Coal India designs roadmap for 1-bn-tonne coal production

SPV for rail links, technology upgradation & new mines on the anvil

The mammoth task of achieving 1 billion tonne coal production by 2020 has set the ball rolling on the reforms in state mining giant Coal India Limited (CIL). In the roadmap for the next five years, the company has earmarked targets for all its subsidiaries, joint venture with Indian Railways for better evacuation and technology upgradation to improve its efficiency.

CIL is expecting to ramp up its cumulative annual growth rate to 12 per cent from current 6-7 per cent. "This is our target to achieve in next five year. We have chalked out plans to achieve 908 million tonne of coal production and augmenting the balance. The major role would be played by subsidiaries - especially Mahanadi Coal Limited (MCL) and South Eastern Coal Limited (SECL)," said Sutirtha Bhattacharya, chairman and managing director, Coal India Limited (CIL).

For MCL, the target is 250 million tonne and SECL it is 240 million tonne - these two CIL's subsidiaries would alone meet half the target, as they are the ones with the most number of green field mines.

"The key issues that the coal miner is basically relying on are timely completion of three critical railway lines and timely land acquisition and green clearances," said Bhattacharya.

To overcome the hurdle of coal evacuation, CIL had decided to purchase 2,000 railway wagons from its own kitty for which a specific fund had been earmarked.

CIL will also form dedicated companies as 'special purpose vehicles' with Indian Railways and state governments having coal mines to improve rail transit of mined coal. The states are Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand in the first phase. CIL officials said that West Bengal, UP and other states will also be approached soon.

"The SPVs would benefit the states as the returns from the investment would go to them. This would be a company for building railway projects catering to dedicated coal supply," said Bhattacharya.

SECL already has 2 Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) with state governments to develop rail network including last mile connectivity, involving Railways.

As regards technology upgradation, CIL would look at several strategies such 'Operator independent Truck Dispatch System', vehicle tracking system using GPS/GPRS, Coal Handling Plants (CHPs) and SILOS for Faster Loading and monitoring using Laser Scanners.

As far as productivity improvement in Underground mines is concerned, hattacharya said that the steps taken by CIL will include introduction of Continuous Miner Technology in large scale, Long-wall Technology at selected places, Man Riding system in major mines and Use of Tele monitoring Techniques.