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Coal Ministry is examining the bid placed by CRISIL for contract to prepare a framework for auctioning of coal blocks.
“We are examining the bid and would award the contract at the earliest,” said a Coal Ministry official. Central Mine Planning & Design Institute (CMPDI), a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd, had sought the expression of interest (EoIs).
Three bidders, SBI Caps, PwC and CRISIL, were shortlisted to submit financial bids. CRISIL has emerged as the lowest bidder for the job.
Coal Ministry is in the process of finalising auction norms for the latest round of mine exploration. The winner of this contract would suggest mechanisms for finalising bid documents, deriving a formula to determine reserve price, and the agreement to be signed between the contractor and the Government.
The most important job of the consultant will be to derive a formula to determine a reserve price for every coal block. The company which is awarded the coal block will have to pay this price to the respective State government where the block is located. This would be imposed also for Coal India Ltd.
Second, an agreement to be signed between Government and successful winner of coal block would be formulated. This agreement is expected to be in the lines of production sharing contract signed for oil and gas blocks.
The Coal Minister, Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal, recently told Business Line that his ministry is in the process of putting in place a new, transparent mechanism for coal block auction. “This would be in place in the next three months,” Mr Jaiswal said.
Fifty four coal blocks with total geological reserves of about 18.22 billion tonnes have been identified for allocation.
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