The board of Coal India Ltd. has approved the road map for hitting the one billion tonne-mark in production by 2019-20, which would, in effect, mean a doubling of production over a five-year period.
Technology will play a crucial role in this plan. A Coal Project Monitoring Group portal has been created for regular monitoring of project-related issues with different ministries and state authorities.
Two CIL subsidiaries — Sambalpur (Odisha)-based Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. and Bilaspur (Chhatisgarh)-based South Eastern Coalfields Ltd. — are expected to play a pivotal role in this ambitious programme contributing 250 million tonnes and 240 million tonnes, respectively. The company said that nearly 10 per cent of the output (92 million tonne) would come from new projects with 908 million tonne being expected from identified projects.
The process of identifying the projects for the balance are now underway, CIL said in a statement.
The plan’s success rivets on completion of three railway lines for evacuation, and timely acquisition of land and green clearances, the company said.
CIL said that SPVs were being formed with the state governments and the Railways for last-mile connectivity. It also said that the strategies included technology upgradation in open-cast mines with high capacity equipment, operator-independent truck dispatch system, GPS-driven vehicle-tracking system among other technology-driven systems.
Rs.12,000 crore investment The PSU said in a stock exchange filing that it would be investing Rs.12,000 crore in 2015-16, in equal proportion as capital expenditure and on railway and other infrastructure development.
