The Hindu Business Line : NTPC’s maiden coal mine foray facing delays

New Delhi, Dec. 25 NTPC Ltd’s coal mining foray is in for delays, with the commissioning of the generation major’s first mine all set to miss a revised deadline of March 2008. Possession of land by NTPC for the project is running way behind schedule and a proposed railway linkage to be built for moving coal out of the mine is facing tardy progress.

NTPC’s Pakri Barwadih block in Jharkhand is now being tentatively targeted for commissioning by end-2008, according to NTPC officials. The block was originally scheduled to be commissioned by December 2007, which was revised to March 2008.

Land acquisition problems

According to company officials, acquisition of land around the site has been held up following delays by the Coal Ministry in issuing notifications required to kickstart work. The company is also in talks with the Railway Ministry to expedite building of a rail linkage, which the Railways expected to complete only by 2009-10, the officials said.

NTPC’s foray into coal mining, which is being seen as a strategic backward integration exercise, is primarily aimed at ensuring fuel security and deriving economy and stability of fuel pricing for its cumulative coal-based capacity of 23,209 MW.

Hitherto, NTPC — the country’s largest power generator and biggest consumer of coal — has been depending on state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) and also on some imported coal to operate its coal-fired stations, which forms the bulk of its total installed capacity of 27,904 MW. With its foray into mining, the power major hopes to meet up to 25 per cent of its total coal requirement from its own production over the next 10 years.

The Pakri Barwadih mine is expected to produce around 3 million tonnes of coal in the first year, which would be ramped up to its full estimated capacity of 15 million tonnes by around 2017.

According to company officials, NTPC, which has been allocated eight domestic coal mining blocks, is also evaluating opportunities in Indonesia and Australia, besides eyeing mines in Nigeria, Mozambique and South Africa.

NTPC plans to nearly double its generating capacity to 50,000 MW by 2012, from the current 27,904 MW. NTPC operates 18 coal-fired projects with a cumulative capacity of 23,209 MW, while its remaining capacity operates on gas and liquid fuel.

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More Stories on : Power | Diversification | Coal | NTPC Ltd

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