhubaneswar and Barang stations.

ECoR was also advised to prepare detailed agenda notes for discussion so that a meeting can be arranged at the Chief Secretary level for taking a decision in the matter.

The Chief General Engineer of ECoR stated that the Railways would start the project on availability of government land measuring an area of 78.90 acres and private land of 15.08 acres for the development of the existing Bhubaneswar railway station.

However, the special secretary observed that the vicinity of the existing Bhubaneswar railway station is thickly populated and heavily built up where the cost of land is very high.

It may be noted that 161.96 acres of land was identified around the existing station which includes 67.97 acres belonging to the Railways, 78.90 acres belonging to the state’s general administration department and 15.08 acres of private land.

The development of a greenfield station at Barang was also discussed at the meeting. The representative of Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), present at the meeting, stated that the required land has been identified through survey. The zonal railway was advised to initiate the process for land acquisition at the earliest.

Earlier, a delegation of Chinese Railways had suggested to upgrade the existing city railway station into international standards.

…The cost of developing the world class station in the city was estimated at around Rs 4,000 crore.

The station was to be built on the public private partnership (PPP) mode taking into account the growth in passenger traffic for the next 30 years and also plan for peripheral commercial activity accordingly.

It may be noted that the proposed world class station in the city has made negligible progress at the ground level for close to two years even though the state chief minster and the railway Board had agreed on working out a joint mechanism to expedite this project.

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

A New Delhi based private aviation service company, Global Avianautics Limited (GAL) introduced non-scheduled air transport operation from Rangeilunda airstrip here to Bhubaneswar pressing into service a six seater (two pilots and four passengers) twin engine aircraft. Ganjam district collector V K Pandian launched the service. Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company O P Suri was present on the occasion.GAL is now operating the Government Aviation Training Institute (GAIT), Bhubaneswar. … The operation from Rangeilunda to Bhubneswar would be held on the basis of availability of passengers. Since GAL has acquired licence from Director General Civil Aviation (DGCA) for non-scheduled air transport operation, the company can operate to any place in the state within a radius of 600 km where airstrip facilities are available, Chief Manager of the GAIT, P. Chakravarti said.  … The non-scheduled air transport service from Rangeilunda would pave way for a full-fledge airport in future, said local MLA (Gopalpur) Pradeep Kumar Panigrahi.Meanwhile, Road and Building, Division-II, Berhampur has prepared an estimated Rs 27.29-crore plan for development of Rangeilunda airstrip.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

A new road project in Bhubaneswar is expected to relieve traffic congestion to a huge extent on National Highway (NH) – 5.

The upcoming road will link the capital city with the township of Jatni. At present, people travelling from Bhubaneswar to Jatni have to take the NH-5.

Construction on the 14.2km Sundarpada-Harirajpur road is going on at full speed. Work on the project, estimated to cost around Rs 7.53 crore, is expected to be complete by the end of this month. The road was a long-standing demand of the people as the Sundarpada-Jatni stretch has seen rapid growth in the past few months with a number of housing colonies coming up in the area.

While more than 30 apartments have been build near Sundarpada, two engineering colleges and four management colleges also come up in the area.

The project, which started on January 31, 2010, was supposed to be completed by January 30 this year. However, due to problems, including law and order issues, created by villagers in the locality, the work got delayed.

This road already shows up in Google map. In 3-4 years once IIT and NISER campuses are built and become functional near Jatani, this road will become a very important artery of the Bhubaneswar area.

Following is a page from the Lok Sabha tarnscript of 4th March 2011.

In the part marked by red above, the Railway minister Ms. Mamta Banerjee says:

We are ready to make (the wagon factory) in the land that the government gives us; but if we get land in Kalahandi then we are ready to do one more. But it must be Kalahandi because that is an under-developed area.

So the government is shooting itself on the foot by not taking immediate steps to offer a site in Kalahandi and asking for a second wagon factory.

Some small stirs have started happening on this issue in Kalahandi.

1. http://www.tathya.in/news/story.asp?sno=5133 .
2. http://dailypioneer.com/329493/Wagon-unit-Cong-launches-stir-across-Kalahandi.html .
3. http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/kalahandi-intensifies-agitation-demanding-rail-wagon-factory/638108.html .
4. http://telegraphindia.com/1110406/jsp/orissa/story_13814102.jsp .

If the issue is not taken care of immediately then this could form the core of a rallying cry from Congress.

On this issue the government is in the wrong and they will have to  bow down to do the right thing. The more they delay the more they will lose politically.

Following is from http://www.igovernment.in/site/moef-nod-orissa-port-expansion-project-39561.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has given a nod for the expansion of Gopalpur port project in Orissa.

"We received a communication from the Ministry in this regard," of the Gopalpur Port Limited (GPL) Executive Director PK Panigrahi said.

The port, about 170 km from here, is a seasonal port operational from November to March and handles cargo, including iron ore, coal and fertiliser ranging from half a million tonnes to 0.7 million tones, reports IANS.

"The Ministry has granted the permission to make it an all-weather port," Panigrahi said, adding that the construction for the expansion of the project will start within a month and complete within 24 months.

The company has planned to invest Rs 1,250 crore initially. The port will have an installed capacity of handling at least 12 million tonnes cargo by 2013 and aims to increase the capacity to handle 54-60 million tonnes per annum by 2022, the official said.

Initially, the port has planned to receive vessel size of one lakh DWT (Deadweight tonnage) and after enhancement of the capacity it will be able to receive vessel size of 130,000 DWT, he said.

Following is from a report in Pioneer.

The railway authorities after inspecting number of places in KBK districts and not finding them suitable have identified Santipalli at Berhampur in Ganjam district to set up the proposed rail wagon factory.

According to sources, a rail wagon factory is to be set up in KBK districts of Odisha as per the 2010-2011 Railway Budget. Accordingly, the railway authorities visited Kalahandi, Kesinga, Narla Road, Lanjigarh Road, and Bhawanipatna Railway Station area to find out 100 acres of land adjacent to the rail track and submit a feasible report to the Government of Odisha for acquisition of land. However, the railway administration could not find a suitable place for the purpose and moved to coastal districts for feasible locations for wagon factory.

The Ganjam district administration and rail officers made a joint inspection in the district and found a place at Santipalli near Jagannathpur Railway Station of Berhampur. The State Government has approved to provide the 100 acre of land at Santipalli and the proposal has been sent to Railway Ministry, for their final consent for further plan of action. The project would be taken up in public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

This is ridiculous. I can not believe that there is no suitable land near the railway track in Kalahandi.

Moreover the Railway minister has already said that he can give another wagon factory if a suitable land is found in Kalahandi. So even if some powerful person wants to have a wagon factory in Ganjam, that can still happen while a wagon factory is made in Kalahandi. So the Odisha government should take up on the Railway minister’s offer immediately. 

Following are excerpts from a report in Economic Times.

Sunil Agarwal , President & CEO, ARSS Infra in an interview with ET Now talks about the bus terminal development project bagged by the company.

This order its after a long time that I am seeing somebody bag an order of this nature bus terminals. What is the deal, how much is the annual expenditure for this development and what you will get in return?

Yes, this is a deal for developing of bus terminal in Bhubaneswar, Odisha which is a capital of Odisha. We will be developing bus terminal for Odisha Bus Bhubaneswar. This is located in Bermuda. We have paid 56 crore premium to the government of Odisha and we have signed the concession agreement yesterday.

The total project cost of the terminal will be around 1300 crore out of which we will be developing half of the terminal as bus terminal and the basic infrastructure for bus terminal will be also used for the commercial facility which also will be developed by Government of Odisha.

Any income will not come in this year, the income will generate from after 2 year when the bus terminal will be completed. We have to develop the bus terminal in 2 years and we have to operate and maintain it for 50 more years. As far as expenditure is concerned this year we will be spending around 200 to 250 crore and coming forward this total expenditure will be completed in another 5 years.

…

And when will revenues start to kick in from the same projects and what are the kind of margins that you are expecting?

See the overall margins for operating and lease rental and as well as from the commercial development we will be generating around 500 crore of margin in the period of 4 to 5 years and this margin will start generating from 2013 after development of the bus terminal in 2 years. And the basic facilities and infrastructure that we will be developing for the bus terminal the same will be used for commercial developments also.

If you start getting revenues after 2 years, what is the annuity that you expect from this project?

The annuity will be somewhere around 8200 crore a year.

For how many years would this be?

This one will continue for 15 years. …

If all these numbers are right this would be a wonderful facilty. Moreover, it will demonstrate the feasibility of other similar sized or bigger PPP projects, especially Railway Station (IR plans a world class station built on PPP mode), Airport, Metro/Light-rail.

To get a bit of background, we give the following from a slightly older report in Pioneer.

After long, the process has begun for developing three bus stands with modern facilities in the State. The bus stands to be developed in public-private partnership (PPP) mode include Baramunda Bus Stand of Bhubaneswar, Badambadi main Bus Stand of Cuttack and the Dhenkanal Bus Stand.

A decision to this effect was taken in a meeting held under chairmanship of Chief Secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik at the State Secretariat on Wednesday.

After the meeting, the Chief Secretary said to the reporters that while ARSS Infrastructure Project Limited has been given responsibility to develop two bus stands of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, another company PK Behera Construction Private Limited will develop Dhenkanal Bus Stand.

The Development works would be complete by December, 2012. “An MoU has already been signed with the two companies and concessional agreements would be signed soon,” Patnaik informed, adding that the construction work would begin in two months time and the projects would be complete in two years.

Regarding conditions of MoU with the companies, Patanik said the two companies have been asked to use 60 per cent of each of bus stands for bus terminal and 40 per cent as market complex. The lands would be given on lease basis and the company would hand over the terminal areas to the Government after completion of 15 years and market complex area after 90 years, he informed.

The companies would be given 14 acres of land for Baramunda Bus Stand, 4.6 acres of land for Badambadi Bus Stand and 5 acres of land for Dhenkanal Bus Stand. ARSS would give concessional fee of Rs 56 crore and 17.21 crore for Baramunda and Badambadi respectively and PK Behera Construction Private Limited would give 1.26 crore for Dhenkanal Bus Stand.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Economic Times.

The Rs 3,200-crore Dhamra Port in Orissa, a 50:50 joint venture between Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro (L&T), is ready and will go operational next month, a top company official said.

Dhamra Port Company Limited (DPCL) has so far invested Rs 2,900-crore out of the total project cost of Rs 3,239-crore and almost 100 per cent work on the project has been completed.

… "We have completed 100 per cent work of the port including the construction work for the 62-kilometer rail link from Dhamra to Bhadrak on the main Howrah-Chennai line," he said.

… Situated between Haldia and Paradip, the port at Dhamra will be the deepest of India with a draught of 18 meters, which can accommodate super cape-size vessels up to 1,80,000 dead weight tonnes (DWT).

DPCL has recently entered into a sister port relationship agreement with the US-based Port of Seattle. The pact is aimed at exchange of information on port users, technology transfer and sharing of best practises between the two ports.

Following is a map from http://www.dhamraport.com/maps.asp.

Following is an ad from Dharitri.

Based on the 2011-12 and 2010-11 budgets the status of doubling in Odisha is as follows:

1. Second bridge over Mahanadi and Birupa: Done.
2. Nergundi-Rajathgarh-Barang: Nergundi-Rajathgarh is basically done. For Rajathgarh-Barang, this year there is an allocation of 33.2 Crores. With this allocation, by March 2012, 265.2 crores is expected to be spent. This is out of a total estimated budget of 275 crores. In other words by 2012 March this part will be almost done.
3. Nergundi-Cuttack-Raghunathpur-Rahama-Paradeep: Doubling of Nergundi-Cuttack-Raghunathpur is basically done. There is a budget of 0.1 crores for this in 2011-12 and so far 178.19 crores have been spent on this out of a total estimated budget of 180.24 crores. Doubling of Rahama-Paradeep is also basically done. There is a budget of 0.1 crores for this in 2011-12 and so far 78.72 crores have been spent on this out of a total estimated budget of 80.76 crores. There is no mention of the Raghunathpur-Rahama segment in the budget, but the maps show that this part is doubled. In other words doubling of this whole segment is done.
4. Cuttack-Barang: This year there is an allocation of 39 crores for this. With this allocation, by March 2012, 180.2 crores is expected to be spent. This is out of a total estimated budget of 186 crores. In other words by 2012 March this will be almost done.
5. Barang-Khurda Rd 3rd line: This year there is an allocation of 39 crores for this. With this allocation, by March 2012, 220 crores is expected to be spent. This is out of a total estimated budget of 221 crores. In other words by 2012 March this will be basically done.
6. Khurda Rd – Delang: This year there is an allocation of 0.25 crores. It needs another 0.96 crores to complete the total estimated budget of 69.67 crores. So this is done.
7. Delang-Puri (28.7 km): This doubling was approved in 2010-11 with a total budget of  133.71 crores and an annual allocation of 2 crores. This year it has been given a budget of 35 crores. It needs another 96.71 crores before it is completed. That would mean that it will be done around in 2-3 more years. Odisha government may use the upcoming Nabakalebar in 2015 to get this done and operational before that.
8. Vizianagaram-Lanjigarh Rd-Titlagarh-Raipur: The maps show that Vizianagaram-Lanjigarh Rd is double line. For the Lanjigarh-Rd – Titlagarh segment, there is an allocation of 5 crores, and there is a need of another 0.8 crores tp take it to the total estimated budget of 171.4 crores. So basically the Lanjigarh-Rd – Titlagarh segment will be done by 2012 March. The 203 km Titlagarh -Raipur segment is just getting a start. The 2011-12 budget has a 60 crores allocation for this. But it needs another 629.16 crores for completion. The total estimated budget for this segment is 691.67 crores.
9. Jharsuguda-Rengali-Sambalpur: There is an allocation of 33.5 crores in this year’s budget for the Jharsuguda-Rengali segment. After that there is only a need of 7.48 crores to take it to the total estimate of 119.54 crores. So this segment will be almost done by March 2012.  There is an allocation of 20 crores in this year’s budget for the Rengali-Sambalpur segment. After that there is only a need of 0.6 crores to take it to the total estimate of 113.55 crores. So this segment will be basically done by March 2012. Together they will be almost done by March 2012.
10. Sambalpur-Titlagarh: This is in the initial phase. There is an allocation of 60 crores in the 2011-12 budget. By March 2011 only 39.73 crores would be spend on this. The total estimate of 950.84 crores.
11. Rajathgarh-Talcher-Sambalpur: Maps show that the Rajathgarh-Talcher segment is double line. Doubling of Talcher-Sambalpur was approved in 2010-11 with an initial allocation of 2 crores. This year there is an allocation of 66 crores. The total budget is 613.27 crores.
12. Bimlagarh-Champajharan-Dumetra (SER): There is a budget of 35 crores for Bimlagarh-Dumetra and another 35 crores for Champajharan-Bimlagarh. Based on the two entries in the budget, it seems the Champajharan-Dumetra part will be done by March 2012 and another 115.9 crores is need to complete the Bimlagarh-Champajharan part.
13. Jakhapura-Daitari-Tomka-Jaruli-Bansapani (ECOR/SER): Bansapani-Jaruli is listed in the SER budget and has an allocation of 35 crores for this year. It needs another 8.18 crores to reach the estimated total of 90.89 crores. ECOR budget lists the segment Bansapani-Tomka-Daitari-Jakhapura. It was initiated in 2010-11 with a budget of 150 crores of which only 29.57 seems to have been spent. Its budget for 2011-12 is 70 crores. It needs another 843.38 crores to reach its estimated total of 942.95 crores.
14. Bansapani-Padapahar Jn-Bara Jamda Jn-Barbil;  Raj kharswan-Padapahar Jn: Maps show that Rajkharswan-Padapahar Jn – Barajamda Jn is double line. The 2011-12 budget has 5 crores each for the two segments of Bansapani – Padapahar and Bara Jamda – Barbil. After that  Bansapani – Padapahar will reach its estimated total of 155.28 crores and Bara Jamda – Barbil would need 1.51 crores to reach its estimated total of 52.51 crores. So basically all these will be double lines by March 2012.

The total 2011-12 budget for doubling is 576.17 crores. See http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3272 for how this budget compares to past budgets. See http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3259 for an old projection to the future.

The above can be obtained by looking at the appropriate pages of this year’s pink book and last year’s pink book. Following are images cut from both.

From 2011-12 Pink book

Following are some observations based on the above:

1. Khurda Rd-Balangir: It seems 115.8 crores is expected to be spent on Khurda-Balangir line during March 2010-March 2011. This is close to the 120 crores that was allocated in the 2010-11 budget. So I am not sure why the budget was slashed to 60 crores. My guess is that last year they spent the money in building on the land they had already acquired. Now they need to acquire more new land to build and so until enough new land is acquired a lot of money could not be allocated for construction. The blame here lies with the railways for not anticipating in advance and not buying enough land in the previous years. The Odisha government should have also monitored this and prodded ECOR to buy enough land in advance. A bit of good news is that the budget speech explicitly mentions that Khurda Rd-Begunia will be completed this year.
2. Talcher-Bimlagarh: Last year the allocation was 50 crores. However, it is anticipated that 99.4-37.98= 61.42 crores will be spent on this during March 2010-March 2011. For the 2011-12 the allocation is 66 crores, and the budget speech explicitly mentions that some part of this line will be completed this year.
3. Angul – Sukinda: In 2010-11 the allocation was 22.5 crores, out of which only 12.7 crores is expected to be spent during March 2010-March 2011. For the 2011-12 the allocation is a substantial one consisting of 27 crores (RVN) plus 169.15 crores (PPP). It is not clear where the PPP money is coming from. If it is from the Odisha government or Odisha industries then railways should not take credit for it.
4. Haridaspur – Paradeep: In 2010-11 the allocation was 101 crores, out of which 79.6 cores (=251.2-171.6 ) is expected to be spent during March 2010-March 2011. For the 2011-12 the allocation is a substantial one consisting of 10 crores (RVN) plus 169.15 crores (PPP). It is not clear where the PPP money is coming from. If it is from the Odisha government or Odisha industries then railways should not take credit for it.
5. Daitari – Banspani: I am not sure what the deal here is. This line is supposed to be complete. I don’t know why there is a 70 crores budget for this.
6. Lanjigarh Rd – Junagarh: This line has an allocation of 10 crores and will be completed this year. Once that is done  Ispat Express should be extended to Lanjigarh Rd or Bhawnipatna and a Bhawniaptana – Bhubaneswar express should be introduced.

Now let us move to SER.

1. Jaleswar – Digha (41 kms): Last year 20 crores were allocated to it. But only 2 crores is expected to be spent during March 2010-March 2011. For the 2011-12 the allocation is a substantial one consisting of 150 crores. Also due to some modification in the plan the overall estimated cost has gone up from 255.11 crores to 533.63 crores. The modification includes a segment in West Bengal. It is not clear how much of the allocated 150 crores will be spent in the Odisha part and how much in the newly tagged on West Bengal part.

The overall new lines budget for 2011-12 is 733.4 crores. But if one takes out the PPP part then it is only 393 crores. And then, if the Jaleswar-Digha part is West Bengal centric and one takes 150 crores for it out then the total reduces to only 243 crores. Is Mamata Banerjee hoodwinking Odisha here?

See http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3272 for how it compares with previous years budgets. See http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/4638 for a tabular listing of the new line budget over the years. See http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3202 for an old projection to the future.

This project was approved in 1993-1994 and since then very little progress has been made. In the 2010-11 railway budget, for the first time, there was a decent allocation of 120 crores towards this project.

Before the 2011-12 railway budget there were a lot of news that out of the allocated 120 crores 100 crores was returned due to non-utilization.

This seems to be a false news.

If one looks at the Pink Book at http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/view_section.jsp?lang=0&id=0,1,304,366,539,1056 one can note that by the end of the 2010-11 outlay this project would have spent 211.65 crores. (See below. There seems to be some typo on the total amount needed for the project.)

In last year’s Pink Book  that number till the end of 2009-10 outlay was 105.8 crores. (See above.) In other words between 2010 March and 2011 March 221.65-105.8 = 115.85 crores would be spent. This is close to the 120 crores that was allocated.

So unless I am missing something, the politicians are spreading misinformation and actually harming the cause of the Khurda Balangir line. Instead of making false claims that 100 crores was returned (and only 20 crores was spent) and blaming the state and central government, they should have stated that 115.85 of the 120 crores was spent; and now that both the state government and ECOR have shown the ability to spend almost 120 crores in the project, at least a similar amount should be allocated in this year’s budget.

Instead, for petty political gains they spread the wrong news and the aam janta who does not know the truth will think if the authorities could only spend 20 crores out of the allocated 120 crores, then its perfectly justified for the Rail budget to have only 60 crores for the project this year.

Unfortunately, we have bad politicians and many spreaders of false news and that has time and again harmed Odisha’s cause.

Having said all that, the Railway Board knew that 115.85 crores of the alloted 120 crores was going to be spent by March 2011. They should not have reduced the allocations to 60 crores for this year.

Now following are some excerpts from a report in Expressbuzz.com. It shows the misinformation being spread.

In lieu of the return of last year’s Rs.100 crore, she has sanctioned Rs.60 crore. Last year, Rs.120 crore was allocated out of which, Rs.100 crore was reportedly returned due to non-utilisation.

An earlier report, linked in a kddf posting, hopefully, gives some useful information on the land acquisition status.

… from Khurda Road to Balangir will pass through 32 bridges including the longest one over river Tel, 403 minor bridges, 11 tunnels — the longest being 1400 meters, besides 124 level crossings and 17 stations.

Land acquisition sources said land in 13 out of the 16  villages on Balangir side have been acquired. Paucity of funds has however hampered land acquisition in the remaining three villages, said Ganeswar Kanhar, Land Acquisition Officer.In 2007, compensation for 64 acres of land was given in eight villages.

Since then only six more villages could be surveyed as the proposal for land acquisition was kept pending till the first quarter of 2010. While the civil work would be taken up only after acquisition of land for the 50 km track is complete,  till now nearly 35 km is yet to be acquired. Kanhar said 36 km of civil work has been started on  Khurda side.

See http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/railwayboard/uploads/directorate/finance_budget/RailBudget_11-12/RailBudget_2011-12.pdf for the budget speech.

See http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/view_section.jsp?lang=0&id=0,1,304,366,539,1056 for the pink book.

The new trains, extensions and frequency increases that may have stops in Odisha are:

1. Sealdah – Puri non AC Duronto (tri-weekly) [From Feb 2012]
2. Vivek Express: Dibrugarh- Thiruvanthapuram-Kanniyakumari Express (weekly) via Kokrajhar [From Nov 2011]
3. Vivek Express: Howrah-Mangalore Express (Weekly) via Palghat [New connectivity] [From Feb 2012]
4. Kavi Guru Expres: Howrah-Porbander Express (weekly) [From Nov 2011]
5. Rajya Rani Express: Jharsuguda – Bhubaneswar Express (tri-weekly) [From Nov 2011]
6. Visakhapatnam- Koraput Intercity Express (5 days a week) via Vizianagram [Much needed] [From March 2012; but only 2 days a week]
7. Howrah-Secunderabad Express(weekly) via Kharagpur [From Feb 2012]
8. Hyderabad- Darbhanga Express (weekly) via Muri-Jharsuguda-Nagpur [New connectivity] [From July 7 2011]
9. Howrah – Tirupati Express (weekly) [Summer special, regular from July 2011]
10. Puri-Shalimar Express(weekly) [Summer special, regular from July 2011]
11. Ranchi- Pune Express (bi-weekly) via Bilaspur [From Nov 16 2011]
12. Shalimar-Udaipur Express(weekly) via Katni, Kota [via Rourkela; new conectivity] [From Feb 2012]
13. Howrah-Mysore Express (weekly) via Gondia [New connectivity] [From Feb 2012]
14. Digha-Visakhapatnam Express(weekly) [From Feb 2012]
15. Puri-Gandhidham Express(weekly) via Durg [New connectivity] [From Nov 2011]
16. Howrah-Visakhapatnam Express(weekly) [Summer special, regular from July 2011]
17. Digha-Puri Express (weekly) [From Feb 2012]
18. Kharagpur-Viluppuram Express (weekly) via Vellore [Increases connectivity] [From Feb 2012]
19. Purulia –Viluppuram Express (weekly) via Midnapore, Kharagpur, Vellore [Increases connectivity] [From April 13 2012]
    
20. Howrah-Nanded Express (weekly) [New connectivity] [From Feb 2012]
21. Kendujhargarh- Bhubaneswar Fast Passenger ( 5 days a week) [Much needed] [From Nov 2011]
22. Koraput- Bolangir-Sambalpur Passenger (daily) [Needed] [From March 2012]
23. Baripada-Bangariposi DEMU [New connectivity] [From Nov 2011]
24. Sambalpur- Nizamabad Express to Nanded (18309/18310) [New connectivity] [From July 1 2011]
25. Rourkela- Bhubaneswar Express from 6 days to daily (18105/18106) [Needed] [From July 1 2011]

* Update (Not in the budget): Jammu Tawi-Hatia Express extended to Rourkela. [From Nov 12 2011] [New connectivity, Needed]

* Update (Not in this year’s budget): Bhubaneswar – Baripada Express extended to Bangiriposi [From March 2012] [Needed]

The items in red are ones that appear interesting to me. The reason they are interesting to me are given in square brackets. In particular, the budget brings new connectivity (from Bhubaneswar) to Mangalore, Calicut, Gandhidham and Mysore; (from Rourkela & Sambalpur) to Nanded; (from Rourkela & Jharsuguda) to Mysore and many en-route stations (possibly Hyderabad); the much needed VSKP-Koraput intercity express; and new connectivity (from ROU and JSG) to Hyderabad.

Now we go over the budget speech and extract all Odisha related parts from it.

6.  … During this year, we have met industry leaders, Chambers of Commerce and Industry to encourage investment in the specified areas of infrastructure, rolling-stock or service provision. Railways will provide economic share to our partners for such endeavours. With this objective, railways have developed several business-oriented policies for the first time. Some of these policy initiatives are:-

• i. Railways’ Infrastructure for Industry Initiative (R3i)
• ii.    Private Freight Terminal (PFT)
• iii.    Special Freight Train Operators (SFTO)
• iv.    Automobile Freight Train Operators (AFTO)
• v.    Automobile and Ancillary Hubs
• vi.    Kisan Vision (Cold Chains) vii.    New Catering Policy viii. Rail Connectivity to Coal and Iron ore mines (R2CI)

13.    Railways are already executing works either departmentally or through PPP/JV at Budge Budge, Dankuni, Naopara, Anara, Tindharia, New Cooch Behar, Kharagpur, Haldia, Guwahati and Kazipet. Work on the wagon factory in Orissa will also be taken up once the site is finalized.

 25.    I propose to set up more mechanized laundries for improving the quality of linen in trains at Nagpur, Chandigarh and Bhopal, in addition to Wadibunder, Tikiyapara, Kamakhya, Secunderabad, Kacheguda, Indore, Lucknow, Banaras, Samastipur, Sealdah, Tatanagar, Danapur, Bikaner, Bilaspur, Durg, Hatia, Chennai, Mumbai and Ahmedabad, where they are commissioned or are being set up. Proposals for laundries at Vishakhapatnam, Bhubaneshwar, Puri, Gwalior, Manduadih, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, New Jalpaiguri, Jammu, Delhi, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Tirupati, Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram, Hubli, Bengaluru, Yashwantpur, Jabalpur, Allahabad, Mau, Amethi and Kota are also under examination.

28.    Madam Speaker, we had added only 10,677 km of new lines since independence. I had announced an ambitious target of 1,000 km of new lines in 2010-11. This is in contrast to average addition of 180 km annually. In the current year, we may do over 700 km, falling short of the target. But this would be almost double of the highest ever performance in any single year. Unless we set our targets high, we cannot realize the goals of Vision 2020. The hon’ble members will be happy to know that railways will be achieving its target of 800 km for gauge conversion, 700 km for doubling and 1,000 km of electrification.

Annual Plan 2011-12

30.    Madam, the Annual Plan for the year 2011-12 has been proposed at `57,630 cr which is the highest ever plan investment by the railways in a single year. The Plan is proposed to be financed through GBS of `20,000 cr, diesel cess of `1041 cr, internal resources of `14,219 cr, market borrowings of `20,594 cr through Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC), considering its past excellent performance in the financial market. Normally IRFC raises between `9,000-10,000 cr annually for leasing of rolling stock. Next year, an additional amount of `10,000 cr will be raised through tax free bonds for financing select capacity enhancement works. Railways will ensure servicing this debt of tax-free bonds. Further, external source of financing through PPP, WIS etc is expected to yield `1,776 cr.

33.    In the last budget I had announced updation of surveys for 114 socially desirable new lines. Out of this 94 will be completed by March, 2011 and the remaining by December, 2011. I propose to take up construction of these lines in the 12th five year plan since this budget year is the terminal year of the 11th plan. Our dream is to bring about a social revolution through rail connectivity. We need political freedom along with economic freedom that will usher in prosperity for our millions of countrymen, more especially to the common man.

34.    Madam, we have proposed to create a fund to implement the socially desirable projects during the 12th Plan. Under the umbrella of this non-lapsable fund, not only will the pending socially desirable lines be completed, but many other similar new line projects would also be taken up. The scheme is being named, Pradhan Mantri Rail Vikas Yojana. I am extremely thankful to the hon’ble Prime Minister for his support and guidance.

36.    Railways are already executing 19 projects in the similar difficult and underdeveloped areas in the States of Orissa, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Bihar and Maharashtra and I propose to increase the allocation to these projects to `771 cr.

45.    I am now making an offer that whichever state ensures trouble-free train running for the whole year, shall be given two new trains and two projects as a special package.

50.    Upgradation of stations would provide safe drinking water, pay & use toilets, high-level platforms, better accessibility for the physically challenged among many other facilities at these stations. I would like to assure all the hon’ble members that all the suggestion for Adarsh stations given by them have been included in the following list of 236 stations. I will be happy to receive suggestions from the hon’ble members to add more stations.
Abhaipur, Acharya Narendra Dev Nagar, Achhnera, Alipurduar court, Alipurduar Jn., Ambalgram, Ambernath, Ambikapur, Anara, Asoknagar Road, Azimganj Jn., Baghdogra, Bagula, Bahadurpur, Baharu, Bahirgachhi, Bahirpuya, Bahraich, Balagarh, Bala Mau, Balarambati, Balgona, Ballalpur, Bamangachhi, Bamangram Halt, Bamanhat, Banarhat, Baneswar, Banka pasi, Bankimnagar, Banstala, Barabhum, Baragaon, Barasat Jn., Barhni, Barmer, Barsoi Jn., Basudevpur, Basuldanga, Batasi, Bathnakrittiba, Belakoba, Beldanga, Beliaghata Rd, Beliatore, Betberia ghola, Bhadaiyan, Bhadrak, Bhagalpur, Bhagwangola, Bharwari, Bhimgarh, Bidyadharpur, Bishnupur, Boinchi, Brindabanpur, Buniyadpur, Burnpur, Chanchai, Chamagram, Champa, Chandanpur, Chatra, Chatterhat, Chengannur, Chintamani, Chirimiri, Chitrakut Dham Karvi, Chowrigacha, Churu, Dainhat, Darjeeling, Daryabad, Dasnagar, Deoria Sadar, Deulti, Dhatrigram, Dhubulia, Dhulabari, Dildarnagar, Diva, Dubrajpur, Dumurdaha, Durgachak, Eklakhi, Ettumanur, Falakata, Fatehpur, Fatehpur Sikri, Gadadharpur, Gandhigram, Ghanpur, Ghoksadanga, Ghoragata, Ghum, Gidhni, Gobra, Guntur, Gurap, Harishdadpur, Harishchandrapur, Hasimara, Hindmotor, Hotar, Hridaypur, Hubli, Jabalpur, Jaganath Temple, Gate, Jakhalabandha, Jalor, Jamikunta, Janai road, Jangaon, Jessore road, Jhantipahari, Jodhpur, Jorhat Town, Joychandipahar, Kahalgaon, Kaikala, Kalchini, Kalinagar, Kaliyaganj, Kamakhyaguri, Kamareddi, Kanjiramittam, Kanthi, Karimnagar, Kathgodam, Kathua, Khagraghat Rd., Khajuraho, Khalilabad, Khemasuli, Khurja Jn., Kiraoli, Kishanganj, Kolar, Korba, Kotshila, Kulpi, Kumbakonam, Kunda Harnam Ganj, Kurukshetra, Kuruppantara, Labpur, Lohapur, Loknath, Lower Parel, Madarihat, Madhusudanpur, Majhdia, Malatipur, Malda Court, Malkajgiri, Manendragarh, Manigram, Maninagar, Mararikulam, Matigara, Mayiladuturai, Meerut City, Meghnagar, Mollarpur, Mulanturutti, Murarai, Nabadwip Ghat, Nabagram, Nagore, Nagrakata, Naimisharanya, Nandakumar, Narendrapur, Navsari, New Alipurduar, New Bhuj, New Cooch Behar, Old Malda, Palla road, Palsit, Panagarh, Pandaveswar, Panjipara, Patranga, Patuli, Phusro, Piravam Road, Pirtala, Prantik, Quilandi, Raghunathpalli, Raigarh, Raipur, Rajbandh, Rajgoda, Rajnandgaon, Ramrajatala, Rangiya, Ratangarh, Remount road, Rudauli, Rupnarayanpur, Sabarmati, Sadulpur, Sagardighi, Sakoti Tanda, Salanpur, Salboni, Salem, Sambre, Sankrail, Santaldih, Sardiha, Sasthankotta, Satna, Shahganj, Shalimar, Sidlaghatta, Simlagarh, Sirathu, Sitapur Cantt., Sivok, Sohawal, Sonada, Srinivaspura, Sukna, Sultanpur, Talit, Thanabihpur, Tildanga, Tiruppur, Tuticorin, Udhna, Vaikam Road, Vasco-da-gama, Vellarakkad.

52.    Out of the 160 MFCs announced, a few are completed and few are in the process of completion. I have given a special target to complete all the MFCs next year. I propose to set up more MFCs with budget hotels at Bangarpet, Secunderabad,    Amethi,    Ramnagar,    Ajmer,    Chandigarh,    Amritsar, Thiruvananthapuram, Kamakhya, Gaya, Rae Bareli, Deoghar, Varanasi, Bhubaneswar, Vellore, Kanyakumari, Srinagar, Sasaram, Bhagalpur, Panipat, Bhuj, Anand, Arsikere, Birur, Neemach, Ratlam, Azamgarh, Ujjain, Adra, Midnapore, Tamluk, Purulia, Thakurnagar, Sagardighi, Jangipur, Bahrampur, Nabadwip, Kulti, Bolapur, Diamond Harbour, Naihati, Kanchrapara, Hajipur, Islampur and Rohtak.

Golden Rail Corridor

55.    Madam, I am happy to announce that pre-feasibility study for the western leg (Delhi-Mumbai) of the Golden Rail Corridor would start early next year. The study is being undertaken with help from Japan, with the objective of raising speed of passenger trains to 160-200 kmph. Similar studies will be initiated for other corridors including Mumbai-Kolkata, Chennai-Bangalore, Delhi-Jaipur and Ahmedabad-Mumbai.

95.    In my last budget speech, 33 new line sections covering 1,021 km were identified for completion as compared to less than 200 km normally. I am happy to inform the House that we have taken a giant leap in completion of new lines projects. The progress of laying new lines will be further accelerated and in the year 2011-12, we are confident of exceeding a milestone of laying of 1,000 km of new lines. The sections which have either been completed or will be completed during 2010-11 are:-

• Bhawanipatna-Junagarh
• Khurda Road – Begunia

97.    The target for Doubling was fixed as 700 km for the year 2010-11 and I am happy to inform the august House that this target will be met. Sections which have either been completed or will be completed during 2010-11 are as under:-

• Barbil-Barajamda doubling

98.    The new lines sections covering 1,075 km proposed to be completed in 2011-12 are:-

• Part of Talcher-Bimalgarh

100. The following sections covering 867 km are proposed to be doubled in 2011-12 are as under:-

• Jharsuguda-Rengali
• Banspani-Jaroli

101. In the last two budgets, I had announced 251 updating surveys/new surveys for new lines/gauge conversion/doubling. Of these, the following 190 surveys have been completed or will be completed by the end of this financial year. These lines will also be taken up in the 12th Plan:-

• Raipur-Jharsuguda
• Barajamda-Tatina
• Gunupur-Theruvali
• Puri-Konark
• Sambalpur-Behrampur
• Jeypore-Malkangiri
• Navrangpur-Jeypore
• Banspani-Bimalgarh-Barsuan
• Digha-Jaleswar-Puri
• Bolangir-Nawapada

Rail Tourism

102. We have planned for rail business with Ministry of Tourism. If successful this year, we will expand the partnership. To improve look of twenty railway stations and its approaches, the cost will be shared on 50:50 basis. The stations are Hyderabad, Hospet, Agra, Rae Bareli, Belur, Varanasi, Kamakhya, Haridwar, Dooars, Gaya, Madurai, Tarapith, Thiruvananthapuram, Furfura Sharief, Amritsar, Aurangabad, Nanded, Puri, Tarakeshwar, Rameshwaram, Tirupati, Guwahati, Jaipur and Ajmer.

NEW SERVICES

Duronto trains
109.    The following new Duronto trains are proposed to be introduced:

iii.    Sealdah – Puri non AC Duronto (tri-weekly)

Vivek Express
113.    To mark the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda which will be celebrated in 2013, I propose to introduce new trains called “Vivek Express”.

i.    Dibrugarh- Thiruvanthapuram-Kanniyakumari Express (weekly) via Kokrajhar
iii.    Howrah-Mangalore Express (Weekly) via Palghat

Rajya Rani Express
115.    I propose to introduce a new set of trains connecting state capitals with important cities/towns in those states:

ix.    Jharsuguda – Bhubaneswar Express (tri-weekly)

Express trains
117.    I propose to introduce following new express trains:

7.    Visakhapatnam- Koraput Intercity Express (5 days a week) via Vizianagram

8.    Howrah-Secunderabad Express(weekly) via Kharagpur

12.    Hyderabad- Darbhanga Express (weekly) via Muri-Jharsuguda-Nagpur

13.    Howrah – Tirupati Express (weekly)

15.    Puri-Shalimar Express(weekly)

16.    Ranchi- Pune Express (bi-weekly) via Bilaspur

20.    Howrah-Mysore Express (weekly) via Gondia

22.    Digha-Visakhapatnam Express(weekly)

35.    Puri-Gandhidham Express(weekly) via Durg

36.    Howrah-Visakhapatnam Express(weekly)

41.    Digha-Puri Express (weekly)

43.    Kharagpur-Viluppuram Express (weekly) via Vellore

45.    Purulia –Viluppuram Express (weekly) via Midnapore, Kharagpur, Vellore

55.    Howrah-Nanded Express (weekly)

Passenger services

118.    The following new passenger services will be introduced:

2.    Kendujhargarh- Bhubaneswar Fast Passenger ( 5 days a week)

3.    Koraput- Bolangir-Sambalpur Passenger (daily)

DEMU

119.    Following new DEMU services will be introduced:

19.    Baripada-Bangariposi

Extension of trains:

121.    The run of the following trains will be extended:

14. Sambalpur- Nizamabad Express to Nanded (18309/18310)

Increase in frequency of trains

122.    The frequency of the following trains will be increased:

7.    Rourkela- Bhubaneswar Express from 6 days to daily (18105/18106)

New Line Surveys

128. On the basis of requests received from the hon’ble members, state governments and others, the following surveys are proposed to be taken up in 2011-12:-

42    Paradip Port – Dhamara Port
43    Bhadrachalam – Kharagpur through Koraput-Talcher-Baripada

Railway Electrification

131.    The hon’ble members will be happy to know that railways would exceed the original XI Plan target of 3,500 route-km of electrification. In 2011-12, the following sections covering around 1,000 km are proposed to be electrified:-

i. Vizianagaram-Rayagada-Titlagarh-Raipur

Update on 3/19/2011: Jet adds a daily direct flight to Mumbai between 3/27/11 and 10/29/11.

Few years before, before Jet bought Sahara, the latter used to fly Bhubaneswar-Delhi, Bhubaneswar-Bangalore, Bhubaneswar-Chennai and Bhubaneswar-Kolkata routes. After Jet bought Sahara, Sahara was rechristened as Jetlite and Jetlite flew those routes but it then cancelled the first three and last year Jet Airways flights at Bhubaneswar only included two daily Jet Konnect flights between Bhubaneswar and Kolkata. 

So it is good news that in March 2011, Jet will start new Jet Konnect services in the routes of Bhubaneswar-Bangalore, Bhubaneswar-Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar-Delhi and Bhubaneswar-Raipur. The outgoing flight timings of these flights are:

With these additions come April the daily flight connectivity for Bhubaneswar increases to:

• Bhubaneswar-Delhi: 6 flights (Air India, Indigo -2, Jet Konnect, Kingfisher Red -2)
• Bhubaneswar-Mumbai: 3 flights (Air India, Indigo – with one stop at Hyderabad, Kingfisher Red); Jet Konnect has two good connecting flights with short connection times. (Update: 4 flights till 10/29/11; Jet introduces a Jet Konnect flight.)
• Bhubaneswar-Kolkata: 4 flights (Jet Konnect -2, Kingfisher Red-2)
• Bhubaneswar-Hyderabad: 3 flights (Jet Konnect, Indigo-2)
• Bhubaneswar-Bangalore: 3 flights (Indigo – with one stop at Hyderabad, Jet Konnect, Kingfisher Red)
• Bhubaneswar-Chennai: 1 flight (Air India), Jet Konnect has a good connecting flight with short connection times
• Bhubaneswar-Raipur: 1 flight (Jet Konnect)

The above data in a matrix form is as follows:

Following is an excerpt from a report in expresstravelworld.

Deccan Charters and TajAir have recently joined hands to form a marketing alliance called Powerfly. The alliance includes Capt GR Gopinath’s Deccan Charters, IHCL owned charter services TajAir and Business Jets India (BJETS) and is poised to connect as many as 500 airports in India with the extensive charter services. Capt Gopinath, CMD of Deccan Charters, said, "The aim of setting up Powerfly is to tap the top of the travelling pyramid, providing seamless experience to international travellers. With Powerfly, we will be able to provide hassle free travel to any location in the country with complete end-to-end solutions." Powerfly services will be active from February 14, 2011 operating from eight cities – Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Hyderabad and Jammu.

The Powerfly alliance fleet will have 16 Deccan Charter crafts, and four crafts each of TajAir and BJETS, bringing three Hawker 850XPs and the Cessna Citation CJ-2, along with the P180 Avanti and the Falcons. Deccan Charters will take over the maintenance and operations of the BJETS crafts. Deccan Charters will also be the exclusive marketing concessionaire for BJETS aircraft in India and will work on developing, expanding and consolidating the market across the country through Powerfly. The combined fleet will be available through various programmes including ad hoc charters and memberships, loyalty programmes that extend across all three brands and the various hotels of Taj, and membership options. "People can buy hours and utilise them according to their needs. We aim at tying up with major charter operators in Middle East, Europe and Singapore. We are also looking at fractional ownership in these international destinations and are currently in talks with the government to allow the same," added Capt Gopinath.

The web pages of the three participating companies mentioned above are:

• Deccan Charters
• Taj Air
• Business Jets India (BJETS)

Among these Deccan Charters shows a map of its major operations.

What the above map and the list of eight locations in the Powerfly list suggests is that Bhubaneswar is one of the eight places in the country where a lot of charter flying happens. This is partly because of the development and growth happening in Odisha and partly because of the lack of airports in Odisha with regularly scheduled commercial airlines. Considering that a lot of charter flying happens by business houses, this means Bhubaneswar and Odisha are among the top 7 (Jammu is more for tourists) places in the country with ties to top business houses. While most of them are eying our mineral resources, Odisha should make efforts to cajole them to put positive long term legacies (such as Vedanta University) in Odisha.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

The construction of a 75-km ring road circling the capital is likely to begin in two months. 

… Sources said in the first phase of the project a 13km road would be built from Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital Square to Lingipur near the Daya Bridge on the outskirts of the city.

With tenders having been finalised, the work is likely to begin in the next two months. Sources said that the project will be executed at an estimated cost of Rs 35.09 crore and would be completed in two years. 

… the ring road would help address the communication needs of the city besides acting as a buffer against occasional floods. All the major roads of the city would join the ring road at one point or another.

… once the road materialised the traffic congestion between Rasulgarh Square and Samantarapur would be reduced significantly. This will be an additional support to the National Highway-203 bypass road, which is bearing the brunt of the traffic currently.

… Foundation stone for two more feeder roads, which would ultimately join the ring road, was also laid yesterday. While one of these would involve two-laning of an existing road between Kalpana Square-Jagannath Ashram, the other one would be a four-lane road stretch from Ravi Talkies Square to Sai temple. …

Following are excerpts from a report in tathya.in.

… The first preparatory meet for Nabakalebara was chaired by Chief Minister, was attended by P K Mohapatra, RDC, U N Behera Principal Secretary Home, Aditya Prasad Padhi Principal Secretary to CM.

… A Four Lane National Highway is progressing from Bhubaneswar (Rasulgarh) to Puri (Sipasarubali) with almost half the road will be new alignment. 

Meeting decided to approach National Highway Authority of India(NHAI) to develop Four Lanning of Puri-Konark and Puri-Satapada Road. 

Secondly at least seven roads will be taken up for Four Lanning, which include Pipili-Konark, Charichhak-Niali-Phulanakhara, Balighai-Gop, Pipili-Jatnai, Chandanpur-Rameswar, Bira Harekrishnapur-Talabania and Bira Harekrishnapur-Rahangiria Roads.

… There is a need for creating more hotel and lodging rooms, for which appropriate Government land has to be provided to the promoters adopting transparent procedure.

The following maps show the location of some of the names mentioned above.

One interesting point to note is that Puri district’s area is 3,479 sq. km, which is comparable to Goa’s 3,702 sq km. Population wise they are also comparable. Goa’s population is 1.4 million while Puri district’s population is about 1.5 million.

Past the Nabakalebar in 2015, the Odisha government may think of building up on the infrastructure and try to benchmark Puri district with respect to Goa. It may also consider to make it a special district with some special laws that will allow it the flexibility to become as big a tourist hub (or bigger) than Goa, minus the negatives.