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Govt May Auction Coal Mines To New Power Plants

BW Online Bureau Nov 08, 2014

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[The government is looking at the possibility of allocating coal mines, which have been earmarked for the power sector in the upcoming auction of 54 mines, to new power plants only. "Coal blocks for power generation would be only for the new power plants," says an official document highlighting the details of a meeting of the coal ministry held with representatives of the state governments. Of the 54 coal blocks identified by the government a couple of days back, a maximum of 16 have been earmarked for the power sector and 12 for PSUs, among others. The coal ministry also said that the state government will have to apply for the blocks earmarked for the power sector for which tariff-based bidding will have to be carried out for award of the power project, the document said. The meeting held to discuss the draft terms and conditions for allocation of coal blocks to PSUs was also attended by additional secretary Zohra Chatterji, chairman and managing director of Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Limited (CMPDIL) AK Singh among others. The government had earlier said coal mines earmarked for the power sector are meant for both tariff-based bidding and Central government companies engaged in production of power. The further earmarking would be done in consultation with the Ministry of Power and CMPDIL, it had said. The government had also earmarked 12 blocks for the steel sector, seven for the cement sector, five for sponge iron and two for surface gasification, in the forthcoming allocation of coal blocks. Earlier, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal had said the government was ready with the list of coal blocks to be put on auction and the process will begin by June. The gap in the demand and supply of coal widened to 161.5 MT last fiscal. In 2010-11, the shortfall of coal was about 132.8 MT, while in 2009-10 it was 90.5 MT, according to an official document. (PTI)