Coal India plans Rs 12,000 crore investments to boost production
By Our Corporate Bureau | 23 Sep 2006
Mumbai: Coal India Ltd (CIL) has chalked out plans to multiply coal production in the country, involving investment of about Rs12,000 crore, to increase production, Chairman Sashi Kumar said.
He said coal demand in the country is projected to grow to around 620 million tonnes by 2011 and at current levels of production, there would be a coal shortage of 40 million tonnes. CIL expects to raise production to 530 million tonnes by then. About 40 million tonnes of coal is expected to come from captive mines while the remaining would come from Singereni Collieries.
Coal India, he said, has been investing around Rs2,800 to Rs3,000 crore every year to enhance production. He said CIL would produce 363 million tonnes of coal this year against 343 million tones produced last year.
The CIL chairman said the rehabilitation of the Jharia mine would result in a quantum jump in coking coal production soon. Bharat Coking Coal Ltd, a CIL subsidiary, has prepared a master plan for utilisation of prime coking coal reserves in Jharia, he said.
However, this would require rehabilitation in the Jharia belt involving shifting of four lakh people in the area, he added.