___________

Following are excerpted from Pioneer reports at here and here.

• Vedanta Aluminum would enhance its refinery, smelter and power plant capacity with a total investment of `37,440 crore. Vedanta Aluminium company would enhance its production capacity Langigarh unit to six million tonne from existing one million tonne. The company would also enhance its production capacity of Jharsuguda aluminium unit to 1.6 million tonne from existing 0.25 million tonne per annum. Similarly, the company would also increase power generation capacity of its CPP (captive power project) to 1,350 mega watt from existing 675 MW at Jharsuguda.
  
• NSL Nagapatnam’s `8,900 crore investment plans in the State. The company would set up a 1320 MW power plant in Angul district at a cost of `6,600 crore, a 5,000-tonne sugar refinery at Paradip with an investment of `800 crore and a textile and spindle mill with 3 lakh spindles at a cost of `1,500 crore at Rayagada.
• ACC Cement’s `1,850 crore three MTPA cement project along with a 50 MW CPP in Malkangiri district 
• Bhusan Steel’s `3,000-crore steel park at Meramundali.
• SPI Ports to set up a 1,320 MW (2 x 660 MW) power plant at Mahakalpada in Kendrapara district at an investment of Rs 6,600 crore.
• KU Pvt Ltd would invest Rs 7,260 crore to set up a power project with 1320 MW power generating capacity at Thakurpur in Sonepur district.
• Rohit Ferro Alloys would spend Rs 2500 crore for setting up a 67.5 MW captive power plant at its 0.6 MTPA stainless steel project at Kalinganagar in Jajpur district.
• Aditya Aluminum to enhance the capacity of its Rayagada alumina refinery to 1.5 MTPA from the present 1 MTPA, and Jharsuguda smelter from 0.26 MTPA to 0.36 MTPA with an total investment of Rs 11,000 crore,
• Jindal India is proposing to enhance the capacity of its power plant from 1,200 MW to 1,800 MW with a total investment of Rs8, 000 crore.
• Ind-Bharat is proposing to expand its power project capacity from 700 MW to 1320 MW by adding a 660 MW unit with a total cost of Rs 3300 crore.
• Kalinga Energy, which is now shifting its site from Babuchaki in Sambalpur to Sodamal in Jharsuguda district has also got green signal to enhance the capacity of its power project from 1000 MW to 1320 MW with a total cost of Rs 6500 crore.

Following is an excerpt from a Business Standard report.

The company plans to set up three hydro power projects with a combined capacity of 300 MW at Sindol (Sindol I,II,III) near Dhenkanal in Orissa, said the official.
    
NHPC would be the majority partner in the joint venture with 51 per cent stake and the rest 49 per cent would be held by the Orissa government.
     
Hydro power generation capacity of Orissa stands at 2065.4 MW, Hirakud (331.4 MW), Balimela (360 MW), Rengali (250 MW), Upper Kolab (320 MW), Upper Indravati (600 MW) and Machhkund (54 MW), as per government data.
     
NHPC has a current power generation capacity of 5,322 MW and the company is planning to augment this capacity to about 10,000 MW by the end of the current Five Year Plan Period (2007-12).

Note: As per an earlier report http://www.orissalinks.com/orissagrowth/archives/3423 the exact sites are in Sambalpur and Sonepur districts.

In 20 years (i.e., in 2030) the Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Khurda population would be around 4 million plus. In addition the area would be surrounded by the following cities/towns within 150 kms radius (i.e., about a hour and half away).

• Berhampur-Gopalpur to the south (with a then population of 1.5 million; about 145 kms away)
• Puri to the south (with a then population of 700K; only 30kms away)
• Kalinganagar to the North (with a then population of 500K; only 50 kms away)
• Talcher-Angul to the West (with a then population of 500K; only 110 kms away)
• Dhenkanal to the west (with a then population of 200K and almost in the periphery)
• Paradip to the east (with a then population of 400K and 90 kms away)
• Dhamara-Chandbali to the Northeast (with a then population of 200K and 140 kms away)
• Bhadrak to the North (with a then population of 200K and 140 kms away)

A little farther is

• Balasore-Chandipur to the North (with a then population of 300K and 162 kms away from the Northern end of Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Khurda area)

In addition there will be several port towns other than the ones mentioned above and a few smaller towns (For example, Nayagarh)  within 200km radius of greater Bhubaneswar.

Besides individual CDPs for these areas the Odisha governement should start making plans for this larger overall area. It would form a different kind of megalopolis than New Delhi, Mumbai or Kolkata with a well planned hub (Bhubaneswar) surrounded by mini-hubs and with rural areas in between. I can not off-hand think of another such area in the world; may be the readers can point me to some. Please suggest what kind of plans need to be made. (Please note that for something to be up and running in 20 years, plans need to be made now.) For example:

• Commuter trains at frequent intervals and the necessary infrastructure for that. Following are some of the segments
  • Bhubaneswar-Puri-Konark-Astaranga (Puri-Konark-Astaranga needs to be built; alternatively if Astaranga port comes up, then there may be a new line from Barang to Astaranga)
  • Bhubaneswar-Berhampur-Gopalpur (Berhampur-Gopalpur needs to be built)
  • Bhubaneswar-Jajpur Rd(Kalinganagar)-Bhadrak-Dhamara (Bhadrak-Dhamara is ready but no trains yet)
  • Bhubaneswar-Jajpur Rd(Kalinganagar)-Bhadrak-Balasore-Baripada
  • Bhubaneswar-Jakhapura(Kalinganagar)-Tomka (on the line to Kendujhargarh)
  • Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Paradeep (ready)
  • Bhubaneswar-Dhenkanal-Talcher-Angul (ready)
  • Bhubaneswar-Khurda-Nayagarh and beyond (being constructed; part of Khurda-Balangir)
  • Angul-Talcher-Sukinda-Kalinganagar (being constructed)
• Expressways linking these places
• Fast buses linking these places
• Fast airport shuttle
• Some of these places would be connected by waterways including National Waterway 5
• Express ring road around each of these places
• Co-ordinated public transport in each of these places
• ??

Please let your imagination run wild!

The following is from http://www.iwai.gov.in/mapnw5.htm.

Salient features of National Waterway No. 5 – Brahmani river & Mahanadi delta system along with East Coast Canal (NW-5) Declared as National Waterway 5 (NW 5) on 25.11.2008 Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared by M/s. WAPCOS Length – 588 km. River portion (371 km) Canal portion (217 km) Estimated Cost (at 2009 prices) (i) Cost for development of River portion Rs. 2230 cr (Barrages- 1843 cr) (ii) Cost of development of canal portion Rs. 1979 cr (Dredging- 1273 cr) (iii) Total Cost Rs. 4209 crore Period of Completion – 7 years Land Acquisition: in West Bengal – 846 Ha in Orissa – 1172 Ha required Estimated cost of land acquisition – Rs. 176 Crore Details of dredging River portion – 10.07 million cum Canal portion – 44.77 million cum Barrages To maintain LAD of 2 m in the Brahmani river all through the year, 5 barrages with height equal to the highest flood level are proposed to be constructed at every 26 km between Talcher and Jokadia. Each barrage will have a navigational lock to allow passage of two 500 tonne vessels at a time. Cargo potential Coal from Talcher to Dhamra and Paradip ports is the most important potential cargo for this waterway. Immediately after the development of the waterway, it is estimated in the DPR that about 11 million tonne of cargo can be transported per year which can go up to 23 million tonne in next 15 years or so. EIRR River portion 31.77% Canal portion 12.75% Rive and canal together 23.75% For Executive Summary of DPR click here

Following is from a report in Financial Express.

Work on acquisition of land and obtaining of clearances for the twin-site Rs 9,000 crore RSB Metaltech Ltd’s project involving bauxite mining and setting up an alumina refinery unit at Rayagada and a 0.7 million tonne per annum (mtpa) smelter unit plus a 500 MW power plant to be set up at Kamakshyanagar in Dhenkanal in Orissa, are progressing satisfactorily.

… The company intends to transport processed alumina from its Raigada plant to Kamakshyanagar in railway rakes.

“Work on land acquisition as well as environmental clearance has already started; the Orissa government has given final clearance to 1,520 acres of land for the Raygada project and 1,546 acres for the Kamakshyanagar project”, said RSB Metaltech managing director S K Behera, speaking to FE.

The company had applied to the state government for around 3,000 acres of land for each of the sites.

Initial environmental clearance for the project, as well as clearances from the railways, and for water for the plants from the state government has also been obtained.

…  as per the MoU with the Orissa government, RSB Metaltech has entered into a joint venture with Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) for bauxite mining and an alumina refinery at Rayagada.

Simultaneously, the company is to set up a 0.7 mtpa capacity smelter plant at Kamakshyanagar which would feed aluminium metal to the 50-odd downstream units that are to come up and which would be manufacturing construction products, auto components like cylinder head, cylinder block, gear box, clutch housing, etc.

Both the Kamakshyanagar and Rayagada units which are expected to become fully operational in five years’ time would together be able to give employment to around 12,000 people, said Behera.

“We will like to invite certain companies to use the hot metal (aluminium) available with us, who will immediately process it (the hot metal) to make auto components and other products and thus save on cost”, said the RSB Transmissions managing director, adding that while some of the downstream units would be fully owned by the RSB group, several others including a number of export-oriented units would be on joint venture basis.

Following is from a report by Bishnu Das in Business Standard.

The Orissa government has approved nine more solar power projects with an aggregate generation capacity of 57 Mw.

The State Technical Committee (STC), headed by the secretary in the science and technology department, cleared these projects recently.

With this, the total envisaged solar power capacity in the state has gone up to 351 Mw from 294 Mw earlier.

Projects with an aggregate generation capacity of 45 Mw were approved under the Bundling Scheme for Solar Power Plants of the Union ministry of New and Renewable Energy Sources (MNRE). Similarly projects of 12 Mws were approved under the Generation Based Incentive Scheme for Roof Top and Small Solar Generation of the Central sector utility major, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC).

The projects approved under the Bundling scheme included Skygen Infrabuild (P) Ltd (5 Mw), Rajratna Energy Holdings (10 Mw), MGM Minerals (5 Mw), Konark Kranti Energy (P) Ltd (5 Mw) and Sunark Solar (P) Ltd (20 Mw).

Skygen Infrabuild plans to set up a 5 Mw solar power project in Khurda district. Similarly, Rajratna Energy Holdings is interested to set up 10 Mw solar power plant in Dhenkanal district.

While the solar plants of MGM Minerals and Sunark Solar would come up in Khurda district, Konark Kranti Energy proposes to locate its unit Dhenkanal district.

On the other hand, four projects cleared under the Roof Top and Small Solar Generation scheme of NTPC included 3 Mw plant of Sunark Solar (Khurda district), 3 Mw project of Abacus Holdings (Ganjam district), 3 Mw project of Orion Solar Projects (Cuttack district) and 3 Mw plant of Skygen Infrabuild (Khurda district).

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• A 2006 NEERI report.

Following is an excerpt from a PTI report.

the state-run power major NTPC is set to pump in over Rs 55,000 crore for additional capacity generation of 9,320mw by setting up two new plants and expanding the existing Talcher plant.

"Over Rs 55,000 crore will be invested in Orissa for new projects at Dadripali in Sundargarh district and Gajmara in the Dhenkanal-Angul belt and to expand the Talcher plant," NTPC regional executive director for East & North IB Pandey told reporters here today.

While the Dadripali plant, to be built in three phases, would have a capacity of 4,800mw with six units, the 3,200mw Gajmara plant would be set up in two stages, he said, adding land for them are likely to be available in about six months.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard by Bishnu Das.

To meet the infrastructure needs of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) on a priority basis, the Orissa government has reserved 20 per cent of the area in all industrial estates, industrial parks, industrial corridors and land banks for such units.

Further, the state-owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (Idco) will promote new exclusive zones for MSMEs in all major industrial hubs of the state.

The locations where exclusive industrial parks will be promoted include Kalinganagar, Barbil, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Dhenkanal, Rourkela, Baragarh, Balasore, Dhamara, Gopalpur, Chhatrapur, Raygada, Kalahandi and Choudwar.

Such exclusive zones will also come up near the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the state.

… The government has also decided that wherever land is provided to large and medium industries, 10 per cent of the land, subject to a maximum limit of 200 acres, will be earmarked for setting up MSMEs. This will facilitate the setting up of ancillary and downstream units, preferably in cluster mode, a source added.

… Sources said that Common Facility Centres (CFCs), to be set up by the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) constituted for the MSME clusters, would be entitled for allotment of land free of cost at various locations in the state.

… To provide assured sources of raw material for such units, the Orissa Small Industries Corporation (OSIC) and the National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) will set up raw material banks.

The two organisations will act as nodal agencies for MSMEs and public sector resource companies will accord priority to OSIC and NSIC in supply of raw materials, which will be made available to MSMEs at the lowest possible rate.

1. Economic Times on 3 more terminal markets in Odisha:

Orissa government will provide four terminal market yards to enable the farmers to sell their produce at market prices…. One of the terminal has already been constructed at Sambalpur with an investment

of Rs 86 crore and three others are coming up at Cuttack, Berhampur and Rourkela,…

2. Business Standrad on MOU with five IPPs for 4800 MW power:

The cumulative capacity of these projects would be 4800 Mw and the total investment is envisaged to be Rs 23203.52 crore.

With this, the total power generation projected in the state would increase to 31100 Mw from 26300 Mw earlier.The Orissa government has already inked MoUs with 21 IPPs with an aggregate generation capacity of 26,300 Mw earlier.

… Five companies who signed the MoU included BGR Energy System, JR Powergen Private Ltd, Adhunik Power and Natural Resources Ltd, Maa Durga Thermal Power Company Ltd and Vijaya Ferro and Power Private Ltd.

JR Powergen Private Ltd would set up a 1980 Mw thermal power plant at Kishorenagar near Angul at an investment of Rs 7988 crore. BGR Energy Systems Ltd also plans to set up a 1320 Mw power plant at Bhapur in Nayagarh district at an investment of Rs 6287 crore.

Similarly, Adhunik Power and Natural Resources Ltd would set up a 1320 Mw power plant at Birmaharajpur in Sonepur district entailing an investment of Rs 8079.74 crore. All these proposals were cleared by the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) chaired by the chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

On the other hand, Maa Durga Thermal Power would set up a 60 Mw ((2x30Mw) power plant at Tangi in Cuttack district, involving an investment of Rs 296.95 crore. Besides, Vijaya Ferro and Power Private Ltd, planning to set up a 120 Mw power plant (IPP) at an investment of Rs 550 crore at Kesinga (Turla Khamar) in Kalahandi district.

The total land requirement for these projects have been assessed at 4360 acres and about 22,325 direct and indirect employment opportunities are expected to be created when these projects would be fully commissioned. Three projects namely BGR Energy System, JR Powergen Private Ltd, Adhunik Power and Natural Resources Ltd would source water from the Mahanadi river system, Maa Durga Thermal Power would draw water from Birupa river.Vijaya Ferro and Power plans to source water from Tel river.

3. Hindu on preliminary bids for UMPP at Bedabahal:

the government was likely to invite preliminary bids for the 4,000-MW Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) at Bedabahal in Orissa by April 30.

The request for qualification (RSQ) for the project may be issued by April 30.

This Bedabahal project would be the sixth UMPP project. The government has already awarded four UMPPs, of which three — Sasan in Madhya Pradesh, Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Tilaiya in Jharkhand — have been bagged by Reliance Power.

4. Sify on 595 crores for waterbody upgrade:

As many as 1817 water bodies, mostly the minor irrigation projects (MIPs) in 20 districts of Orissa, would be revitalized under the Centrally sponsored scheme of Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies.

These water bodies would be revitalized within a period of three years at an estimated cost of Rs 595.14 crore.

The funding for these projects would be shared between the Government of India and the Orissa government in the ratio of 90:10 for the Maoist infested, drought prone and backward districts of Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput (KBK).

For the other districts, the share between the Centre and the state government will be 25 per cent and 75 per cent respectively.

While the design ayacut of all 1817 projects was 2, 48,545.86 hectares, the irrigation potential of an additional 89,110.02 hectares of land would be revived through these projects, sources said.

Most of these projects under the RRR scheme are being taken up in south Orissa’s Ganjam district. About 800 projects under the scheme are to be taken up in the district at a cost of Rs 250.87 crore.

… Apart from Ganjam and KBK, the other districts where the scheme will be implemented are Bargarh, Bolangir, Gajapati, Jajpur, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Koraput, Mayurbhanaj, Nabarangapur, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Rayagada, Sambalpur, Sundargarh, Balasore, Malkanagiri, Subarnapur, Deogarh and Dhenkanal.

The pilot project for this scheme was implemented for 137 projects in Ganjam and Gajapati districts at a cost of Rs 18.84 crore during 2005-06 to 2008-09.

5. Hindu on Japan giving 150 crores for an irrigation project:

Japan will also give … over Rs 150 crore for Rengali irrigation project in Orissa.

6. Hospitalitbizindia on a mega food park at Malipada, Khurda:

Government of India is likely to set up a mega food park and a marine food park at Malipara near Khurda in Orissa with an area of 282 acres. This information was given by Subodh Kant Sahai, Union Minister for Food Processing while responding to a demand raised by Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister, Orissa at the Orissa Investors meet 2010.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard by Nageshwar Patnaik.

… All these projects will create employment opportunity for nearly six thousand people

The investment proposal includes setting up of five new thermal power projects and expansion of two existing power plants.

.. The new power projects cleared by the committee include 3200 MW plant National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) at Dharanipali in Sundergarh district (Rs 18,000 crore), 2000 MW plant by Orissa Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL) at Rengali (Rs 8,250 crore), 1320 MW plant by BGR at Bhapur in Nayagarh district (Rs 6,300 crore), 1980 MW plant by JR Power Gen Private Limited at Bainda in Angul district (Rs 8,000 crore) and 1320 MW plant by Adhunik Power Company Limited at Birmaharjpur in Sonepur district (Rs 8000 crore)

The existing projects which were given permission to go for expansion are Chambal Infrastructure Limited (from 1200 MW to 1320 MW and GMR Limited (1050 MW to 1400 MW).

Chambal Infrastructure Limited – which has its plants at Siria in Dhenkanal district will invest Rs 5000 crore while GMR Limited will put in Rs 6000 crore at its Kamalanga plant in the same district.

Bishnu Das’s article in Business Standard lists many of the solar and biomass power unit projects that are in the pipeline in Odisha. Following are some excerpts.

Solar power units:

• 5 Mw power plant of RSB Energy Pvt Ltd in Sundergarh district
• Enzen Global Solutions’s 5 Mw solar power plant in Khurda district
• Lanco Solar’s 5 Mw solar plant in Cuttack district
• Sunark Solar’s 5 Mw power plant in Puri district
• Kolkata based SREI Infrastructure’s 5 Mw solar power plant in Bolangir district
• Moserbaer Pvt Ltd’s 5 Mw grid interactive solar photo voltaic project
• Sahara India’s 5 Mw solar power plant

Biomass power units:

• Rice husk based power plant being set up by Shali Vahana Green Energy Ltd at Nimidha village in Dhenkanal district
• Satya Bio-Power Industry Ltd planning to set up a 10 Mw plant in Ganjam
• A V N Power Projects setting up a 10 Mw power plant in Kalahandi district
• Prasad Bio-Energy planning a 10 Mw unit in Raygada
• Jay Laxmi Bio-Energy Ltd intends to set up a 10 Mw unit in Nayagarh
• Another plant of similar capacity is proposed by Andhavarapu Bio-Energy in Nawarangpur

Following is from Samaja.

Following ad is from Orissa Business Blog.

Update: Following are some additional details from a report in Pioneer.

• Amtech Auto Engineering would set up the complex at an investment of Rs 15,820 crore near Tangi- Choudwar. It would set up a two million tonne steel plant and 500 MW captive power plant in the complex. With this about 33,000 people will get both direct and indirect employment.

  It may be mentioned here that Jamsedpur-based RSB Trasmissions (I) Ltd, one of India’s leading auto components manufacturers, is coming up with an auto complex at Mania in Cuttack. RSB Transmission will invest Rs 430 crore in the project.

• The committee also approved JK Cement‘s one million tonne capacity plant on the road between Athagrah and Choudwar.
• BOC would set up an air separation plant at an investment of Rs 434 crore in Rourkela. It would produce oxygen, nitrogen and argons.
• Bijaya Ferro Power Private Limited would set up a power plant at Keshinga in Kalahandi with an investment of Rs 550 crore. It would take water from Tel river to produce 120 MW power.
• Ind-Bharat’s proposal to enhance its power production capacity has also got the nod of the committee. It would set up its plant at Jharsuguda with an investment of Rs 3,300 crore.
• Facor would set up its captive power plant at Rahandia near Bhadrak.
• Due to shortage of water, few plants have also changed their sites. Odisha Cement Power Plant (OCL) has shifted its plant site from Mania to Rajgangpur.
• Jinadal Stainless Steel would set up its plant in Luni instead of Gajatara in Dhenkanal.
• Kalinga Energy Power Limited would set up its plant at Jharsuguda instead of Sambalpur.
• Scwal Brewage would set up its plant at Baranga instead of Choudwar at a cost of Rs 193 crore.
• The Rs 1,320 crore Sahara Power project has shifted its plant to Ghantabahal from Turul.
• German-based Gaunteman Pipery would set up its plant beneficiation plant and pelatisation plant. The beneficiation plant would come up at Barbil and the pelatisation plant at Dhamra. Around 1,605 crore would be invested in the project.
• Aditya Alumina’s proposal to enhance its production from one million tonne to 1.5 million tonne. It would also enhance its power plant from 650 MW to 900 MW.

Following is an excerpt from Orissadiary.

The projects of Adhunic Metalics and Jindal Stainless Steel at Sundargarh and Kalinganagar, respectively have been approved. The SWCLC has also given its green signal for an air-separation plant. Projects, involving Vijay Ferrochorme and Power Pvt Ltd and Adhunic Power plant have been cleared.

Amtech Metals would establish the integrated auto-complex, first of its kind in the state. Moreover, an auto-park, steel and power plant would also be established in the complex. The cost of the entire project has been pegged at Rs 15,820 crore. All the projects are expected to provide direct and indirect employment opportunities to nearly 47,000 and 1.5 lakh people, respectively apart from bolstering the socio-economic conditions in those regions where the proposed projects would come up, state Industries Secretary, Sourabh Garg said.

Tathya has some details on the Adhunik group’s project. Following are some excerpts:

Adhunik Power & Natural Resources Limited (APNRL) has proposed to invest Rs.3883.40 crore for the 4×250 MW power plant in Birmaharajpur in Sonepur district.

… Adhunik Metaliks Limited (AML), another member of the Group has proposed to set up Down Stream Park for stainless and special products with an investment of Rs.286 crore.  … downstream industries in hot-rolling, cold-rolling utensils, kitchen and hardware.  AML has also proposed for stainless steel pipes and alloys, which received the nod.
The park will be set up at Kumarmunda in a 300 acre area in Sundargarh district.

AML is setting up steel plant at Kumarmunda with a capacity of 0.41 million ton per annum (MTPA).

Tathya has also some details on the JSL project. Following are some excerpts.

JSL Limited posed a proposal to set up a Super Critical Thermal Power Station of 1320 (660X2) megawatt capacity, which has been cleared in the meeting. The Rs.4090 crore Greenfield project will be set up at Luni in Dhenkanal district.

Most importantly JSL, which is setting up a 3.20 million ton per annum (MTPA) capacity stainless steel plant at Kalinga Nagar has proposed to set up Stainless Steel Park (SEZ) with an investment of Rs.740 crore.  … The park will promote auto components, kitchen & life style, light engineering, white goods, cold rolling, pipes and tubes, and service centre. 300 acres of land for the park is needed for the park, which will have man power requirement of more than 2000, said sources. JSL plant is likely to produce stainless steel by end of 2010 and the park is also to be completed by the same time reveal the SLSWCA Report.

The above two downstream park proposals are most likely due to the recent government focus on those aspects, before giving mining leases. The govt. needs to make sure that the down stream parks indeed materialize as proposed.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Update: Biswarup Basu in an IRFCA posting pointed out that based on the current schedule this train is  competitive with the 8005/06 Koraput-Howrah Express; 1 hr 5 minutes faster towards Howrah and 15 minutes slower in the other direction.  So many may not mind traveling end-to-end on this train. He thinks there is enough traffic to introduce a daily train in this route.

East Coast Railway is running eight pairs of a special train between Sambalpur and Howrah via Angul. Following is its schedule.

From end-to-end connectivity point of view the path taken by this train is longer than the regular Sambalpur-Rourkela-HWH path.

• SBP – Howrah : 563 kms
• SBP – Kapilas Rd (273-15 = 258) + Kapilas Rd – HWH 396  = 654 kms

However, this train would give a direct connection between Howrah and places like Angul, Talcher and Dhenkanal. A train in this route with different times and more stops could also provide direct and useful connection between Sambalpur/Redhakhol/Angul/Talcher/Dhenkanal and Jajpur Rd/Bhadrakh/Balasore.  Perhaps ECOR is exploring a regular train in this route. 

Update: Aug 18, 2009 – As Dilip comments below the train should start its maiden run any day now.

Dilip Mohanty writes the following in an IRFCA posting:

The much awaited Rourkela-Bhubaneswar Express (declared in the current budget in an addition to the 57 new trains) remains a mystery. A leading local daily named "SAMBAD" has reoprted that the train will start within a few weeks and the Railways Authorities at Rourkela have already received an additional time table for this train. It reports that the train will depart Rourkela at morning 05:15 hours and reach Bhubaneswar at 13:15 hours in the afternoon. After a stay of about 30 minutes at Bhubaneswar, it will depart at 13:45 hours and reach Rourkela at 21:45 hours(an expected Superfast). This train is supposed to be operated by South Eastern Railway.

This train will bring up some new convenient 1-change connections.

• From Bhubaneswar (BBS) to Mumbai: Using this train one can go to Jharsuguda (JSG) and then take Gitanjali that leaves JSG at 21:43. 2860 Gitanjali Express reaches Mumbai CSTM at 21:30 the next day. The total time from BBS to CSTM would be 31 hrs 45 minutes, much less than 1020 Konark which takes 36 hrs 40 mins. The weeklies 2146 and 2880 take 32hrs 15mins and 30hrs 15mins respectively.
• From Mumbai to Bhubaneswar: 2859 Gitanjali leaves CSTM at 6:00 and reaches JSG the next day at 04:25. One can then take the above Rourkela – Bhubaneswar Express to reach Bhubaneswar at 13:15. The total time from CSTM to BBS would be 31hrs and 15 mins.
• From Rourkela to Secunderabad: Using this train one can go from Rourkela to Bhubaneswar and then take Konark to go to Secunderabad. Konark leaves Bhubaneswar at 15:15 and reaches Secunderabad the next day at 11:35. The total time from Rourkela to Secunderabad would be 30hrs 20 mins. (One can take Falaknuma that leaves BBSR at 14:05 instead of Konark; but the connection time would be much less making it risky.)
• From Secunderabad to Rourkela: 2704 Falaknuma leaves Secunderabad at 16:00 and reaches BBS the next day at 10:40. One can then take the BBS-ROU Express to Rourkela to reach ROU at 21:45. The total duartion will be 29 hrs and 45 mins.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Steelguru.

… Orissa Government, in its bid to encourage power generation from waste has given its accord to 8 bio mass based power projects with a combined generation capacity of 90 MW by private developers.

The proposed projects are likely to be set up in Raygada, Nawarangpur, Ganjam, Nayagarh, Khurda, Dhenkanal and Puri districts. The cost per MW of power is expected to be between INR 4.5 crore to INR 5 crore depending on the location and evacuation facilities.

Moreover, the Sali Vahana Green Energy is planning to set up a 20 MW bio mass based power plant in Dhenkanal and Satya bio power Industry, a 10 MW plant in Ganjam. Prasad bio energy plans to set up a 10 MW unit in Raygada. While Jaylaxmi bio energy Limited to set up a 10 MW unit in Nayagarh another plant of similar capacity by Andhavarapu bio energy is likely to come up in Nawarangpur. Sampath Power Projects and Falcon Green Energy propose 10 MW capacity units each in Khurda and Puri respectively.

Following is excerpted from a report in Business Standard.

Though Orissa has 183 million tonnes of chrome ore, constituting 98 per cent of the total chrome deposits in the country, only 3.27 per cent of this, which comes to about 6 million tonne, has been fully explored till date.

To expedite the exploration and exploitation of chrome reserves in the state, the government has granted mining leases to 15 companies including Ferro Alloys Corporation (Facor) and Balasore Alloys.

Of the total chrome reserves in Orissa, Sukinda area in Jajpur district has the lion’s share of 173 million tonne (mt). This includes low grade chrome.

The places in Sukinda where the chrome deposits are found are Kamarda (2 mt), Saruabili (9 mt), Sukrangi (7.5 mt), Kaliapani (25 mt), Bhimatanger (98 mt), Kalarangi (0.5 mt) and Chingudipal and Tailangi (13 mt).

Out of the total deposits found in Sukinda area, 18 million tonne are of inferior quality, says the state steel and mines minister, Raghunath Mohanty said.

The Kamakshyanagar in Dhenkanal district, which adjoins Sukinda valley, has about 4.42 million tonne reserve of chromite in locations like Sandhasar, Tulasiposhi, Haladigunda and Kathapal. The estimated reserves at Kathapal are 2 million tonne.

Mohanty said, the total chromite reserve of the state is estimated at 183 million tonne, out of which 177.42 million tonne occur in Sukinda and Kamakshyanagar area.

Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

The State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) headed by the chief secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy today cleared five projects worth Rs 2807.7 crore.

…out of the 12 proposals considered by SLSWCA, the proposal of Bhubneswar Power Private Ltd for setting up of a 2X67.5 Mw CPP was deferred. The energy department has been asked to consider the proposal from the policy point of view.

Two major investment proposals by Vedanta Aluminium Ltd (VAL) and Hindalco Industries were partially approved in today’s meeting due to non-availability of bauxite and pending the environmental carrying capacity study by the Orissa State Pollution Control Board.

VAL had proposed to expand the capacity of its refinery at Lanjigarh from one million tonne per annum (MTPA) to 6 MTPA and the smelter plant capacity from 0.25 MTPA to 1.6 MTPA. Besides, the capacity of the CPP was proposed to be raised from 674 Mw to 1350 Mw with a combined investment of Rs 37,440 crore.

The company had signed MoU with the Orissa government for the present capacity at an investment of Rs 12,400 crore. However, SLSWCA only recommended for a smelter capacity of 0.5 MTPA as the company had already achieved this level. It also approved the capacity expansion of the CPP to 1350 Mw as sought by the company. The additional smelting capacity will be considered only after ascertaining the availability of bauxite and receipt of the OSPCB study on environment. Similarly, Hindalco Industries Ltd (Aditya Aluminium) had proposed to expand its alumina refinery capacity to 1.5 MTPA from 1 MTPA at present.

Along with this, the company also sought expansion of its smelting capacity to 0.72 MTPA from 0.26 MTPA and increase in the CPP capacity to 1650Mw from 650 Mw.

SLSWCA has decided to recommend a marginal increase in the smelting capacity from 0.26 MTPA to 0.36 MTPA and CPP capacity from 650 Mw to 950 Mw to the HLCA.

It also put conditional approval to the proposal of the Tata Sponge Iron Ltd. to set up a 1.5 MTPA steel making capacity along with a 52 Mw CPP at an investment of Rs 3101 crore. While the existing sponge capacity of the company is 0.39 MTPA, it had sought to expand its capacity by 0.45 MTPA to 0.84 MTPA.

Similarly, the company proposed to set up one MTPA blast furnace and 1.6 MTPA pellet plant in a separate location in Keonjhar district. It will have to increase the steel making capacity first and after that the increase in the sponge making capacity will be allowed.

The other projects which were approved include 4 MTPA iron ore beneficiation plant at an investment of Rs 360.85 crore to be set up by Kolkata based Rashmi Metaliks at Nayagarh in Keonjhar district.

Similarly, the Rs 624.7 crore investment proposal of Rungta mines, Shyam Steel Industries proposal for setting up 2 MTPA iron ore pelletisation plant were cleared by the SLSWCA. Besides, the Toshali Cement’s proposal to expand its capacity to 2100 tonne per day from 600 tonne per day along with 3.96 lakh tonne per annum grinding unit at Choudwar was also approved.

The proposal of Orissa Thermal Power Corporation, a joint venture between Orissa Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) and Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) to set up 2000 MW power plant at Rengali at an investment of Rs 8250 crore also received the nod of the committee.

Jindal India Thermal Power’s proposal to increase the capacity from 1200 Mw to 1800 mw and Lanco Bhawan Power’s proposal to increase its capacity to 2640 Mw from 1230 Mw were approved for recommendation to the HLCA on the basis of strong recommendation of the energy department.

In another significant decision, SLSWCA decided not to allow any more cement plant in the state except Malkangiri district as the state does not have sufficient amount of limestone.