Coal India board ratifies Rs 11,000-cr thermal power foray

Kolkata: The Coal India board has ratified the first 1,600 MW (800 MW x 2) pithead thermal power project by it's subsidiary Mahanadi Coalfields at a capital expenditure of Rs 11,000 crore for the foray into electricity generation by the world's biggest coal producer. "The board has cleared the thermal power project in which capex would be Rs 11,000 crore by Mahanadi Coalfields," stated a Coal India source on the condition of anonymity.      

The management, without any independent directors on the board, yesterday cleared the project. It also cleared five other mining projects, which would generate an additional 30 million tonnes of coal.  Coal India sources said as these projects were treated  as regular business and not policy decisions. They were approved despite the absence of independent directors. The Government is yet to appoint any of the seven independent directors out of total board strength of 14. The independent director berths have been vacant since September  11, 2014. 

The Mahanadi Coalfields power project, located in the  Sundergarh district of Odisha, is the maiden pithead thermal power project of Coal India Ltd (CIL) and could be operational over the next three years. The project had seen a significant delay on account of issues regarding land acquisition, environment and forest clearances. Mahanadi Coalfields Chairman and Managing Director A N Sahay in the past had said around 800 acres had already been acquired and water linkages were in place. The plant would utilise coal from the company's Basundhara coal mines.     

However, end use of the power generated from the two 800 MW units - captive consumption or merchant power - is yet to be determined.  In the mean time, Mahanadi Coalfields has set a target of 127 MT of coal production in 2014-15, a growth of 15 per cent over the previous fiscal. World's biggest coal producer CIL accounts for 80 per cent of the domestic production.