Coal India invites global firms to set up washery in Jharkhand

In a bid to provide quality coal to its customers, including power plants, state-owned CIL has invited bids from international companies to set up a coal washery in Jharkhand.

The government had earlier said that challenge is not quantity but quality of the fossil fuel.

The washery would be set up under build-operate-maintain (BOT) model.

"Tenders are invited from reputed and experienced bidders through e-tendering on CIL portal for the work of setting up of 7.0 MTY non-coking coal Konar Washery at B&K area of CCL on 'Build-Operate- Maintain'(BOM) concept," Central Coalfields Ltd (CCL), a Coal India (CIL) subsidiary, said.

Coal washing is a process of separation mainly based on difference in specific gravity of coal and associated impurities like shale, sand and stones etc, so that we get relatively pure marketable coal without changing its physical properties.

Bid documents will be available to the prospective bidders from November 10, to January 1, CCL said.

Terming quality determination of fossil fuels to be a challenge, the government had earlier said from January onwards it plans to supply crushed coal to consumers, including power plants.

"The challenge is not quantity but it seriously quality and that is where I have challenged the top management of Coal India," Coal Secretary Anil Swarup had earlier said last month.

He had said that coal production has become virtually a non issue which was a serious issue a year ago.

Coal India CMD S Bhattacharaya had also earlier stressed upon the need for suppling quality coal and said that it is as essential as providing the requisite quantity.

"The pressing need of the hour for us is to be more consumer centric. This is not a choice but an imperative... So, supplying quality coal is an essential ingredient in our business chain and we should be proactive in this endeavour," Bhattacharaya had earlier said in a letter to his employees.