Coal news and updates

State Govt to Apply for Coal Block Allocation

Kerala, along with Gujarat and Orissa, will apply for allocation of three coal blocks in Orissa including the Baitarni West block, with the Coal Ministry set to begin a fresh round of allocations.

The decision was finalised at a meeting of the Baitarni West Coal Company Ltd (BWCCL), the SPV formed by the power utilities of the three states in 2009 for mining the Baitarni West coal block, in Mumbai on Saturday.

 “In addition to Baitarni, we have decided to apply for two more coal blocks in Orissa, to which no company has any claim as of now.

“The general reading is that we would get Baitarni re-allocated to us this time,” Kerala State Electricity Board  chairman and managing director M Sivasankar, who had attended the meeting, said.

The Baitarni West coal block, with a capacity of 602 million tonnes in Talcher coal fields, had been allocated to  Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), Odisha Hydro-Power Corporation (OHPC) and Gujarat Power Corporation Ltd (GPCL) on July 25, 2007.

 However, in December 2012, an Inter- Ministerial Group had recommended that it be de-allocated as there was no production although the SPV had been formed in 2008.

One of the two new blocks on which the three states have their eye on is the Mandakini coal block which earlier had been allocated to an SPV formed by Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya and Assam. But the SPV is defunct now, which brightens BWCCL’s chances.

Slippages in schedules for land acquisition, mining, and the establishment of power plants for utilising the coal had been cited as reasons.

Although the plants are yet to materialise, Gujarat has acquired land and the State Government has revived a project to establish a coal-fueled thermal power plant in Cheemeni, Kasaragod. The Coal Ministry would be appraised of these fresh developments, Sivasankar said.

After the Supreme Court scrapped nearly all the coal block allocations last year, a fresh round of allocations and auctions have begun. Baitarni West Coal Company Ltd had decided to keep off the auction channel and, instead, apply for the allocations to government-run utilities.

Mining Fortunes

■ Kerala, along with Gujarat and Orissa, will apply for allocation of three coal blocks in Orissa including the Baitarni West block

■ One of the two new blocks on which the three states have their eye on is the Mandakini coal block which earlier had been allocated to an SPV formed by Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya and Assam

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com