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Hyderabad, May 17 The Union Coal Ministry is in the process of finalising plans for taking up more projects and a decision is likely in a month.

“The Ministry is planning for new projects to be implemented and the proposals are likely to be sent to the Cabinet for approval in the next one month,” Mr Santosh Bagrodia, Union Minister of State for Coal, said while addressing a press conference here on Saturday.

The Minister also said that as against the previous year growth rates of 5-6 per cent, this year it is likely to be doubled and the Ministry is targeting a production level of 525 million tonnes (mt) this year.

Mr Bagrodia said that the Coal Ministry is looking at further improving supplies to meet power sector demands. “A number of utilities are in critical condition with less than seven days of stock as against the preferred norm of having stock for 21 days. We are willing to supply as much as they want but unfortunately they are not lifting the coal due to some problems at their end. The power utilities according to as per the original agreement must import a portion of the required quantity, which is also not happening,” he added.

In a bid to bring down prices through a forced over-supply strategy, he said the amount of coal through the e-auction route will be increased. “The earlier target was to sell a little over 3 mt three MT of coal every month, but now CIL has been directed to offload 15 mt million tonnes during May and June 2008 through the e-auction route. The strategy is to flood the market with an abundant supply of coal so that prices dip and it becomes affordable to all, including the small-time consumers. It will also send a signal to the market that the country has abundant supply of coal,” Mr Bagrodia said.

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