Kolkata The Coal India (CIL) board has given the management the green signal to step up acquisition of foreign coal mines. Acquiring mines abroad is necessary since coal production at home will fall far of short of demand.

The gap between the power sector’s requirement and domestic coal supplies has been estimated at 292 million tonne in the 12th Plan period ending FY17. The Planning Commission has set a target of 76,000 mw of power capacity to be added in the 12th Plan over the current installed capacity of 1,82,689 mw. The Planning Commission points out that coal supply domestically from CIL and Singerani Collierieswill be only 450 mt, by the end of the 12th Plan period, against a total requirement of 842 mt.CIL has set itself a production target of 556 mt by 2016-17; so, supply to the power sector could be a maximum of 415 mt.

Kolkata Sanjiv Goenka-controlled power utility CESC may lose its Mahuagiri coal block in Jharkhand, which was allotted to it in 2007 and is scheduled to be put to use in 2016 when its 1,260 MW thermal power project at Dumka in Jharkhand is ready.

CESC’s Mahuagiri block is among the 29 allocated coal blocks under the scanner of the inter-ministerial group (IMG) set up by the government. IMG, which recommended deallocation of eight coal blocks till September 18, is reviewing the status of other allocated blocks. Mahuagiri and North Dhadu coal blocks (allotted to Electrosteel and Adhunik Alloys) will be looked at next, an official in the Coal Controllers office in Kolkata told FE.

Kolkata Coal India (CIL) has dropped plans of importing coal directly and will instead ask MSTC to import on its behalf if it is forced to import coal to meet its supply obligations.

A CIL official told FE that the company has decided to keep itself free from any import activities and stay away from long-term import contracts in favour of yearly deals.

Kolkata The Prime Minister’s Office is asking state-run power utilities to follow the West Bengal model in terms of tariff. The said model keeps a margin after realising the real cost of production.

The move may have been prodded by the Planning Commission, which is pushing the Centre to raise the borrowing limits of Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, so these states can take further loans to clear the power sector of debt.

Kolkata India's largest power sector company NTPC's denial to sign the newly formulated fuel supply agreement (FSA) for new power plants is likley to jeopardise the government mandated plan to secure committed coal supply to power producers.

NTPC accounts for more than 35% of the quantity that CIL would have to supply under the new FSA. Of the 51 FSAs which six CIL subsidiaries (out of nine) would have to sign to supply an additional 70 million tonne to the new power plants to feed 28,000 MW of new generation, supplies to NTPC only would be 25mt to its capacity addition during 2009-12.

Kolkata West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has finally intervened to provide land to industry on easier conditions. The government has removed the ceiling of a maximum 24 acre that an industrial unit could buy in the state directly.

The West Bengal Land Reforms (Amendment) Bill 2012 introduced in the state legislature on Monday rectified the inconsistency, which the government itself created by adopting the policy of “no government acquisition.”

Kolkata Government-owned Steel Authority of India (SAIL) is close to getting two coking coal blocks, Tasra and Sitanala, in Jharkhand, which will enable the steel major to mine coal in India for the first time.

A source close to the development told Fe the two coking coal blocks have a reserve of around 45 million tonne. SAIL aims at producing 40 lakh tonne a year, for which it could invest up to R16,000 crore. SAIL chairman CS Verma, however, declined to comment on the issue, citing confidentiality norms.

Kolkata The Union coal ministry has taken away East Damagoria block from West Bengal Power Development Corporation (WBPDCL) at a time when the company is struggling to source coal.

According to the draft, India and Bangladesh will share the water in the ratio of 52:48 with India keeping 400 cusec water in store every year. This ratio translates into diversion of 35,000 cusec water to Bangladesh every year, which Banerjee is objecting to. The CM contends that if Bangladesh is given more than 25,000 cusec every year, north Bengal would face a severe water crisis during the summer.

Government-owned Steel Authority of India (SAIL) has decided to set up 10 more steel-processing units across the country, once its expansion programme of ramping up hot metal capacity from the present 14 million tonne (mt) to 24 mt per annum is completed by 2013.