RailEnquiry

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) may take up the issue of clearances to 12 coal mining projects, involving Rs 1,347 crore investment, in its meeting on February 20. The meeting will also discuss measures to expedite three critical rail projects, according to a source. "Suitable decisions of CCI are sought for fast-tracking the clearances for these 12 coal mining projects," the source said. On the basis of joint review by Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) and Coal Ministry, of 12 coal projects, eight have been identified for expediting grant of Environment Clearance (EC), one for grant of stage-II Forest Clearance (FC) and three for grant of stage-I FC, the source said. "The cumulative cost of these 12 projects is Rs 1,347.63 crore and the annual coal production capacity of these projects is 36.97 million tonnes (MT). "Though these projects are costing less than Rs 1,000 crore individually, expediting the pending EC and FC approvals would help realising an additional production of about seven million tonnes in 2013-14," the source added.

Non receipt of clearances to the mining projects is adversely affecting the production plans of Coal IndiaBSE -0.38 %, the source said.

The CCI may also consider reviewing the progress of implementation of three critical rail projects on a quarterly basis.

The three railways lines, includes Tori-Shivpur-Kathotia (Hazaribagh) BG triple line for the North Karanpura coalfield (CCL Jharkhand) and Jharsuguda-Barpali BG double line for IB Valley coalfield (MCL, Odisha).

These three rail connectivity projects are necessary for coal evacuation from potential coalfields--IB Valley, North Karanpura Mand-Raigarh. These projects are being implemented by railways under various schemes with funds to be provided by coal companies.

These projects are getting delayed mainly on accounts of forest and land acquisition issue, sources said.

Earlier, Coal India, which accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic coal production had said that inordinate delays in the receipt of green clearances for mining proposals have stalled the investment decisions on 67 new projects and also affected the expansion work in ongoing projects, translating into an annual production loss of 200 MT.