Coal India plans 1 bn tonnes out put by 2020

STATE-owned miner Coal India (CIL) has been given a gross output target of one billion tonnes of coal by 2019-20, which is around double the current production, coal and power minister Piyush Goyal said on December 4.

"To produce 1,000 million tonnes of coal, the expected growth is to come from identified future projects," Goyal told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

"The envisaged growth is possible in brown-field as well as green-field areas and is expected to be achieved through...

timely completion of new railway infrastructure projects, faster environment clearances and improvement in the law and order situation, apart from technology improvement in mining and related infrastructure," he added.

Earlier, the minister had said the coal target was not a fanciful one and a detailed plan had been prepared to realize it.

With a modest production of 79 million tonnes (MTs) at the year of its inception in 1975, the Maharatna PSU today is the single largest coal producer in the world.

Operating through 81 mining areas CIL is an apex body with seven wholly-owned coal producing subsidiaries and one mine planning and consultancy company spread over eight provincial states of India. CIL also fully owns a mining company in Mozambique christened as 'Coal India Africana Limitada'.

Its target for the current financial year has been set at 507 million tonnes.

In reply to another question, Goyal said a range of options are available for private players for investment in the power sector for generation of electricity that include the Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer (DBFOT) and Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) models.

He said the Centre has notified guidelines and model bidding documents in 2013-14 for procurement of electricity by amending earlier guidelines notified in 2005 due to inadequate treatment of fuel risks and termination provisions.

"For the DBFOT mode of power procurement, the project assets are required to be handed over to the utilities after successful completion of the concession period," the minister said.

"An option has also been given to the developer to take project assets on lease basis up to 99 years on successful completion of contract," he added.

For other modes of procurement, the project assets continue to be owned by the developers after completion of contract period.