Kolkata: State-owned miner Coal India Limited (CIL) will invest USD 20 billion (over Rs 1.27 lakh crore) to increase production to one billion tonne over the next five years, Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday.
"CIL has set a target to attain one billion tonne of coal production by 2019-20. This would entail a ballpark investment of USD 20 billion," Goyal told reporters here.
Goyal said that the money would be spent in technology, equipment and upgradation of the existing facilities. "A part of it will also go towards setting up infrastructure for evacuation".
The investment amount had been arrived at following a detailed mine-by-mine plan, he said, adding that the balance sheet of CIL was strong enough to support the capital expenditure programme.
The increase in production will be from the existing mines and also the new ones.
Exuding confidence that the target is achievable, Goyal said that in the first 43 days of the current fiscal, there had been 11.1 per cent rise in production over the similar previous period.
During 2014-15, the increase in production was 32 million tonnes, while during the four year period from 2010 to 2014, the production was lower at 31 million tonnes.
The government would support this endeavour, he said, and urged all the stakeholders, including the state governments, for a shared responsibility.
"This has to be achieved expeditiously in a time bound manner," Goyal said.
Goyal said CIL would be opening 70 to 100 mines while the state governments would be adding 39 for boosting power production in their states.
Another 70 to 80 mines would be opened by the private sector, he added.
When asked whether the country would have enough consumption capacity for one billion tonne after five years, Goyal said that 28 crore Indians do not have electricity at homes.
"India needs to double electricity production to two trillion units in five years which will necessitate higher demand for coal," he said.
CIL will become the most valuable company after five years, Goyal said, adding that it has been able to maintain profitability without raising prices.
Asked when CIL would hike prices, he said "it is a Maharatna company and will take its own decision".
On coal imports, he said: "We will see a declining trend in the imports of thermal coking coal. It will stop after two years. But imports of high-calorific coal will continue".
CIL is banking on its two subsidiaries, Mahanadi Coal Fields and South Eastern Coalfields, to play a pivotal role in targetted capacity expansion.
Last fiscal, CIL production was 494 million tonnes, 3 percent short of target.
Asked about the next round of coal block auctions, Goyal said: "We are studying the demand-supply situation, environmental issues and the readiness of the mines".
Regarding challenges relating to land acquisition, he said there were minor issues with `right of way' and were being sorted.
With the projected coal demand hovering around 1.2 billion tonnes (BT) by 2019-20 at an envisaged growth rate of 7 percent, CIL is expected to chip in one BT, of which 908 million tonnes (MTs) is the expected contribution from the identified projects, Coal Ministry said in a statement.
"The process of identification of projects to share the balance quantity, to top up the one BT mark, is also underway," it said, adding that the key issues that the coal miner is relying on are timely completion of three critical railway lines besides timely land acquisition and green clearances.
To overcome the hurdle of coal evacuation, it said CIL had decided to purchase 2,000 railway wagons from its own kitty for which a specific fund had been earmarked.
The coordination with Railways for implementation has already been initiated.
In a move to synergise its efforts, South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL), a CIL arm, has already two special purpose vehicles (SPVs) with state governments to develop rail network, it added.
The strategies for future include technology upgradation in opencast mines with high capacity equipment and coal handling plants, it said.
As far as productivity improvement in underground mines is concerned, the steps being taken by CIL will include introduction of continuous miner technology in large scale, long-wall technology at selected places, man riding system in major mines and use of tele monitoring techniques.
CIL is also introducing a number of system improvements that would help the company in realizing its challenging target, it added.
