CIL appoints PFC to select a suitable partner and operator for its proposed 1,600-MW power project in Orissa…

• Mining major Coal India said it had appointed the Power Finance Corporation to select a suitable partner and operator for its proposed 1,600-MW power project in Orissa. "We have appointed PFC to identify a partner for management of power plant at a tariff based pricing system," Coal India (CIL) Chairman N C Jha said. "We are looking for a 50:50 JV with the partner," he added.

• CIL had mooted the 1,600-MW coal-based power plant to utilise the coal from Vasundhara coalfields in Orissa. "If we want to raise production, there must also be consumption. We are planning for more thermal power plants at coalfields where there is inadequate evacuation infrastructure," Jha said. He said there were two more such locations where power projects could come up, one in Bandraigarh in Chatttisgarh and the other in North Karanpura in Jharkhand. At present, CIL tries to evacuate coal by selling it through e-auction and already has permission to sell 20 per cent of the coal from these locations through the auction route.

• Coal sold via auction is evacuated by buyers via road. Asked about coal supply to power plants, Jha said the supply to the sector is more than 80 per cent, or 1 million tonnes, a day. "We have already signed a fuel supply agreement for 600 million tonnes and from availability of 250 million tonnes, so how can we supply?" Jha said. Remaining coal has to be imported. Either they import or we can import if there is firm commitment, he said. CIL had already mooted a new JV company with the Shipping Corporation of India for imported coal supply to consumers. Meanwhile, CIL has expressed dissatisfaction with the progress of coal washeries projects due to delay in getting environmental clearances.

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