Coal India to engage MDOs in 14 mines

Kolkata: In a bid to ramp up its production, Coal India is implementing a plan for operationalising 14 mines through the engagement of mine developer and operators (MDOs), a top official said. These mines have a combined capacity of 165.58 million tonne per annum.

Addressing its shareholders in the company's latest annual report, Coal India Chairman and Managing Director Pramod Agrawal said, These mines would contribute in sizable quantities towards production in the coming years. Of these, 10 are opencast projects with a total projected capacity of 161.50 million tonne per annum and four underground projects with a total capacity of 4.08 million tonne a year.

Elaborating on the plan, he said a letter of acceptance has been issued to six of the successful bidders for these MDO projects, having a total capacity of 96.74 million tonne per annum.

Tenders for seven more projects (five opencast and two underground) with a combined capacity of 58.84 million tonne per annum have been floated, Agrawal said.

Coal India has set a target of 700 million tonne production in the 2022-23 fiscal and proposed a capital expenditure of Rs 16,500 crore.

The miner also informed its shareholders that 42 projects are running behind schedule due to delays in statutory clearances and related issues.

It had undertaken 117 coal projects with a sanctioned capacity of 918.86 million tonne and a capital of Rs 1,32,634 crore.

These are in various stages of implementation. Out of which, 75 projects are on schedule and 42 are delayed, the company said in its annual report for 2021-22 (FY'22).

The largest coal producer in the world completed five projects with a sanctioned capacity of 12.60 million tonne and a capital investment of Rs 1,769 crore during FY22.

Agrawal stated that Coal India has remained committed to provide energy security to the country by attaining environmentally and socially sustainable growth through best practices from mine to market and will emerge as one of the global players in the primary energy sector.

(With PTI inputs)

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