Coal corridors stare at delays as costs escalate beyond CIL’s budget

CIL has planned an expenditure of R5,000-6,000 crore for implementing six coal corridor projects for evacuating coal in greater amounts.

A coal ministry official told FE that according to the ministry's estimates, the cost of the three coal corridor projects has already increased three-fold, from R2,000 crore to R7,000 crore, due to slow implementation. Indian Railways is constructing Tori-Shivpur-Kathotia, Bhupdeopur-Korichhaapar and Jharsuguda-Barpali coal corridor projects in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa, respectively, for evacuating coal from North Karanpura, Mand Raigadh and IB Valley coal mines. The three corridors can evacuate 300 million tonne of coal per annum, enabling CIL to evacuate 600mt in a year by the end of the 12th Plan period. But the slow pace of progress doesn’t bode well for CIL as far as achieving its target by 2017 is concerned.

Additional coal secretary Zohra Chatterjee had earlier said that CIL had earmarked R6,000 crore to invest in six coal corridor projects. But this budget is proving to be insufficient for even three projects, an official said.

Coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal has already written to railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, seeking his intervention to fast track the projects. The letter, according to the ministry official, stated that a number of new projects in IB Valley under Mahanadi Coalfields (MCL) in Orissa are unable to start production due to delays

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