___________

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Thanks to Purna Mohanty for the pointer.)

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

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

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

****

AD/DB

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

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

(Thanks to Saumya Mohapatra for the pointer.)

However the 2010 map at http://203.176.113.182/ECOR/website/home.jsp still shows Rajsunakhala station as part of the Khurda-Balangir line.The article below also mentions that land acquisition is over in most places.

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

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

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

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

Following is from a PIB release dated 5th October 2010.

Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure

05-October-2010 19:48 IST

Upgradation of road from Vijayawada to Ranchi approved

The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI) today approved improvement of balance 600 Km. of State roads in Orissa with a view to develop, in a phased manner, the entire 1632 Km. long Left Wing extremism affected Vijayawada-Ranchi corridor at an estimated cost of Rs.1200 crore. The project will be completed in next three years by March, 2014.

The project will also provide a good communication network between the tribal districts of Orissa and other developed areas in the State as well as to the neighbouring States of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

The project will cover Malkangiri, Jaypore, Rayagada, Gajapati, Ganjam, Kandhmal, Boudh, Sambalpur, Angul, Deogarh, Koenjhar and Mayurbhanj districts in Orissa.

BACKGROUND:

In view of growing activities of Left Wing Extremists in various States, the stretch between Vijayawada-Ranchi Route was considered for development as an integrated project by Central and State Governments. In Sept., 2009, the Government took decision to sanction remaining stretches of National Highways on Vijayawada Ranchi route in Orissa for widening to two-lane standards and undertaking preparation of Detail Project Reports (DPRs) for 600 Km. length of State Roads, which are not covered under any other programme.

***

AKT/SH/SM

In the past sometimes they would wait till January and sometimes they would forget until a few days before the rail budget. But this time they seemed to be prepared ahead of time. Following is a report from Dharitri.

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

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

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

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

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

Some other comparative numbers:

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

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

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

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

Update: Just did some search and found that:

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

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

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

Following are reports from Samaja and Dharitri. It says land has been selected in the Choumukh panchayat. The port, which was earlier referred to as Kirtania port, is now referred to as Subarnarekha port. The Samaja article mentions that for the port connectivity there will be a two lane road and rail lines between Haldipada and Choumukh. The Daharitri article mentions the rail points as Rupsa and Jaleswar. Both articles say that if things go as planned the port should be operational by 2014. This port is being made by Creative Ports of Chennai.

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

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

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

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

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

Following are presentations given by the Odisha delegation that visited US during June-July 2010.

• 2010 Industry Status. (4.2MB)
• 2010 Port Status. (3.7MB)
• 2010 Culture and Education scenario. (1.9MB)
• 2010 Higher Education Opportunities. (250 KB)

The following map is from a report in Telegraph.

Following are excerpts from that report.

… The buses, procured by the state government with financial assistance from the Centre under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), …

The newly constituted government authority Bhubaneswar-Puri Transport Services Limited (BPTSL) today signed an agreement with local transport agency Dream Team Shahara Services to run the services in the two cities.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC), the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA), the Orissa State Road Transport Corporation, the Puri-Konark Development Authority and the Puri Municipality are the stakeholders in BPTSL.

While 100 buses are scheduled to ply on six different routes in Bhubaneswar, 25 buses will travel on three routes in Puri.

Of the 100 buses, 50 standard buses with 38 seats each and 50 mini-buses with a seating capacity of 30 passengers will ply between Khurda-Master Canteen; Nandan Kanan-Airport, KIIT-Uttara Chhaka, Dumduma–VSS Nagar, Nuagaon-Phulnakahara and Khandagiri-Sai Temple in Bhubaneswar.

Five standard buses and 20 mini-buses will ply between Beach Road-Konark, Jagannath Temple-Master Canteen, and Jagannath Temple to Konark. The frequency of the buses will vary from 7 to 15 minutes during peak hours and 15 to 30 minutes during non-peak hours. The bus services will be available from 6am to 6pm.

“As per the memorandum of understanding, the state government will provide the BPTSL with infrastructure such as bus terminals at the origin and destination of every route. Planning of bus stops will also be done in a phased manner. Autorickshaw services in Bhubaneswar will not be affected. We have already consulted with the autorickshaw unions of the city in this regard,” housing and urban development secretary Arun Panda said.

Panda said: “The fare slab proposed is on the higher side. The actual fare cannot be more than the slab. We will revise the fare based on the automatic fare revision formula, which is linked to the hike in fuel prices.”

… “Today, we have given BPTSL a cheque for Rs 85 lakh. Another, Rs 2.55 crore will be paid this year. We will also pay BPTSL Rs 2.5 lakh every month towards route charges,” said Nishikanta Mishra, chairman of Dream Team Shahara Services.

Panda said that the buses had been purchased for Rs 17.5 crore. “The state government engaged the Urban Mass Transit Company, which is a government of India undertaking, as the transaction advisor. The Urban Mass Transit Company has prepared the route plan and stoppages after making a comprehensive study on the road network,” he added.

The state’s special secretary, commerce and transport department, has been designated as the chief executive officer of the BPTSL, BMC mayor is the chairman and the chairperson of the Puri Municipality has been made the vice-chairperson.

Following are couple of maps extracted from wikimapia.

Cuttack people are unhappy that there are no connections to Cuttack. I think the state has not been able to convince the appropriate authorities in Delhi that Bhubaneswar-Cuttack is a single metropolitan area. In any case this is a start and hopefully soon there will be additional routes, especially connecting to Cuttack. Two routes that need to be added as soon as possible are:

• Nandankanan to Vidyadharpur via Bidanasi, Barabati, Buxi Bazar, Mangalabag, Ravenshaw
• Phulnakhara to Bidanasi via Badambadi and Alisha Bazar

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The Centre would provide Rs716 crore under ‘Viability Gap Funding’ for infrastructure development of the PCPIR (Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Region) hub to be set up at Paradip in Orissa.

“The Centre would provide this money in two phases. While Rs388 crore would come in the first phase of the project, the balance Rs328 crore would be provided by the Government of India in the second phase”, an official source told Business Standard.

The funds to be provided by the Centre under ‘Viability Gap Funding’, will be utilized for various infrastructure projects of the PCPI hub like six-laning of NH-5 (A), building a greenfield coastal corridor, construction of all-new greenfield road from Bhubaneswar to Paradip \and upgradation of port infrastructure.

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

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

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

The PCPIR project in the state would be set up on 284.15 sq km (70,214 acres) of land spread over Jagatsnghpur and Kendrapara districts. The PCPIR hub is expected to attract investments to the tune of Rs2.74 lakh crore.

Phase-I work of the project is expected to be completed by 2015 while the entire project is scheduled for commissioning by 2030.

Of the expected overall investment figure of Rs2.74 lakh crore, the lion’s share would come from the petroleum and petrochemicals sectors at Rs2.3 lakh crore followed by housing and allied infrastructure at Rs23,500 crore, external infrastructure at Rs13,634 crore and Rs3,500 crore each for chemicals & fertilizers and ancillary sectors.

The mega project is set to create employment for 6.48 lakh people which includes direct employment for 2.27 lakh people and indirect employment for 4.41 lakh others.

The turnover of this PCPIR hub is estimated at Rs4.23 lakh crore with an export potential of Rs 43,000 crore. The PCPIR hub is expected to generate taxes to the tune of Rs 42,000 crore and contribute six per cent to Orissa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

… This refinery cum petrochemical complex which needs 3300 acres of land, is scheduled for commissioning by March 2012.

The land acquisition process for PCPIR is on the fast track with the state owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation of Orissa (Idco), the nodal agency for the project having filed requisition for 90 per cent of the total land requirement in .

This is really great. Especially, the part about a greenfield coastal road.  Odisha has been demanding such a road for a long time. I think eventually it will run all the way from Dhamara-Paradeep-Astaranga-Konark-Puri-Baliharchandi-across Chilika to Gopalpur. From Dhamara to the North they can put this road together with the National Waterway.

(Thanks to Future Berhampur for the link.)

This is an welcome news. My guess is that if proper efforts are made then the situation with respect to air connectivity in Odisha could be as follows:

• Bhubaneswar airport would have a few international flights, better connectivity to big cities across India and small planes flying to nearby smaller airports.
• Jharsuguda airport would have flights to several cities in India.
• Airports in Rourkela, Berhampur, Jeypore and Rasgovindpur would have small planes (20-40 seaters) flying mainly to nearby larger airports.
• The locations mentioned above matches with the Tier 1 and 2 areas mentioned in the orissa2020 site.
• In the next tier will be airports at Angul, Therubali, Utkela (Kalahandi) and others. (See the list of airstrips in Odisha here.) I think because of the industries Angul and Therubali will be the leading contenders.

The best way to get commercial flights to Rourkela is to make a case with the various private airlines. If any one of them agrees, the rest regarding what authorizations would be needed to enable the planes to fly to the SAIL airport in Rourkela would not be hard. Couple of years back the then DM of Sundergarh was very close to convincing Air Deccan to fly to Rourkela. One needs to get in touch with the current DM and revive that process.

Until the Jharsuguda airport becomes functional commercial flights to this airport is sorely needed. Even after that, enough traffic now may result in commercial flights continuing their presence in the airport. So in a sense this is the last chance (for 10-15 years) for Rourkela people to have commercial flight connectivity.

Various KBK statistics are known to everyone here as well as to the planning commission. We will not rehash them here. We will just like to point out that various programs in KBK (such as RLTAP) will not work to their potential unless qualified people are willing to be there to implement those programs and unless there are enough local people who are qualified. For example, one can open schools and hospitals and initiate irrigation projects. But if teachers, doctors and engineers do not go there in sufficient numbers to staff the schools, hospitals and irrigation projects they will not achieve their impact. So while we make programs for schools, hospitals and irrigation projects we need to pay attention to the infrastructure aspects that will (a) create enough local teachers, doctors and engineers and (b) will not deter teachers, doctors and engineers to come to this place.

With that in mind we propose that the following be pushed with the central government for implementation in the next 7 years  — the remaining part of the 11th plan and the 12th plan starting in 2012. I think the list below is doable. (Much more needs to be aimed for and done through the state government, industries and people in this region; but here we only focus on what one can realistically push with the central government and achieve.)

1. Railway Infrastructure: The Railway infrastructure of the KBK districts need to be drastically improved. In particular there are several approved lines that need to be speeded up. In addition there are some hanging lines that need to be extended and completed. The following shows the current Railway lines in Odisha.

The following picture shows the lines that bring better rail connectivity to the KBK districts. The ones in brown have been approved and we request that they be completed within the next 2-3 years and. We request that the ones in blue are approved and completed within 5 years.

2. Airport at Jeypore:  Currently Odisha has one airport with commercial flights. That is in Bhubaneswar. AAI is in the process of making another airport at Jharsuguda. We propose that another airport be built near Jeypore-Koraput with commercial flights in mind (small planes to start with) to serve the KBK area. An airstrip is already there.  The following map shows the location and its distance from the other airports in India.

3. Roads: On roads, we request that the construction of the Vijaywada-Ranchi highway be expedited.  More.

4. HRD/Education: The 11th plan has good proposals regarding schools, ITIs and model colleges. But as we said in the beginning of this document, KBK needs to produce its own teachers, doctors and engineers.

As a first step the Odisha government decided to locate the Central University of Odisha in Koraput. However, considering the vast area of KBK, we request the following.

4.1   The 11th plan has provision for having medical colleges and engineering colleges in 5 of the 16 new central universities. (See the page from Volume 3 of 11th plan below.) We request that the one of those medical college and engineering college be established as part of the Central University of Orissa, Koraput.

4.2   A centrally funded engineering college of the kind in Longowal Punjab (SLIET), Kokrajhar Assam and the one being made in Malda (GKCIET): These three centrally funded engineering colleges have rural focus and we request that one such rural focused 3-tier (catering to workers, technicians and engineers) is needed for KBK. We request that it be made in Balangir. In the next page we have cut-outs related to the above mentioned three colleges which show their mission perfectly matches what is needed in the KBK districts.

4.3 Upgradation of Food Craft Institute Balangir to an Institute of Hotel Management.

4.4 Some kind of a centrally funded institute in Kalahandi: One has to be realistic in pursuing something that is achievable; something central government has established in smaller towns in other states; something with similar philosophy as SLIET/GKCIET/CIT-Kokrajhar but in a different field.

Added on Dec 11th 2010: I think a Central Agricultural University can be pushed for Kalahandi. Currently a Central Agricultural University exists in Imphal (http://www.cau.org.in/). I came across the news item in http://bundelkhand.in/portal/NEWS/Centre-clears-an-AIIMS-like-institute-for-Jhansi-Bundelkhand that says "the Union agriculture ministry had given the go-ahead to develop a central agriculture university in Jhansi". So a similar one can be pushed for Kalahandi.

4.5 Special funding for proposed state Universities in KBK: The Odisha government higher education task force has recommended new state universities to be made in Jeypore (Koraput), Bhawanipatna (Kalahandi) and Balangir. We request that the central government give a one time 50 crore grant to each of these proposed universities so that they can be started at the earliest.

 5. Job Centers:

• Wagon factory in Kalahandi.
• Tourist infrastructure around Gandhamardan hills and Harishankar.
• Tourist infrastructure around Kolab dam and tribal hamlets of Koraput.

6. KBK+: In addition in the KBK+ district of Kandhamal a branch of Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU) can be realistically pursued and achieved.

Final Word: Please make additional suggestions. But be realistic. Also, note that here we are talking about what to pursue with the central government.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Telegraph.

Five upcoming flyovers between Baramunda and Palasuni on National Highway 16 will reduce the commuting time of the city’s passengers in the future.

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has planned to construct flyovers at important junctions like Fire station, CRP Square, Acharya Vihar, Vani Vihar and Rasulgarh.

These four-lane flyovers are expected to ease traffic problems along the Kolkata-Chennai highway (NH 16).

NHAI project director Aditya Kumar Ray said here today that an agreement was signed between Sri Jagannath Expressway Pvt. Ltd and the NHAI on August 6 for redevelopment project of the 67-kilometre stretch between Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Chandikhol. The five fly-overs are part of the project.

“The total cost of the project would be around Rs 1,250 crore and the construction period will be two and half years. Sri Jagannath Expressway Pvt. Ltd will also take care of the maintenance of the road for 26 years (including the project execution period) as per the agreement,’’ Ray said.

“While the preliminary work will begin from October, the final work will start from December. We will try to make it a point that construction work along the entire stretch finishes on time,” he said.

… “These upcoming flyovers will have controlled access to the highway. Commuters will have to take turns at the respecting connecting roads to reach their destinations. There is also a plan to include construction of new flyovers at Phulnakhara, and Link Road-Khapuria starting from Kathjodi bridge and Manguli,’’ he added.

NH 16, which was earlier NH 5, has been clubbed with NH 60 (the Lakshman Nath-Balasore highway). Gazette notification has already been made on this highway as it falls under the Golden Quadrilateral project.

According to sources, in the past there was a plan by the NHAI to construct three flyovers at Khurda, Khandagiri and Baramunda. However, only the flyover project at Baramunda was realised, while the Khandagiri flyover plan was shifted to Jayadev Vihar to meet public demand.

As mentioned in the last paragraph, currently that stretch of NH-5 (to be called NH 16) has a flyover at Jayadev Vihar and at Baramunda. With the proposed flyovers at Fire station, CRP Square, Acharya Vihar, Vani Vihar and Rasulgarh the stretch from Rasulgarh to Baramunda would be smooth sailing without any traffic stops. See http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100813/images/13zzflyoverbig.jpg for a graphics of this stretch. The flyovers at Phulnakhara, and Link Road-Khapuria would make the streatch from central Cuttack to past Bhubaneswar without any traffic stops.

Tathya.in has an article about this. Following are some excerpts.

The Odishans world-wide now recognize the need of International Flights to Bhubaneswar and Domestic Flights to Jharsuguda in order to effectively connect to the hi-tech businesses and tourism around the world.

Without the requisite air connectivity, Odisha cannot expect a jumpstart in development given all the potential that the state has in Tourism, Education and IT, feels Purna Mohanty, leading Non Resident Odia(NRO).

It all started during Pre Invest Bhubaneswar meeting at Hotel Swosti in May 2010, said he.

And then further concretized with hard-copy signature campaign during Invest Bhubaneswar and OSA Convention during 1-4 July, followed by Ratha Yatra Festival in Silicon Valley, CA, USA.

The signature campaign was completed and submitted to Prime Minister, Civil Aviation Minister, Chief Minister and Member of Parliaments.

NROs are thus presenting an overall proposal of Air connectivity in Odisha, with a request to consider & expedite the implementation of the following at the minimum:

Upgrade the 6 decade old regional Airport at Bhubaneswar to an International Airport at the earliest possible.

Expedite and complete the construction of ongoing western regional Jharsugda Airport in Jharsugda district, in western Odisha, within next two years.

The petitionodisha site has a petition on immediate upgradations of airports in Odisha. Please visit it. Besides signing it please also send emails (email addresses of where to send is given here) as in my experience emails have more impact than e-petitions. While our earlier email sample only mentioned Bhubaneswar and Jharsuguda, the petition adds Jeypore. It is indeed a good location for a 3rd functioning airport of Odisha. (We earlier wrote about it.) Feel free to add that to your email. 

Pointers to relevant postings from the past:

• Jain Steel, an obstacle to Jharsuguda airport.
• Bhubaneswar international airport issue raised in the assembly.
• Jharsuguda airport status statement by the CM in the assembly.
• Campaign for international airport in Bhubaneswar and airport in Jharsuguda.
• Jharsuguda airport to be developed by PPP?
• Future airport plans (includes info on Jeypore and Rasgovindpur).
• 800 acres needed for Jharsuguda airport.
• Airstrips in Odisha.
• MOU to be signed for Jharsuguda airport.