NTPC to begin coal production from Talaipalli mine by 2019

6 November 2017

The NTPC, India’s largest power producer in public sector, is likely to begin coal production from Talaipalli mine in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh district by 2019, an NTPC presentation has informed.

Talaipalli mine has gross coal reserves of 1267 million metric tonnes (MMT) with excavation capacity of 18 MMT per annum.

The NTPC haS been granted bridge linkage for seeking coal supply from the Talaipalli block by the Union Coal Ministry.

The scheduled date of start of coal production from the coal block as per the Coal Mines Development and Production Agreement is financial year 2019-20.

NTPC Ltd has been allocated 10 coal blocks spreading over Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Jharkhand states, with combined Geological Reserves of approx. 7.6 billion tonnes, officials informed.

The aggregate capacity of the coal blocks is approx. 10.7 MTPA.

NTPC intends to develop the coal blocks by outsourcing to Mine Developer cum Operator (MDO) selected through international competitive bidding process.

The MDO contract is awarded for Pakri Barwadih(Jharkhand) and Dulanga(Odisha) coal blocks. Coal production has already started from Pakri Barwadih Coal Mining block.

The Board of Directors of NTPC Ltd had already accorded investment approval for Talaipalli project in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh for mining 18 Million Tonnes per annum of coal per annum at an appraised current estimated cost of Rs 3004 crore.

Notably, the power to be generated by upcoming NTPC Ltd’s 1600 MW Super Thermal Power Project (STPP) at Lara in Raigarh district will be supplied to Chhattisgarh, Goa and Maharashtra states, officials stated.

The coal requirement for the proposed plant would be met from Talaipalli Coal Block of Mand in Raigarh Coalfields, they stated.

It may be recalled that NTPC’s upcoming Lara STPP in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh has acquired all necessary clearances from the Union Ministry of Forest, Environment and Climate Change for the project, officials stated.

The Lara plant of NTPC would be utilising super critical technology for power generation.

The Union Ministry of Coal has also assured Coal India Ltd (CIL) for getting Mand-Raigarh railway line project expedited to facilitate growth in offtake of coal from mines under South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL) in Chhattisgarh.

This was against the target of 123.89 million tonnes (MT) – a growth of 11.1 per cent.

Notably, SECL is targetting total coal production of 250 million tonnes (MT) from its underground and open cast mines by 2019-20, officials stated.

SECL recorded coal production (provisional) of 12.10 million tonnes (MT) against target of 11.70 MT as on February 2016, Coal India Ltd (CIL) informed the Bombay Stock Exchange in its filing earlier.

Meanwhile, the total value of mineral production (excluding atomic & minor minerals) in the country during December 2015 was Rs 20096 crore. The contribution of Coal was the highest at Rs 9132 crore (43%), the Central Government has informed.

Notably, the Coal India Ltd (CIL) is targetting production of 1 billion tonnes of coal by 2020.

Wagon availability will be a key factor for achieving this target by Coal India Ltd, officials stated.

By signing of the MoU, the Railways and Coal India Ltd will be entering into a strategic partnership which would ensure adequate wagon availability for meeting the transportation needs of coal produced by Coal India Ltd.

Notably, the Central Government has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding each with the states of Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh for critical coal connectivity projects to improve transportation of coal, officials informed.

The Union Railway Budget 2016-17 has put Chhattisgarh on Centre’s high priority list among states for its ambitious dedicated freight corridor project implementation plans.

The then Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in his budget speech has put high emphasis on ensuring structuring, award and implementation of freight corridor projects in a time-bound manner through innovative financing mechanisms including Public Private Partnership (PPP).

The Union Railway Minister in his budget speech has also put emphasis on rapid expansion of freight business to build more dedicated freight corridors for increased traffic with consequent benefits for the economy and environment with Chhattisgarh being the direct gainer from the initiative due to high coal and iron ore movement through the Railway network from the State.

Prabhu also said that technological solutions for project management and monitoring will be taken up. The latest Drone and Geo Spatial based satellite technology will be used to monitor physical progress across major projects and also the progress on Dedicated Freight Corridor, he said.

Notably, on February 9 this year, the then Union Railway Minister had commented : ‘For development of the country, extension of rail network in resource-rich State like Chhattisgarh is necessary and the task of Rail network extension in the State will be carried out through a special joint venture company.”

He was speaking at a programme organised to sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for three rail corridor project between Indian Railway and Chhattisgarh Government in New Delhi.

Source: Daily Pioneer