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Following is culled from various news reports: Expressbuzz.com, Orissadiary and Pragativadi.

1. Current fiscal: Broaden and repair the roads connecting from Cuttack-Banki, Barkot-Lahunipada, Balangir- Kantabanjhi, Chorada- Duburi and Udala -Baripada, Jharsuguda-Sambalpur.
2. Bridges would be constructed near Bhubana on Brahamni river, near Jagadalpur on Anga river in Padmapur, near Jatamudia on Mahanadi river, Lalitgiri Setu on Birupa river, at Jhiripani on Koyel river and Burla Buguda Pali on Ghoda river.
3. Road connecting to Cuttack and Paradip would be completed by June 2010. Of the 81 km, repair works in 29 km roads have been completed.
4. The 91 km road connecting to Pandapada-Naranapada in Keonjhar district would be completed by 2011.
5. Steps would be taken to complete the road connecting to Khurda and Balangir by 2010.
6. The fly-over near in the busy Rajmahal Square in Bhubaneswar would be completed within two years.
7. Vanivihar-Rajmahal Road in Bhubaneswar will be converted to an eight lane road.
8. Tender has already been completed for construction of E-Procurement Cell at Cuttack,Construction Academy Buildings at Gopalpur, Parala Maharaja Engineering College at Brahmapur,Engineering College at Bhawanipatna, Agriculture College and Horticulture at Chipilima.
9. The Vijayawada-Ranchi National Highway passing through 13 tribal dominated districts of the State will be completed by 2014.Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today reviewed the progress of different road and bridge projects at a high level meeting.Out of the 1,219 km long highway, 983 kilometre falls in Orissa and will be constructed by the State Government.

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

The Ong dam project at Pujaripali in Padampur block of Bargarh district has received the much awaited environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forest(MoEF).

… Initially estimated to cost Rs 305 crore, the project was sanctioned by the Central Water Commission in September 2000.

The revised cost of the project will be nearly Rs 500 crore and this has been posed before the World Bank for funding under the Orissa Water Resources Improvement Project, official sources said.

The Water Resources Department has proposed to construct a reservoir on river Ong, a tributary of Mahanadi and the project envisages to irrigate about 30,000 hectares drought-prone areas of Bargarh and Balangir districts.

The submergence at full reservoir level is 5,100 hectares out of which, 167 hectares of neighbouring Chhattisgarh will be affected.

While 32 villages will affected by the project, 10 will be fully submerged.

As inter-state issues are involved, a public hearing was conducted in Chhattisgarh on September 11 and the willingness of people for the project has been communicated to the Centre.

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

Adventure sports have hit the youths of Orissa big time. As many as 24 dare devils embarked on a week-long river rafting expedition to Paradip along the mighty Mahanadi from the picturesque Baliput (Satkosia) on Tuesday.

The expedition, the third in a series, was flagged off by Tourism Minister Debi Prasad Mishra.

The expedition would test the boys’ stamina and unflagging determination to sail down the river negotiating rough waters to the port town, covering about 270 km. All that they would have for company are the four rafts. Some of the towns they would pass through are Singhnath, Gopinathpur, Subarnapur, Cuttack, Tirtol and Kujang.

… The Minister said, the State Government would keep patronising such adventure sports in future.

The expedition is being orgnised by the State Sports and Youth Affairs Department. Its director Narayan Prasad Das was present on the occasion.

Following are excerpts from a New Indian Express report.

Implementation of the first phase projects of the integrated water resources development of Mahanadi basin are likely to start next year.

While the total project cost has been estimated at Rs 3,493 crore, the prioritised projects to be taken up in the first phase will cost around Rs 1,200 crore.

The State Government has submitted a proposal on the proposed project to the World Bank for funding.

A World Bank Identification Mission which visited the State from August 8 to 15 has advised the State Government to take up the proposed basin development plan in a phased manner.

The major components of the Mahanadi basin development plan include five new irrigation projects on Brutanga, Dhauragoth, Upper Lanth, Ong and Ib rivers, rehabilitation and improvement of 13 major and medium irrigation schemes, and six mega lift schemes at Mundali, Banpur, Padmabati, Baiideswar and Upper Indravati.

Improvement of drainage development in eight doabs under Mahanadi basin and flood control below Naraj are the other components.

The project also includes development of new minor irrigation schemes in the basin, basin planning and environmental action plan, formation of river basin organisation, institutional strengthening and capacity building of Pani Panchayats and support for allied activities such as agriculture and horticulture, Water Resources Secretary Aurobinda Behera said.

… The study should also cover the sustainability of the project, it said .

The Mahanadi basin has a catchment area of over 1.41 lakh sq km covering Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra besides Orissa. Over 23 lakh hectares of forest land falls under the catchment area.

NDTV reports discovery of gas and oil in the Mahanadi river basin. Following is an excerpt from that report.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has made five oil and gas finds in eastern offshore and north-east, the most significant being a gas discovery in the Mahanadi basin block where 3-4 Trillion cubic feet of gas reserves have already been established.

“ONGC made second discovery in Mahanadi basin in MN-DWN-98/3 block in east coast of India about 60-km off Paradeep coast in Orissa,” the company said.

The well MDW-4A at a water depth of 1,087 meters produced gas with a high flow potential from a depth of 1,800 meters. The state-run firm has 100 per cent interest in the block it won in first round of New Exploration Licensing Policy.

The company has so far drilled five wells in Mahanadi Basin and made the first discovery in 2006. It, however, did not say the reserve potential in the new discovery.

“This is again a new discovery and potential of the field is being assessed. The flow rate of oil is highest among the discoveries in North-East. Oil is of very good quality sweet crude with API gravity of 33 and pour point 300 degree Celcius,” it said.