Coal Ministry likely to allocate 23 coal blocks next month
The government will consider allocation of 23 coal blocks for the steel and cement sectors early next month in view of the growing demand for the mineral from these sectors.
By PTI |
NEW DELHI: The government will consider allocation of 23 coal blocks for the steel and cement sectors early next month in view of the growing demand for the mineral from these sectors.
"The Screening Committee of the Coal Ministry would meet on December 7 to consider allocation of 23 coal blocks for the coal and cement sectors which have been seeking adequate raw material linkage for fructifying their expansion plans," a top Coal Ministry official said.
With the allocation of these blocks, the government would exhaust all the 203 blocks it had identified for providing to the power, steel, coal, cement and sponge iron sectors.
Earlier, the government allocated 15 coal blocks for power projects, including the proposed captive plants of Mittal Steel in Orissa and Jharkhand. Captive coal blocks have also been allocated to Tata Power, Essar Power, Lanco, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd and Reliance Energy among others.
"Our key aim in allocating these blocks was to ensure that power generating companies were able to meet their production needs. Since the 11th Plan has set a target of additional power generation of about 78,000 Megawatts, the best way to help the power generators was to ensure them adequate linkage," he said.
The official pointed out that the Coal Ministry was planning to intensify efforts to increase the pace of regional and detailed explorations for finding out more blocks for further allocation. "In India, the estimated coal reserves in about 257 billion tonnes of which 95 billion tonnes are proven ones," he said. MORE
Due to acute shortage of coal in the country, the Union Cabinet has given its go-ahead to the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) formed by leading PSUs for acquiring coal properties abroad to enable them meet their production needs.
Meanwhile, Coal India Ltd has said it will not drop its earlier plan to acquire mines abroad on its own even after joining the SPV alongwith NMDC, NTPC, SAIL and RINL.
"We will not drop our Coal Videsh plan to acquire blocks abroad with formation of the SPV where we are putting Rs 1,000 crore as equity," CIL Chairman Partha S Bhattacharyya said.
"The Screening Committee of the Coal Ministry would meet on December 7 to consider allocation of 23 coal blocks for the coal and cement sectors which have been seeking adequate raw material linkage for fructifying their expansion plans," a top Coal Ministry official said.
With the allocation of these blocks, the government would exhaust all the 203 blocks it had identified for providing to the power, steel, coal, cement and sponge iron sectors.
Earlier, the government allocated 15 coal blocks for power projects, including the proposed captive plants of Mittal Steel in Orissa and Jharkhand. Captive coal blocks have also been allocated to Tata Power, Essar Power, Lanco, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd and Reliance Energy among others.
"Our key aim in allocating these blocks was to ensure that power generating companies were able to meet their production needs. Since the 11th Plan has set a target of additional power generation of about 78,000 Megawatts, the best way to help the power generators was to ensure them adequate linkage," he said.
The official pointed out that the Coal Ministry was planning to intensify efforts to increase the pace of regional and detailed explorations for finding out more blocks for further allocation. "In India, the estimated coal reserves in about 257 billion tonnes of which 95 billion tonnes are proven ones," he said. MORE
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Due to acute shortage of coal in the country, the Union Cabinet has given its go-ahead to the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) formed by leading PSUs for acquiring coal properties abroad to enable them meet their production needs.
Meanwhile, Coal India Ltd has said it will not drop its earlier plan to acquire mines abroad on its own even after joining the SPV alongwith NMDC, NTPC, SAIL and RINL.
"We will not drop our Coal Videsh plan to acquire blocks abroad with formation of the SPV where we are putting Rs 1,000 crore as equity," CIL Chairman Partha S Bhattacharyya said.
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