Two SPVs for coal evacuation in Odisha

Union Coal secretary Anil Swaroop Saturday said two special purpose vehicles (SPVs) would be formed for evacuation of coal through railways in Odisha.

"We are considering forming two SPVs for evacuation of coal in Talcher and IB Valley to industry source. The SPVs would be formed by the Odisha government, Railways and Mahanadi Coal Field Ltd (MCL)," Swaroop told media persons after meeting chief secretary G.C. Pati and other officials here.

He said the proposal was in the initial stage and a final decision would be taken after the Centre's approval.

In the SPV, while MCL will invest 64 percent, Railways and state government would invest 26 percent and 10 percent respectively.

Reviewing the bottlenecks of various coal blocks of MCL, the Coal secretary said target has been fixed to enhance the exploration capacity of MCL from 125 million tonne (MT) to 250 MT by 2019.

Coal India Limited (CIL) has set a target to produce one billion tonne of coal by 2019. The coal secretary also reviewed various clearances relating to coal projects in the state.

Indo-Asian News Service

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