Thousands of endangered Olive Ridley turtles have begun mass nesting on the coast of eastern Orissa state, home to the world’s largest nesting site for the turtles, officials said on Wednesday.
Over 20,000 turtles came ashore for mass-nesting early on Wednesday, within a two-kilometre stretch from the mouth of the Rushikulya river in Ganjam district, a local forest department official said.
The Rushikulya river mouth is around 175 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar.
For more than a decade, the beach at the Rushikulya river mouth has been witnessing mass arrival of the endangered Olive Ridley turtles. But the turtles did not land here last year, the official said.
… There are three mass nesting sites of turtles in Orissa: Nasi Islands in Gahirmatha, Devi river mouth and Rushikulya river mouth.
… The Rushikulya river mouth is the only place along the coast where turtles are safe from marauding trawlers, said Biswajit Mohanty, secretary of the NGO Wildlife Society of Orissa.
… the state government signing three fresh MoUs for setting up units, taking the total proposed capacity of output to 75.66 mtpa, involving a total investment of nearly Rs 2,00,000 crore, official sources said.
With this, the number of MoUs for establishment of steel units touched 49, including 11 for mega projects. Besides MoUs with the largest steel maker in the world Arcelor-Mittal and South Korean gaint Posco, the government had signed agreements with domestic firms such as Jindal, Tata Steel and others for mega projects.
All the MoUs were signed during the last six years, they said, adding 26 steel projects had already become partially operational while the mega ones were facing land acquisition problem.
The production capacity so far achieved by these companies was 3.96 mtpa in sponge iron, 0.45 mtpa of pig iron and 3.32 mtpa of steel, besides 308 mw captive power plant.
said the three companies would produce one million tonne of steel per annum.
The companies which signed MoUs are Pradhan Steel and Power Private Limited, Atha Mines Private Limited and Tecton Ispat Private Limited.
While Pradhan Steel proposes to set up a 0.50 mtpa steel plant in over 460 acre land with an investment of Rs 606 crore at Dhurusia in Cuttack district, Atha Mines would set up a 0.25 mtpa capacity unit at an investment of Rs 291.60 crore at Tarkabeda in Dhenkanal district. Tecton Ispat would set up a 0.25 mtpa steel unit over 150 acre of land at an investment of Rs 227.13 crore at Tarkebeda in Dhenkanal district.
The meeting …accepted two out of the eight project proposals.
The meeting decided that the state government would seek necessary environmental clearance from the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) before giving the nod to any proposal for new thermal plants in the Angul-Talcher belt.
Briefing newsmen after the meeting, industry secretary Ashok Dalwai said that state government had asked the IBM to make a detailed study on the environmental sustainability of the Angul-Talcher areas.
He said that the meeting, while discussing about the setting up of a number of thermal plants in the state also took note of the searing heat in this industrial belt during summer.
The Committee gave its nod to Jindal Photo Ltd’s proposal to enhance its power production capacity from 1,000 MT to 1,200 MT in its proposed plant at Angul.
The SLSWCC also approved the Well Spun Power and Steel Ltd’s proposal to set up its ore beneficiation and pelletisation plant at Dhamra.
The company aims to produce ductile iron and spiral iron from this plant, for which Rs 1,830 crore would be invested.
The company has asked the state government to arrange 2,000 acres of land.
The state government will scrutinise the land requirement proposal. The company had earlier inked an MoU with the state government to set up a 3-MT plant at Angul.
Swosti Travels,…, recently introduced jungle safaris at Bhitarkanika and Simlipal sanctuaries in Orissa. According to S Patnaik, General Manager, Swosti Group, the seven-day-package includes stay at diverse locations, interaction with local artisans, forest explorations, animal rides, etc.
"We have roped in private players running eco camps, forest cottages and cruise liners for the project, as we wanted it to be on par with its international counterparts. To begin with, we had to get the requisite clearance from the forest and the tourism departments of the state in terms of the safety and security measures," said Patnaik, as he went on to add that the packages were already being promoted at international fairs and festivals.
Bhitarkanika is the second largest mangrove ecosystem in India, whereas the Simlipal National Park boasts of several scenic spots such as Barehipani and Joranda waterfalls.
Ferro Alloys Corporation Limited (FACOR), one of India’s largest producers and exporters of ferro alloys, is going to expand its integrated plant at a cost of Rs 2,700 cr in Orissa.
The company has initiated an ambitious expansion plan of setting up two power plants and a Stainless Steel Plant (SSP) in Orissa for which a consultancy has also been appointed.
The FACOR group is planning to set up the power plant for its own consumption. A 45 MW coal-based captive power plant is to be set up for Bhadrak near Randia of Orissa at a cost of Rs 180 crore.
The power plant work is scheduled to be completed by 2009 for which the FACOR group has inked a financial tie-up with Rural Electrical Corporation, New Delhi.
Another 250 MW coal-based power plant and a five lakh tpa SSP are also being planned to be set up to the tune of Rs 2,500 crore at Orissa. The expansion works will be completed by 2011.
… According to Ashim, for the Rs 2,500 crore 250 MW power plant and SSP, Rs 1,700 crore would be the debt component while Rs 400 crore would come from internal sources and another Rs 400 crore raised from a partner.
“We are looking for a strategic business partner either in the form of investment or through technological support,” he said.
Dharitri has a nice article on the golden future of Dhamara. Following are some of the major projects involving Dhamara. My prediction is that in 10-15 years the Chandbali-Dhamara-Bhitarakanika area will be a beautiful metropolitan area next to a national park. (See top right in this map.)
The State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) has paved the way for the first shipyard project in Orissa.
… Presenting the case Ashok Dalwai, Secretary Industries the project will provide jobs for 41,000 people.
The Bharati Shipyard Limited (BSL), a major private shipyard and the Apeejay Surendra Group, an industrial conglomerate have joined hands to set up the-State-of-the-art shipbuilding yard and ship repair yard project at Dhamra in Orissa.
The mega shipyard project will entail an investment of Rs.2200 crore in 3 phases.
Easy availability of raw material like steel, large number of skilled, unskilled man power and above all the proactive government policies dotted with positive environment for investors are creating conducive atmosphere for a mega shipyard in the state.
The requirement of steel in shipbuilding and repairing has been projected as in the first phase it will be up to 75,000 MT per annum, while in second phase it will go up to 2,30,000 MT.
In the final phase the steel requirement will go up to 4, 50,000 MT said the source.
The proposed site has been identified near the Dhamra Port, where out of 1500 acres surveyed 1050 acre of land has been provisionally selected for the mega shipyard.
Milestones set up for the project envisages that Master Plan will be ready in the next year and construction of the shipyard will begin in mid of 2008.
The Joint venture promoters feel that the project will complete its first phase construction in early 2009 to begin commercial production by middle of the year.
The company has also plans to set up an ITI neared to the project site to provide technical training to local youth to enable them to get related jobs in the project.
The State Government of Orissa has asked for Rs. 23 crores from Ministry of Environment & Forests to save the coastal areas of the State from losses due to sea tide. As per the information made available by the National Disaster Management Authority, the Government of India has formulated a National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP) to be implemented with World Bank assistance. One of the investment proposals received under the Project from Government of Orissa is on “Shelterbelt Plantation” in Balasore, Bhadrakh, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada Districts at a total cost of about Rs.23 crore. The Project is yet to be posed to the World Bank for their appraisal and funding.
The Government of India has issued a Coastal Regulation Zone Notification in 1991 delineating the coastal areas into different zones and listing out permissible and non permissible activities. The activities which are permissible are appraised by duly constituted expert committee, wherever necessary, and decisions are taken such that environmental balance in the coastal areas are harmonized with activities taking place in that area.
This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Shri S. Regupathy in a written reply to question in the Rajya Sabha today.
… The tsunami travel time atlas, published by IIT, Kharagpur, has identified Orissa coast to be prone to tsunami, said state disaster management minister Manmohan Samal.
… 328 villages situated within 1.5km of the coastline in six coastal districts have been identified as tsunami-prone, said the minister.
While 63 villages of Balasore district have been identified as tsunami-prone, 41 villages in neighbouring Bhadrak district have been enlisted as vulnerable.
Similarly, 64 sea-side villages of Kendrapara district, 28 coastal villages of Jagatsinghpur district, 88 villages of Puri and 44 villages of Ganjam district have been identified as prone to tsunami.
…Giving details of National Tsunami Early Warning System, the expert said Orissa was covered under the network.
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik … We have identified tsunami-prone villages and habitations and are taking steps to increase awareness of the general public on tsunami safety tips,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Orissa State Disaster Mitigation Authority (OSDMA) had organised a workshop on October 30-31 to train the trainers on tsunami. Around 30 high school teachers teaching and science were sensitised.
Orissa is all set to have a shipbuilding factory at Charidiha near Dhamra mouth in Bhadrak district of the State. It will be the first such private sector venture in eastern India.
The Apeejay Surrendra Group and Bharati Shipyard Limited would set up the ultra-modern ship-manufacturing factory jointly with an investment of Rs 2,200 crore.
The factory will have both ship-manufacturing as well as repairing facilities. The project would create job opportunity for 41000 people directly and indirectly. …
Work on the project will commence in middle of 2008 and the same would be implemented in three phases to be completed by the end of 2013.
The growth taking place in the steel sector in Orissa would be of great helping for the shipbuilding factory.
In the first phase, 75000 tonnes of steel will be used for establishing the ship making factory. In the second phase, the project will require 2,30,000 tonnes of steel, and 4,50,000 tonnes in the third phase.
The government said that the company would also set up an industrial training centre at Dhamra area to train its prospective employees.
Dhamra has already been news as the Dhamra Port Company Limited (DPCL), a joint venture of L&T and Tata Steel, has already started groundwork for setting up of a deep port at the Dhamra mouth.
…
The Apeejay Surrendra Group has also expressed its willingness to set up a research and design centre and a Knowledge Park at Bhubaneswar, the government said.
The Knowledge Park would have a school as well as higher education on subjects such as business management, hotel management, fashion designing, food technology, and nutrition science and nautical science.
… the Bharati Shipyard Limited (BSL), a major private shipyard and the Apeejay Surendra Group, an industrial conglomerate have joined hands to set up the-State-of-the-art shipbuilding yard and ship repair yard project at Dhamra in Orissa.
The mega shipyard project will entail an investment of Rs.2200 crore in 3 phases.
Employment opportunities in this labor intensive industry will be 41,000 in the third phase, reveals the proposal submitted to the State Government.
… Revealing the strength of the state over others, the promoter said that easy availability of raw material like steel, availability of large number of skilled, unskilled man power and above all the proactive government policies dotted with positive environment for investors are creating conducive atmosphere for a mega shipyard in the state.
The requirement of steel in shipbuilding and repairing has been projected as in the first phase it will be up to 75,000 MT per annum, while in second phase it will go up to 2,30,000 MT.
In the final phase the steel requirement will go up to 4, 50,000 MT said the source.
… The proposed site has been identified near the Dhamra Port, where out of 1500 acres surveyed 1050 acre of land has been provisionally selected for the mega shipyard.
According to implementation schedule the promoters have decided to go for Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Government of Orissa in the month of October.
Once MOU in place than other activities will follow, said the source.
Rehabilitation Plan will be taken up in accordance with the present Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy of the State Government.
… Milestones set up for the project envisages that Master Plan will be ready in the next year and construction of the shipyard will begin in mid of 2008.
The Joint venture promoters feel that the project will complete its first phase construction in early 2009 to begin commercial production by middle of the year.
The Government accorded approval for undertaking six laning of 6,500 km of National Highways comprising 5,700 km of Golden Quadrilateral and balance 800 km on other sections, under National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase-V.As per the approved implementation mechanism for NHDP Phase-V, stretches of 100 km or more that have been completed at least two years ago and contractual actions on previous contracts have been completed, are being included in the year-wise programme.Where the distance between two cities is less than 100 km, such stretches are also being included as exception cases.Cost per km has been estimated as Rs. 6.34 crore.
List of proposed stretches of National Highways in different states under NHDP Phase-V is given below:
Feasibility report for seven stretches have been completed by the technical consultants and detailed is given below:
STATUS OF FEASIBILITY REPORT FOR SEVEN STRETCHES UNDER NHDP PHASE-V.
Sl. No.
Stretch
NH No.
Length
(in km)
Cost per km
(in crore)
1
Panipat-Jalandhar
1
291.100
7.55
2
Gurgaon-Kotputli-Jaipur
8
225.600
6.72
3
Surat-Dahisar
8
239.000
5.67
4
Chilkaluripet-Vijayawada
5
82.500
6.55
5
Chennai-Tada
5
43.400
7.71
6
Chandikhole-Jagatpur-Bhubaneswar
5
67.000
15.39
7
Delhi-Hapur
24
52.000
10.36
Total 203 firms have applied for pre-qualification for eight stretches under NHDP Phase-V.
NHDP Phase-V is scheduled for completion by December, 2012.Estimated civil construction cost for Gurgaon-Kotputli-Jaipur of 225 km is Rs. 1517 crores.The likely time period for completion is 30 months from the appointed date.
This information was givenby the Minister of State for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Shri K.H. Muniyappa in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.
Six laning of 6,500 km of National Highways comprising 5,700 km of GoldenQuadrilateral and 800 km of other sections on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis following, Design, Build, Finance and Operate (DBFO) pattern has been approved at an estimated cost of Rs.41, 210 crore under National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase-V, scheduled for completion by December 2012. List of sections of National Highways in different states is given below:
SIX LANING OF NATIONAL HIGHWAYS
Sections
States
Length
(a) Golden Quadrilateral
Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Jharkhand
5700
(b) Other Sections
(i) Panipat-Jalandhar
Haryana & Punjab
300
(ii) Delhi-Hapur-Moradabad
Delhi & Uttar Pradesh
170
(iii) Samkhiali-Gandhidham
Gujarat
56
(iv) Indore-Dewas
Madhya Pradesh
55
(v) Agra-Gwalior
Uttar Pradesh & Madhya Pradesh
85
(vi) Chandikhol-Paradip
Orissa
77
(vii) Ludiana-Chandigarh
Punjab
82
This information was givenby the Minister of State forShipping, Road Transport and Highways, Shri K.H. Muniyappa in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
Granite resources abound in State, but the potential is untapped due to lack of promotion and absence of a clear-cut policy.
Orissa has about 20 different colours of granite. Out of the five most-attractive (recognised) colour granite of the world, four are available in Orissa, lavender blue in Berhampur, ikon brown in Paralakhemundi, sweat green in Titilagarh and black in Jeypore vicinity.
In Berhampur, Nayagarh, Paralakhemundi and Balangir, granites of international standard are abundantly available.
Skilled labourers too abundantly available in Bhadrak, Kendrapara and Balasore districts.
As Rajasthan is best known for its marble industry, Orissa can carve a niche for itself in granite sector if a little care is taken by the Government to streamline it, analysts feel.
The existing granite industries in Orissa should be assured by the Steel and Mines department to get the raw materials sufficiently on priority basis. At present, the mine owners, mostly outsiders, are supplying only mining wastes.
Since Orissa’s colour granite is very attractive, the granite processing units in Andhra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are taking all quality raw blocks and selling that in the market after processing. In the absence of market linkage for finished products Orissa is losing out on revenue and scope for generating employment.
Traders have demanded that Government … open a granite park/growth centre in Berhampur. The rate of royalty on decorative stone block/granite stone block should be increased to Rs 1500 from the existing Rs 700 on the inter-state sales transactions. …
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.
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