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Inter-Ministerial Committee on coal linkages to meet next week

An Inter-Ministerial panel will meet next week to review the status of existing coal linkages to sectors, including power.

The meeting which was earlier scheduled for December 10 has been postponed and will now be held on December 20, according to an official memorandum of the Coal Ministry.

"Meeting of the Standing Linkage Committee (Long-Term) for power/sponge/cement sectors to review the status of existing coal linkages/LoAs (Letter of Assurances) and other related matters scheduled for December 10...Has been postponed and will now be held on December 20," it said.

However, no reasons were given by the Coal Ministry for the meeting getting postponed.

The meet comes at a time when state-own Coal India (CIL) has signed 157 fuel supply agreements (FSAs) so far for a capacity of 71,145 MW.

Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal had earlier said that the remaining FSAs would be signed once the technical glitches are addressed.

Amid continuous delays, the Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) had earlier said that timelines for signing of fuel supply pacts for power projects of 78,000 MW capacity should be met.

Two deadlines set for signing of the fuel supply agreements by CIL with the power producers could not be adhered to.

The Coal Ministry had earlier set the deadline of August 31 for signing of the FSAs which could not be met. Further, the second deadline of September 6 was also not achieved.

According to the new Fuel Supply Agreements, Coal India will supply 65% of the contracted amount for fuel from domestic sources and another 15% will be done through imports with pass-on pricing model.


Source: PTI