___________

Following are excerpts from a Hindu report. (Thanks to R. P. Tripathy for the pointer.)

Lack of proper road communication is a major hindrance in the path of construction and renovation works being taken up by the Gopalpur Ports Limited (GPL) to transform the existing seasonal port into a mega all weather port.

Speaking to The Hindu, director of the GPL, Mahima Mishra said the existing road that connects NH 5 with the port was too narrow and was not of standard to bear the load of transportation of heavy machines and vehicles needed for th e work of the port. The GPL wants to construct a separate four lane road to connect the NH 5 with the port. But this road project of GPL has been getting delayed as the proposed land is under the Orissa Sands Complex (OSCOM), a unit of the Indian Rare Earths’ Limited (IREL). Mr Mishra said delay in construction of this road could delay the whole port project. He said road transport between the port and the highway can also affect the operation of the seasonal port at Gopalpur from November.

… State Transport Secretary, Priyabrata Patnaik has held discussions with the district administration and GPL authorities regarding the transfer of land to the GPL for its port project. Chatrapur sub-collector Ajit Mishra said efforts were being made for speedy transfer of 269 acres now under the IREL to the GPL. Transfer of these 269 acres would enable the GPL construct its four lane road between NH 5 and the port for proper transportation link.

 

… Tehsildar of Chatrapur Manoj Padhi informed that the IREL had agreed to surrender 269 acres to the State Revenue Department as it has completed mining at the area. About 140 acres of this land was government land and the rest 129 acres was private land acquired by IREL for mining.

After IREL surrenders the land acquisition process would again have to be initiated for the private land so that it could get transferred to GPL as early as possible. In total the GPL needs around 2000 acres for its project.

… The whole project involves an investment of over Rs. 1700 crores. The GPL happens to be a consortium of Orissa Stevedores Ltd. (OSL), Noble Group Ltd. of Hong Kong and Sara International Ltd., which entered into an MOU with the Orissa Government on Sept 14 last year to take over the Gopalpur port to develop it into a major all weather port on BOOST basis.

Following are excerpts from a report in english.chosun.com.

… After a rough start, POSCO is expected to finally have a site allocated for a planned steel mill in India, while an investment in a new Vietnam steel mill is likely to move ahead in October.

According to POSCO on Wednesday, the Indian government recently made it known that they plan to determine whether to give environmental clearance for the 4,004 acre site in Paradip in the province of Orissa.

Some 3,566 acres or 89.1 percent of the site of the planned one-stop steel system belongs to the government. Of that, 3,097 acres (86.9 percent) is forest land. For now, POSCO has only secured 193 acres (4.8 percent).

A POSCO official said, "The final decision has not yet been made, but we heard that the site might be released from the forest zone soon. The state-owned land accounts for nearly 90 percent of our site. In other words, if the area is released from the forest zone, the biggest obstacle to our effort to secure the site disappears."

Following is Samaja’s report on this.

Following are some excerpts from a PTI report in Economic Times.

Setting at rest speculation on the fate of its Rs 52,000 crore steel project, South Korean giant Posco has decided to begin construction work on the 12 million tonne plant in Orissa by October.

“We will begin construction work of our 12 MT project in Orissa’s Jagatsinghpur district by October on whatever land we have acquired so far,” Posco India Chairman and Managing Director Soung Sik Cho said. …

“We believe things have undergone a sea-change during the last few months. People are clearly convinced that they will benefit from the project. Now they have a better understanding of the entire situation,” he reasoned.

Posco was also enthused after the union government gave environmental approval to the project. Moreover, the Naveen Patnaik government in Orissa has been asked by the Centre to take the mega investment process forward.

“Actually things are now looking much brighter. We have also received the official nod for our captive port project at Jatadhari, which has also encouraged us,” Cho pointed out.

The Korean steel giant has decided to begin construction work initially on 400 acres of non-forest land, and then on the revenue land to be given to it by the Orissa government.

“Now the only issue remains to be resolved is granting captive iron ore mines to us. But here also I believe things are moving in the right direction,” Cho said.

Some of the earlier news reports on national waterways in Orissa are linked from this site. Following is the latest development, as reported in an Indian Express article. Excerpts:

The Parliamentary Standing Committee has shown the green signal to two new national waterways in West Bengal-Orissa and Andhra Pradesh-Tamil Nadu even as it called for an integrated transport policy and an institutional framework for inland water transport. … The other waterway—Talcher-Dhamra stretch of the Brahmni-Kharsua-Dhamra Rivers, Goenkhali-Charbatia stretch of the East Coast canal, Charbatia-Dhamra stretch of Matai River and Mahandai delta rivers between Mangalgadi and Paradip is also up for the national waterway status. Around 18.07 million tonnes of inland water transport traffic is expected to be carried out on the proposed waterway after its full development in eight years time. The traffic is expected to be handled at four terminals—Talcher, Nasirabd, Balasore and Rajnagar and the major cargoes are coal, fertiliser, cement, iron ore, agricultural and industrial products. The Standing Committee, however, has recommended the Government to prepare the road map for an integrated transport policy to include inland water transport, coastal shipping, civil aviation, road transport & highways for enabling better inter-connectivity amongst multiple modes of transport. The Committee has also called for provision of an institutional framework for development of IWT sector so as to increase capacity of IWT agencies, increased cost recovery and commercialisation of IWT industries. In case of the West Bengal-Orissa waterway, the Committee has suggested that another terminal be developed at Geonkhali in West Bengal to enable better traffic handling. It was also noted by the panel that there’s need to develop an action plan to address the growing demand of repair and service facilities of IWT vessels.

The final step for the bill would be to getting approval in both houses of the parliament.

Following up on the standing committee’s recommendation it may be appropriate to establish an airport near Jenapur-Kabatabandha as the ECOR Howrah-Chennai Railway line and NH 200 (Chandikhol-Sukinda-Talcher) intersects the national waterway at that point; NH 5A (Chandikhol-Paradip), NH 5 (Panikoili-Chandikhol) and NH 215 (Panikoili-Keonjhar) are close by; Haridaspur – Paradeep railway line will start very near to that point; Jakhapura-Banspani line also starts close to that point and that airport will serve the greater Kalinga Nagar area where multiple steel plants and other plants are coming up. Going further on that, the Orissa government is supposed to have made a master plan for Kalinga nagar. Following is an excerpt from a year old report (May 28, 2006) in Steelguru on that. (See also this New Indian Express report)

Orissa government has decided to prepare a master plan for Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district. South Africa based Lea Associates will prepare the master plan in collaboration with School of Planning and Architect, New Delhi and the Centre for Environment and Planning. The master plan will be completed by July. Kalinga Nagar Industrial Area will be developed for a population of over 10 lakh keeping an eye on 2025 and will be extended to 177 square kilometers. As per the draft, the KNIA will be extended to 134 villages. So far 112 villages have been included in the industrial area. About 1 million hectare land will be acquired by the Government in a phased manner for the development of the area. According to the draft plan, 68 square kilometer out of the total area will be reserved for town planning. About 89 square kilometer will be earmarked for industrial units while 20 square kilometer will be reserved for development of different infrastructure including bus stand, hotels, schools and hospital. Decision has also been taken to set up Kalinga Nagar Development Authority.

Samaja has the following beautiful analysis which enumerates how because Orissa does not have the industries whose products will be used in making the new industrial plants in Orissa, Orissa loses out on lots of additional benefits that go to the already industrialized states. Hence, Orissa not only needs to set up these plants quickly, but also needs to go after the ancillaries with full force.

The Hindu reports that environmental clearance has been granted to POSCO steel plant. POSCO has earmarked 1,525 crores for environmental pollution control as per the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) as well as the state government conditions. Excerpts:

“The Ministry of Environment and Forests has given the environmental clearance for Posco’s mega steel project at Kujang near Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa,” highly-placed official sources said.The Korean steel giant had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Orissa government in June 2005 pledging an investment of Rs 52,000 crore for setting up the plant.

“The project authorities shall utilise Rs 1,525 crore earmarked for environmental pollution control measures judiciously to implement the conditions stipulated by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) as well as the state government. The funds so provided shall not be diverted for any other purpose,” a source quoted the Environment and Forests Ministry as saying, while granting clearance.

The clearance has been granted to the world’s third largest steel manufacturer for installing furnaces using FINEX technology only and on the condition that gaseous emissions from its various units should strictly conform to load/mass based standards notified by the government.

Earlier in April, the MOEF had granted its approval under Coastal Regulation Zone to the Korean steel giant’s proposal to set up a captive port at Jatadhari at a cost of Rs 17,113 crore.”

Business standard reports that some of the betel cultivators have accepted POSCO’s compensation for these Betel farms.

Also, It must be noted, that these Betel cultivation was being done in Govt. enroached land. Currently out of 4004 acres required by POSCO, 3567 acres is Govt. land and 438 acres is pvt. land.

Excerpts:

In a major breakthrough in the imbroglio over land acquisition for Posco’s 12-million-tonne steel project near Paradip in Orissa, betel cultivators at Nuagaon village, within the project site, have dismantled their vineyards in lieu of compensation.

According to sources, four betel farm owners have accepted compensation to the tune of Rs 4.8 lakh, while 20 more who had surrendered their claim on betel vineyards are expected to be paid around Rs 15 lakh in a couple of days.

The farmers are being paid according to the rate fixed by the state government. Company sources said they had received about 200 applications from local farmers for payment of compensation for the surrender of their claim.

These were being verified and would be cleared in a phased manner, they added.

It may be noted that betel leaves are mostly cultivated over encroached government land in the proposed Posco plant area. There are about 1,600 betel farms in Nuagaon alone.

Posco required for its plant 4004 acres of land in three grampanchayats, namely Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gada Kujanga. Of this, 3567 acres is government land and 437 acres is private land. Most of the government land, however, is encroached upon by betel cultivators.

It may be noted that about 3,000 people working at the betel farms in Gadakujanga, Dhinkia and Nuagaon are among the most vocal opponents of the project as they fear loss of employment.

They have become soft targets for anti-Posco agitators. Keeping this in mind, the state government is framing a separate package for these workers, in addition to the existing rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) policy formulated last year.

According to state Chief Secretary Ajit Tripathy, the stalemate over land acquisition is gradually giving way and people in the site area are coming out in support of the project.

The Economic Times reports that Dhamara port is expected to be operational in 2010. Following are some excerpts from that report.

The first phase of construction of the Rs 2,400-crore Dhamra port project in Orissa, a 50:50 joint venture between Tata Steel and L&T, would be completed by March 2010, a company official said on Tuesday.

“We will complete the first phase of the port by 2010 which will be capable of handling 25 million tons of cargo,” Dhamra Port Company Ltd CEO Santosh K Mohapatra said here on the sidelines of a CII Logistics seminar. …

The port, which aims to serve industries in Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh, would initially deal with bulk cargo like coal, iron-ore and steel.

In the first phase, two berths would be constructed capable of handling 25 million tons cargo. The capacity could be scaled upto 85 million tons with a total of 13 berths.

The port, when completed, would be the deepest one in eastern India with an 18-metre draught capable of handling super size vessels with capacity of up to 1,80,000 tons.

A new railway track to Dhamra may be built for movement of cargo to the port. Of the proposed 62 km of railway track, land acquisition for 52 km of track has already been completed.

Telegraph also reports on it and mentions that Dhamara port may try to become an SEZ. Following are some excerpts from the Telegraph report.

The Dhamra port in Orissa is exploring the option of turning itself into a special economic zone (SEZ).

The 50:50 joint venture between Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is coming up on a 900-acre plot on the Orissa coast. Dhamra Port Company Ltd (DPCL) plans to develop two berths, at an investment of Rs 2,400 crore, to handle bulk cargo such as coal and iron ore.

Santosh K. Mohapatra, chief executive officer of the company, said contractors had been appointed and orders placed for the project.

“We hope to complete the first phase, capable of handling 25 million tonnes of cargo, by April 2010,” he said.

Asked if the company planned to seek SEZ status, he said such an idea was being considered. …

To begin with, the Dhamra port will handle raw materials for steel plants coming up in Kalinganagar and in nearby areas. Tata Steel itself is building a 6mt plant at Kalinganagar. “Later we may consider to have port-based industries there,” Mohapatra said.

Eventually the Dhamra port will be equipped to handle 85mt cargo capacity with 13 berths.

Tata Steel and L&T are contributing Rs 250 crore each as equity for the project, while the remaining Rs 1,900 crore will be raised as debt from eight banks led by IDBI.

The company will also build a 62km rail track from the port to Bhadrak, which will connect with the Howrah-Chennai trunk route. The company will require 2,200 acres for that, taking the total land requirement of the whole project to 3,100 acres.

Kalingatimes reports that Posco is definitely interested in the Orissa project.
Excerpts of the Article below

… The latest statement from the authorities of POSCO-India makes it clear that they were here to stay – to pursue their 12 million tonne per annum capacity steel mill project in Jagatsinghpur district.

…, the company has said in a statement that it was `confident, determined and committed’ to make its Orissa steel project happen. …

But the company has said that as per its human resource plan, overseas staff deployment in POSCO-India project was purely need based.

“Staff deployment is in relation to specific assignments and the employee moves with the changes in assignment. Accordingly, when the construction phase begins, there would be reallocation of staff from overseas in large number,” a statement from the company said.

Although there had been undue delay in the implementation of the project due to non-acquisition of land for the proposed steel plant, the company has announced it was hopeful of starting ground leveling work by December this year.

“The company is further encouraged by the support extended by Government of Orissa as well as Government of India for expediting the project,’ the statement said.

“Going by the recent developments, the company is happy to note that there is a greater understanding and wider consensus in favor of the project building up at all levels, notably among people in the project site.” …

If official sources are to be believed, … POSCO authorities were ready to wait for several more years to implement the project.

“The main worry of POSCO-India authorities would be over the day they were granted prospecting licence for the Khandadhar iron ore mines by the Central government.

As regards the people’s opposition to displacement by the proposed steel plant in Jagatsinghpur as well as the move to grant of prospecting licence to the company for Khandadhar mines, sources said that POSCO was used to such resistance.

“They are hopeful that things will slowly start changing and the opposition will lose strength in due course,” a senior government official observed.

Rehabilitation process begins

Meanwhile, the company, in association with the district administration, has started the process for rehabilitating 48 families that had left Patna village under Dhinkia panchayat of Jagatsinghpur following their differences with those who were against the setting up of the steel plant in their locality.

The company was hopeful that a transit camp for the 48 families would come up within four weeks. Simultaneously, efforts were being made to select a site for constructing a full-fledged rehabilitation colony for these families.

A company official said that once the habilitation colony was set up it would attract people from the camp that was opposed to the project.

The families which had come out of their villages on their own and were supporting the project would be given rehabilitation benefits under the provisions of the existing Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy of the State.

Going by the company’s stand, it appears clear that they might start thinking in terms of packing their bags only if the both the Central Government and the State Government expressed their unwillingness to extend help. But going by the eagerness on the part of both the governments to help POSCO-India, such a situation was unlikely to emerge in the next few years. After all, POSCO-India’s steel project still continues to carry the tag of biggest ever foreign direct investment in the country.

This sounds like a good reinforcement of it’s commitment to the Orissa project.

Livemint reports that Paradip port has floated tenders for coal and iron ore berths. Following are some excerpts:

Paradip port plans to build a Rs387 crore 10mt capacity berth for handling imported coking coal used for firing steel plants and another Rs505 crore 10mt capacity berth for handling iron ore export from India. When fully operational, the two berths will have deep drafts of 16 metres capable of handling ships of 125,000 tonnes initially and later 185,000 tonnes. …

Paradip port currently operates a 4mt capacity iron ore berth that handled 6.5mt of iron ore in the 12 months to March 2007. “Customers who take coal through Paradip port are allotted only 10mt by the coal ministry. Unless, we are given more, we cannot handle more,” says Raghuramaiah. The coal linkages for each customer are allocated by the coal ministry. Coal is shipped from Paradip to Ennore and Tuticorin ports for customers such as Tam.

A Hindustan Times news report on Dhamara port mentions the following:

A new railway track to Dhamra will be built for movement of cargo to the port. “Out of 62-km of railway track, land acquisition for 52-km of track has already been completed. After the monsoon, construction will gather pace”

Financial express carried a short interview of POSCO India Chairman and MD with journalist Dilip Bisoi. This interview gives a good idea of the status of the POSCO India project. Following are some excerpts:

• How you are going to accelerate the project’s implementation? We have chalked out a strategy to implement the project. We are preparing to start the ground preparation work by October 2007. Out of the 4,004 acre of land, 3,566 acre is government land and 438 acre is private land. Out of the private land, only 30 acre is fertile land as it yields double crops. We are willing to exclude the 30-acre fertile land from the project site. We are also willing to differ use of the 438 acre private land until the villagers were willing to sell.
• Anti-Posco activists have set up checkpoints and are not allowing anybody to enter the site. How do you plan to enter the area and start work? It is not true that we don’t have access to the site. We do have some access to the site. Villagers in Gadakujanga grampanchayat are supporting the project, while people in Nuagoan area are starting to change their mind in favour of the project. Only a small area of Dhinkia grampanchayat is not accessible. We will shed that portion from the project site for the time being. Access to the site and starting civil work will not be difficult.
• Have you prepared your R&R package?  We are preparing a special R&R package for the displaced people. The Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, has been engaged in conducting a survey to understand the needs of the people. The package will be announced once it gets the approval of the Rehabilitation & Peripheral Development Authority. I promise, I will make their lives better than before. Rehabilitating 450 displaced families is not a big job. We want to provide them with a sustainable livelihood.
• How confident you are that the project work will start by October 2007? The next two to three months are very crucial. The prospecting licence for the Khandahar iron ore mines and forest clearance for the project site are expected in the next few months. Once these issues are settled, we will go ahead with the land preparation. If everything goes according to plan, we will procure equipment for the steel plant by the second half of next year. We will shop in the Indian market before going to Asian countries like China and Vietnam. The main plant, however, will be imported from Posco in South Korea. However, starting of the peripheral work at the site by October is very essential.

Recently there were some reports on Greenpeace’s opposition to the Dhamara port. Following are some excerpts of a news report that talks about Tata Steel’s response.

India’s Tata Steel Ltd said it will go ahead with its 24.6 bln rupee joint venture with Larsen & Toubro to set up an all-weather port at Dhamra, in the eastern Indian state of Orissa.

Tata Steel spokesperson Yogesh Joshi said the company had no intention of abandoning the project and said work will continue as usual. …

Dhamra port is crucial for India as traffic is projected to grow to 2 bln tonnes by the year 2016, and all the ports of the country put together are presently handling only 760 mln tonnes.

Sheltered between the mainland and the Kanika Sands Island on the eastern coast, Dhamra port will be the deepest all-weather port of its kind in India, with a draught of 18.5 metres. It will be able to accommodate super cape-size vessels of up to 180,000 dead weight tonnes.

Economic Times reports  road development related to POSCO’s proposed operations. Following are excerpts from that report.

… the government has decided to develop 600 km of highways, to be called Posco roads, to provide connectivity for the 12 million-tonne capacity steel plant in Orissa. The Rs 4,000-crore highway would be constructed on built-operate-transfer (BOT) model and would be completed by 2010. 

The projects are part of phase-III of the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP). The Posco package consists of seven road stretches, including Panikholi-Keonjhar-Rimoli on national highway (NH)-215 and Chandikhole-Duburi on NH-200. The Cuttack-Paradip state road, jointly funded by the Orissa government, Paradip Port Trust and the roads ministry, will also help serve the transport of goods to and from Posco’s steel plant.

“NH-215 and NH-200 will be specifically geared to carry iron-ore traffic,” the official said. “The roads will serve Orissa’s industrial requirements for upcoming projects in the state, but Posco will be the biggest beneficiary,” he added.  …

Apart from road connectivity being provided by the Centre and the state government, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to link Haridaspur and Paradip by railways has been formed by Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL) in which Posco has 10% equity,” a Posco spokesperson said.  …

Posco-India will also build a captive port at Jatadhari, 10 km from Paradip and a captive power plant with a capacity of 1300 mw.  …

The company will also lay pipelines for industrial water utilisation from Jobra barrage.

Dharitri has a nice overview (page1, page2, page3) of the status of the various ports that Orissa plans to have. Following are some highlights from that report.

• Aditya Birla group S.L. Mining has expressed interest in developing the Chudamani port in Bhadrakh district. IIT Madras has done the technical evaluation of this project. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Navajuga engineering of Hyderabad has proposed developing Astaranga port in Puri district. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Puri ports limited has proposed developing the Baliharchandi port in Puri district. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Good earth maritime of Madras has proposed developing the port in Bahuda muhana of Ganjam district. Page 1 of the article has more details.
• Gopalpur: Being developed by Orissa Stevedores. Page 2 of the article has more details.
• Dhamara:TISCO and L & T are devloping this port. Page 2 of the article has more details.
• Jatadhari: Being developed by POSCO. Page 3 of the article has more details.
• Paradip: Existing major port. We discussed its expansion plans recently.
• Palur, Ganjam: no proposals yet
• Barunei, Kendarpara: no proposals yet
• Inchudi, Balasore: no proposals yet
• Chandipur, Balasore: no proposals yet
• Bahabalpur, Balasore: no proposals yet

The article says that the Balasore district ports face problems from the Dept. of Defense because of the missile testing range nearby. The article does not mention the following plan:

• Creative ports, Chennai plans to develop the Kirtania port on the mouth of Subarnarekha in Balasore district.

Bhubaneswar, May 30, 2007

For the convenience of travelling public and keeping in view the demands of passengers, East Coast Railway has decided to run two pairs of Passenger Train between Cuttack & Paradeep from 1st June’07 replacing Rail Bus service except Sundays.

5 CP Cuttack-Paradeep Fast Passenger will leave Cuttack at 07.45a.m, Kandarpur at 08.03a.m, Raghunathpur at 08.22a.m, Gorakhnath at 08.44a.m, Rahama at 09.03a.m, Badabandha at 09.15a.m and will arrive Paradeep at 09.45a.m.

In the return direction, 6 CP Paradeep-Cuttack Fast Passenger will leave Paradeep at 10.15a.m, Badabandha at 10.31a.m, Rahama at 10.44a.m, Gorakhnath at 11.03a.m, Raghunathpur at 11.23a.m, Kandarpur at 11.43a.m and will arrive Cuttack at 12.15p.m.

Similarly, 7 CP Cuttack-Paradeep Fast Passenger will leave Cuttack at 03.00p.m, Kandarpur at 03.18p.m, Raghunathpur at 03.37p.m, Gorakhnath at 03.59p.m, Rahama at 04.19p.m, Badabandha at 04.30p.m and will arrive Paradeep at 05.00p.m.

In the return direction, 8 CP Paradeep-Cuttack Fast Passenger will leave Paradeep at 06.00p.m, Badabandha at 06.16p.m, Rahama at 06.29p.m, Gorakhnath at 06.49.m, Raghunathpur at 07.09p.m, Kandarpur at 07.29p.m and will arrive Cuttack at 08.00p.m.

Statesman has a report on Paradip port aiming to be the number two port in the country. Following are some excerpts from that report.

Armed with a Paradip business and strategy plan for the next 20 years and an action plan for the next seven years, Paradip Port has set on sail to become the No-2 port of the country. The charted course envisages investments to the tune of over Rs 3,500 crore and it aims at handling capacity of 106 million tones in five years. … The growth recorded was a phenomenal 15 per cent and the revenue surplus was around Rs 198 crore last year. All new berths being planned will be on PPA mode and the capacity which is 51 mt will be increased to 106 mt by 2011-12, said the chairman. He pointed out that by November this year, the single point mooring will be commissioned adding 15 mt handling capacity. This is a IOC project with a berth floating 20 km offshore and pipelines which are already in place. … Maritime trade is on the upswing and each port has set high targets but the uniqueness of Paradip is that it has handled 38.4 mt with only bulk cargo. Despite limitations of being a bulk port with 14 berths and a limitation of 12.6 metre in terms of depth of the channel, the port has handled such huge quantities. … There are plans and projects to deepen the channel upto 16 meters to accommodate 125,000 tonners. Presently, it can accommodate 75,000 tonners. The project entails investment of Rs 253 crore and is scheduled to be completed by August 2008. Simultaneously, enhancement of draught at the existing dock system from 12.5 to 14 metres has also been planned for completion by March 2008. … The port plans creation of southern dock system with an investment of Rs 530 crore and four berths. This is targeted for commercial operation by March 2012. The approaches and connectivity have also been planned in a futuristic manner with enhancement of rail connectivity Haridaspur-Paradip line slated to be over by March 2009, four-laning of Chandikhole to Paradip road by March 2008. Even relocation of the existing township has been proposed keeping in view the raid development of the port activities.

I came across several leaflets and brochures in POSCO-INDIA’s Press room pages. Following is the brochure that highlights the NCAER study that I mentioned earlier.

Samaja has a beautiful editorial page article by Ramachandra Pattanayak. In it the the author explains that if we continue opposing Posco, Tisco and Mittal what will happen is that steel plants will be made in other states, our mines will be assigned by the central government to these steel plants in other states and we will lose out on many fronts including infrastructure development that comes with steel plants, ancillaries, etc. Similarly, he says it does not make sense that we are so vocal about IIT etc. and yet we oppose Vedanta University.

I agree with the author. The assignment of mines is not fully under state govt. control. We can not sit on requests and delay assigning mines. If we do that currently the central govt. has the right to assign the mines to others. Losing out on the mines, we lose out on the related infrastructure developments such as townships, railways, roads, and to some degree ports. We also lose out on the ancillaries. In this regard one may note cities with big steel plants such as Rourkela or Jamshedpur. They all have lots of ancillary units around that area. So even if the main steel plant does not employ as many people as in the past, there are more opportunities for ancillaries these days as the state is keen on going after auto factories, bicycle factories etc. These ancillaries will hire a lot of people. But, of course, we should not force people out of their land; they should be enticed with good compensation (R&R). On the other hand we need to be very careful and wary of some of the neighboring states who are trying to spread their ideology to our state and in the process trying to steal some of these upcoming developments in Orissa. In this regard it is amazing that politicians and MPs from a neighboring state are able to come to Orissa and say that their party opposes such and such project in Orissa. At the same time the party of these politicians support industry in their state so much that they or their allies have sent in cadres dressed up as policemen to kill and rape people opposed to industrialization in their state. What gull these politicians from the neighboring state have and how stupid we Oriyas are to invite them, give them a platform and listen to them.

News reports (New Indian Express) mention that POSCO‘s proposed port in Jatadhari, 12 km from Paradeep, has received environmental clearance from the center. POSCO’s MOU with Orissa government has mention of a port.

Following is a collection of links on Ports and waterways in Orissa.

• Port locations: 13 new ones identified by IIT Madras
  • Paradeep port: [becoming a Shipyard?]
  • Dhamara port
    • Dhamara-Chandbali: [1], [2], [3:July19-05], [4:land acq], [work-to-start-jan1-06]
  • Gopalpur: [1], [OSL likely to bag this: Business Standard, Dec3-05], [Orissa Stevedores picked: Telegraph, Feb26-06], [agreement signed]
  • Jatadhari (near Paradeep): port for POSCO
  • Kirtania Mohana: Creative port, Chennai plans here
  • Chudamani, Ganjam: Essel mining plans here
  • Astaranga, Puri: CVR Navayuga plans here [1,2,3]
  • Palur
  • Baliharchandi
  • Bahuda Muhana
  • Inchudi
  • Chandipur
  • Barunei
  • Bahabalpur
• Ports news: [SREI].
• National waterway in Orissa: (East Coast Canal from Paradip to Haldia of length 623 km integrated ) [0:Hindu-14July05]; [PIB-May05] ; [map]; [Tech study]; [Policies]; [1];[Indian Express; Aug 25 2006 cabinet approved]

• • Editor’s comment [July14’05]: Brahmani River crosses the South Eastern railway line at Jenapur which is 8 kms from Jakhapura where branchline goes to Daitari and on to Bansapani. Jajpur Keonjar Rd is another 7 kms away where one of the National highway [Panikoli-Keonjhar segment of 215] passes and 15 km upstream of Jenapur NH 200 [Chandikhol-Sukinda segment of 200] passes. The state government should connect NH 200 to Jenapur to NH 215, and plan to make Jenapur a major transporation hub, as it will be a unique location. Talcher is another possibility for a transportation hub. At Talcher the rail line, the waterway and NH 42 cross. While Talcher can be a transportation hub, Jenapur could be both a transportation hub as well as a tourism hub where cruis eships can stop.
• Waterways links: [Indian waterways authority of India]; [Important inland waterways in India:map]; [National waterway1:map]; [National waterway2:map]; [National waterway3:map]
• Riverlinking: [CM’s order]