Coal India banks on 8 railway corridors to boost productivity

24-Dec-2018

Coal India (CIL) will be able to reach near its aspirational goal of producing 1 billion tonne by 2022-23 if all the eight proposed railway corridors are in place by then. Unless there can be a support system to evacuate an incremental coal production of 350 million tonne per annum, increasing mine productivity would make no sense.

While an ICRA report suggests that over the long and medium term, the major thrust of CIL’s coal production is expected to come from the coalfields of North Karanpura, under Central Coalfields in Jharkhand, Manraigadh in Korba and Gevra in Chhattishgarh under South Eastern Coalfields and Talcher & IB Valley in Odisha under Mahanadi Coalfields, railway connectivity remains critical to increase production in these coalfields.

CIL’s subsidiary Northern Coalfields has almost zeroed down on a plan to produce 115 mt by 2022-23 through expanding its Jayant and Dudhichuia mines and opening a green field Semaria mines, in the next two-three years. This would fetch an additional 2 mt of production per annum.

NCL is injecting Rs. 1,150 crore that will boost the company to join the 100 million tonne production club this fiscal. Only two subsidiaries, at present, South Eastern Coalfields and Mahanadi Coalfields, are producing in excess of 100 million tonne per annum among all the CIL subsidiaries.

NCL chairman and managing director PK Sinha said the company will be producing 100.5 mt this fiscal against 93 mt in produced in 2017-18. “Our Capex of the year is Rs. 1,150 crore, which will mainly go in procuring equipment and fund expansion. The equipment, I am sure, will help is enhancing our mining activities for which we have zeroed down on a plan to produce 115 mt in 2022-2023, the year in which CIL has kept its aspirational target of producing 1 billion tonne.”

He said that NCL after meeting the demand for the pithead thermal plants aggregating 13,000 MW of generation from thermal power stations of NTPC, Lanco, and Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Nigam has also proposed sending about 20-25 mt of dry fuel to the starved thermal power plants in North India. The country’s largest super thermal power plant at Vindhyachal of NTPC of 5000MW is fed by NCL. It supplied 26 days of coal stock against normative requirement of 15 days.

Sinha said although coal evacuation remains an issue for the upcountry supplies, it would get organised in the next two-three years once the doubling of railway links between Katni and Singraulli (260 km) and another between Ramna and Singraulli (160km) are completed.

The railways had approved these projects at an estimated cost of Rs. 4,700 crore, an NCL officials said.

Source: FINANCIAL EXPRESS