Coal India Ltd approves 32 mining projects

Involves incremental investment of Rs 47,000 crore

New Delhi: State-owned CIL on Monday said its board has approved 32 coal mining projects in the current financial year (till January), indicating an incremental capital of around Rs 47,300 crore. While 24 of the 32 projects are expansion of the existing ones, the remaining are greenfield (new) units, Coal India Ltd (CIL) said in a statement.

“Scripting a record high…CIL has approved 32 coal mining projects in the current fiscal till January 2021,” the PSU said. The combined incremental peak capacity of these projects is projected at 193 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). This will be in addition to the already sanctioned capacity of 303.5 mtpa.

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The approval of the projects enables subsidiaries of CIL escalate their production in the ensuing years. CIL board and boards of the respective subsidiary companies have given their nod for the move.

The incremental production by 2023-24 from the approved 32 expansion and the greenfield projects would be to the tune of around 81 mtpa. “Such high number, either in terms of projects or capacity addition, has not been cleared in a single financial year so far,” the company said.

CIL is striving to replace the coal imports through its own coal and any increase in domestic production would play a catalytic role in this effort. Of the 193 mtpa capacity of 32 projects, CIL’s three subsidiaries — South Eastern Coalfields Ltd, Central Coalfields Ltd and Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd — with 167 mtpa form the bulk at 86.5 per cent.

SECL with six projects at an estimated incremental investment of Rs 18,657 crore accounts for 63.5 mtpa, followed by CCL at an investment of Rs 7,520 crore for 10 projects of 56.6 mtpa. MCL with three projects would add up to 47 mtpa at an investment of Rs 14,057 crore.

The rest, nearly 26 mtpa, would be met through Eastern Coalfields Ld, Northern Coalfields Ltd and Western Coalfield Ltd with the remaining investment between them. “Concurrently, in tandem with production, the company is also strengthening the rail evacuation infrastructure through setting up rail lines, sidings and first-mile connectivity projects in the companies from where the majority of the output is expected,” CIL said. CIL accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic coal output.