By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: In a revised schedule shared on e-commerce portal of MSTC, the nominated authority for coal auction, the last date of submission of queries by bidders has been extended to September 11.
The first deadline expired on July 23. In earlier comments submitted to the ministry of coal, several investors raised concerns about the timing of the auction citing Covid-19 as the dampener.Several investors asked the government for a deferment of the auction process by three months, mentioning it will help bidders make an informed decision.
Coal ministry said “The online auction of coal blocks for commercial mining and sale for private companies will commence in October and final winners declared in November. The deadline for various processes under the auction including a site visit, sale of tender documents, and submission of technical bids has also been extended.”
This comes at a time when several objections on ecological grounds have been raised at the Centre’s selection of certain blocks in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, resulting in the need to review the initially selected list of 41 coal blocks with a total geological reserve of 16979 million.
The blocks spread across five states Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha included a mix of both large and small mines with peak rated capacities ranging from 0.5 to 40 million tonnes per annum. The cumulative PRC for all mines is 225 million tonnes per annum, which is almost equivalent to the annual coal import in the country by volume.
