government increases investment in coal

Government Increases Investment to Enhance Coal Production
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Extracted from article;
"Research and development activities are now being given major thrust for advancement of technology in the field of CBM resource assessment and recovery techniques for commercial utilization, underground coal and lignite gasification of deposits and hydro-fracturing or safe-blasting of coal, etc., he said."


14:51 IST
In order to reduce to bridge the ever increasing gap between requirement and indigenous availability of coal, the Government has enhanced its investment in coal sector from Rs. 260 crore in 2009-10 to Rs. 400 crore in 2010-11 for developing transportation infrastructure in coal fields, regional exploration, detailed drilling, and environment measure and subsidence control. Moreover, Coal India Limited and Singareni Collieries Company Limited from their internal resources has proposed to invest Rs. 3800 crore and Rs. 1335 crore in 2010-11 against provision of Rs. 3100 crore and Rs. 634 crore during 2009-10 respectively for increasing production. This was stated by the Minister of Coal, Shri Sriprakash Jaiswal addressing the 3rd India Coal Summit, 2010 jointly organized by Indian Chamber of Commerce and Ministry of Coal, Government of India here today. He said that as a result of investment made in previous years, an additional production of 38.83 MT is expected in 2010-11.

Underling recent initiatives taken by his ministry, Shri Jaiswal said that the government has recognized that structural changes in coal linkages are needed in the sector to invite foreign and domestic private investment to push up output. Linkage rationalization that has been undertaken recently to reduced transportation requirement of coal, besides the move to allow domestic producers to make captive use of coal blocks. The Coal Ministry has also approved for grant of coal linkage and authorization of Letter of Assurance to five super critical thermal power projects of National Thermal Power Corporation and Damodar Valley Corporation. The projects, located in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Maharashtra, would add up to a power capacity of 7260 MW and will supply power to the National Grid.

Stressing over modernization of coal sector the minister said that though coal mining as a sector existed since pre-independence era, the sector hasnt evolved at a pace commensurate to the requirement. Research and development activities are now being given major thrust for advancement of technology in the field of CBM resource assessment and recovery techniques for commercial utilization, underground coal and lignite gasification of deposits and hydro-fracturing or safe-blasting of coal, etc., he said.

Highlighting the challenges before the coal sector, the Minister said that the sector is seeing tremendous challenges in acquiring land and getting environmental and forestry clearances coupled with lack of large vendor base, over dependence on Indian Railways for timely evacuation and overall lack of transparency which in turn has led to mistrust among the stakeholders on the miners. Further, nearly 60% of coal reserves in India is in the Indicated and Inferred category which needs to be explored in detail for converting them into Proved category for project planning and mining. However, going forward, the Ministry is contemplating auction of coal blocks along with setting up of a Coal regulator. This would lead to optimal utilization of coal resources and ensure that the Indian coal companies raise their level of competence to be at par with international competitors, he said.

NCJ/SK

John Harkins did say at the AGM preso they were talking to other companies in India regarding UCG partnerships. Looks like the Indian government is keen to see this happen. Hope they get there act together and grant some of these UCG blocks soon since they have had the 13 bids for some months now!