Rs 2,000cr Northern Coalfields, Vsnl Projects Cleared

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) yesterday approved investment plans of over Rs 2,000 crore in two projects of Northern Coalfields Ltd (NCL) and Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL).

But the committee headed by Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral did not take a decision on awarding the Rajasthan basic telecom services licence to a Shyam Telecom-led consortium (with Harris Corporation of the US and Guangdong PTT of China). CCEA is reported to have referred the issue to the committee of secretaries, which has been asked to make its recommendation within a week.

The committee approved a proposal to set up a regulatory body for resolving coal and lignite price disputes between producers and consumers. It also approved a proposal of Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) to acquire two crude oil tankers of 110,000 dwt (dead weight tonne) at some Rs 300 crore.

 

The NCL proposal envisaged investment of Rs 1,846.49 crore for expansion of the Nigahi opencast mine from 4.2 million tonne per annum (mtpa) to 10 mtpa. This includes an expenditure of Rs 702.40 crore for stage-I of the project.

The Nigahi expansion project is one among 24 projects which will be finalised by the World Bank under a coal sector rehabilitation project of Coal India Ltd. The World Bank and Exim Bank of Japan has allocated Rs 995 crore ($276.6 million) for the project.

The VSNL proposal to participate in the SEA-ME-WE 3 underwater cable project is projected to cost some Rs 185 crore. This includes a foreign exchange component of Rs 169 crore. CCEA authorised VSNL to carry out all legal and other formalities for participation in the project.

The SEA-ME-WE 3 system is an optical fibre undersea cable system connecting South East Asia, the Indian subcontinent, West Asia, North Africa and Western Europe. The cable, which crosses over land in Egypt, will have 39 landing points in 33 countries, and will allow VSNL to acquire transmission capacity from April 1998.

CCEA also approved cost estimates for construction of modern oil terminal berths at Jawahar Dweep, Mumbai, at an estimated cost of Rs 167.99 crore with a foreign exchange component of Rs 33 crore. According to a government release, the project will help in reducing pre-berthing detention of the tankers at the port.