Coal India to invest Rs 12,834 cr in 2016-17

Coal mining behemoth Coal India Ltd (CIL) will invest Rs 7,765 crore as capital expenditure and Rs 5,069 crore in various other projects in 2016-17, its annual report released on Friday said.

"The capital expenditure for the year 2016-17 has been set at Rs 7,765 crore. In addition, an ad-hoc provision of Rs 2 crore has been kept for its overseas activities.

"Further, company has planned to invest Rs 5,069 crore in various other projects viz. railway infrastructure, super critical thermal power plant (STPP), solar power, revival of fertiliser plants, procurement of railway wagons and CBM (coal bed methane) during 2016-17," the report said.

The company has envisaged production of 908.10 million tonnes (mt) in 2019-20 with a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 12.98 per cent with respect to 2014-15.

During 2016-17, the coal production target has been pegged at 598.61 mt with an annualised growth of about 11.6 per cent. In 2017-18, coal production is expected to be 660.7 mt with a growth of about 10.5 per cent.

The company has been increasingly focusing on mechanical mining.

Company Chairman Sutirtha Bhattacharya said: "The path is to go towards fully mechanical technology. The company is continuously trying to increase production through mechanised mining."

He also said that around 94 to 96 per cent of open cast mining is done mechanically at present. To boost production, it depends on open cast mining; however, this requires uprooting of trees and dislocating people.

--IANS

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