CCL sources told The Financial Express that keeping in mind the future coal requirement, the company envisaged a plan to develop 12 new mining projects in the Ninth and Tenth Plan periods to produce 30.60mt coal per year, with a total investment of Rs 3344.05 crore.

"Only two projects will be taken up during the Ninth Plan period because of the funds crunch," sources said. The five CCL projects earmarked for the Ninth Plan were: Jharkhand OCP (1mt with Rs 110.89 crore capital), Topa OCP (1.20mt with Rs 120.44 crore capital), Karo Expansion OCP (33.50mt with Rs 280 crore capital), Ashoka Expansion OCP (6.50mt with Rs 598.57 crore capital), North Urimari OC (5mt with Rs 470.49 crore capital).

The source said for the Tenth Plan, CCL plans to take up seven newprojects to produce 15.40mt of coal per annum with an investment of Rs 1763.66 crore.It has become impossible to fund the requirement of plan outlay of the company from internal resources and with loans from financial institutions (FIs) due to its debt equity ratio, the source said.

Meanwhile, the CCL accounts for the year to March 31, 1998 was revised as a result of observations made by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).

As a result, the loss of the company for the year increased by Rs 418.64 lakh.