New Delhi: The government is considering monetising First Mile Connectivity (FMC) and railway projects being developed by Coal India Ltd (CIL) under the National Monetisation Pipeline, said Coal Secretary Anil Kumar Jain. "FMC should be outsourced, we are for the outright sale of CERL (Chhattisgarh East Railway, a venture of CIL, Railways and the Chhattisgarh government). It should be monetised. CIL should be brought under NMP," said Jain while speaking at the Minerals, Mining and Metals e-conclave of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce recently.
The Coal Secretary said that the Centre wants to bring the coal sector under the National Monetisation Pipeline. The FMC and railway projects, which the government is looking to monetise, are being developed by CIL to facilitate evacuation of coal. Coal India has earmarked Rs 14,000 crore for development of FMC projects in two phases by 2025 and Rs 19,650 crore for railway projects by 2024.
Jain said that even though the Indian mining and mineral sector faces some degree of uncertainty because of the outcome of COP-26, the sector, especially the coal sector, has witnessed some positive turns with the latest round of coal mine auctions getting response from bidders. "The current round has got two or more bids for 18 mines we have offered. Some were legacy mines but the addition of some more new mines has created interest," said the Secretary. He added that it's a positive development as the previous round did not get much response as the first tranche did.
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