Rs 764 cr Block-B opencast coalfield project approved

New Delhi, June 22 (UNI) The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today sanctioned the Block-B opencast project of Northern Coalfields that would produce 3.5 million tonnes of coal per annum with a capital investment of Rs 764.04 crore.

The project, located in Sindhi district of Madhya Pradesh, will have the option of departmental implementation of both coal production and overburden removal (OBR), Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters after the CCEA meeting.

Tenders will be floated to outsource ORB and coal extraction for initial three years under an emergency coal production plan for preponing the coal production schedule.

Simultaneously, tenders will be floated for ORB and coal extraction for ten years for effecting economies due to life time utilisation of the equipment deployed by the outsourcing agencies.

Northen Coalfields Ltd, a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd, has eight operating mines in Singrauli Coalfield located in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh which produced 49.95 million tonnes of coal in 2004-05.

UNI YJ VD DS1523