Neyveli forms JV with Guj govt to set up lignite mine at Rs 7500cr

New Delhi, Aug 17 (UNI) Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd today announced that it will enter into a joint venture with the Gujarat government to build an integrated Lignite Mine with eight million tonnes per annum capacity in Gujarat, at a cost of Rs 7500 crore.

The company will own between 74-89 per cent of the joint venture company and the balance will be held by Gujarat Government or companies nominated by it.

The project finance will be carried out with debt:equity ratio of 70:30 and is scheduled to be implemented in a period of five years.

The capacity of the mine, to be linked to the 1000 Mega Watt Power Project in South Gujarat, will be enhanced to 12 million tonnes per annum in the second phase.

Upon commissioning of the project, power generated from this project will be made available to Gujarat and other states in the Western Region as per the allocation.

The Ministry of Coal has already accorded approval for signing of Memorandum of Understanding with the state government to implement this project.

At present, the company is operating lignite mines of 24 million tonnes per annum and power projects of 2490 MW at Neyveli. It also has plans to take up number of expansion projects in Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh to the tune of 6000 MW.

The company is presently implementing Mine-cum-Power projects in Neyveli and Rajasthan to the tune of 750 MW at estimated cost of Rs 5,560 crore apart from operating units.

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