A projection of ₹1,850 crore for Singareni Collieries Company Limited was reflected in the Union budget on Friday but the company officials have said that the money will be raised solely through internal resources and that the Centre will not release any funds.
Senior officials of the SCCL said the ₹1,850 crore projected in the budget was meant to meet capital expenditure for purchase of land for new mines, setting up plant and machinery and taking up development activities.
The projected expenditure in last year’s budget was around ₹1,500 crore but the actuals were likely to be ₹1,100 crore by March-end.
Solar power plant
The company proposed to spend a portion of its expenditure in the coming year in setting up solar power plants to generate 129 MW at four locations — Manuguru (39 MW), Yellandu (30 MW), Ramagundam (50 MW) and its 2 X 600 MW thermal plant at Jaipur (10 MW). The project would be financed by 30% equity of the company and 70% loan. The orders for execution of the project were placed with the BHEL. Though the installed capacity of the plants is 129 MW, their capacity utilisation factor is only 20%, which translates into 25 MW. It will be entirely consumed by the company for its captive use.
The power demand of the company to run its mines and serve its establishments is 125 to 150 MW, which was totally met by purchases. This, despite the generation at the Jaipur thermal plant being linked to the grid.
With the likely commissioning of solar power plants in November-December, the SCCL expected to cut down its expenditure on purchase of power, which was ₹360 crore per annum, by about ₹50 crore.
