India's largest coal handling agency - Mjunction

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increased imports, which is likely to cross 80 mt in 2010-11. In
2009-10, total coal imports stood at 67 mt.
Requirement from sponge iron units
Altogether, 355 sponge iron projects have applied for coal
linkages with CIL subsidiaries. The major projects awaiting
coal linkage include 10 million tons per annum (mtpa) project
of Jindal Steel & Power Ltd, 1.2 mtpa plant of Visa Steel, 1
mtpa unit of Eurobond Industries, 4,40,000 tons per annum
(tpa) project of Navbharat Fuse Co. Ltd, 4 x 1,10,000 tpa unit
of IST Steel and Power, 3 x 1,50,000 tpa unit of Rathi Udyog
and 3,15,000 tpa plant of Chhattisgarh Steel & Power, among
others. The preferred sources of supply of coal for these
projects are SECL, CCL, MCL, Singareni Collieries Company
Ltd (SCCL), and similar others.
Pending applications of cement plants
Of the 114 cement projects seeking coal linkages, the majority
are located in areas adjacent to the mines of SCCL, SECL, MCL
and WCL. The major projects are coming up from the stables
of Dalmia Cement, Jai Prakash Associate, Rajshree Cement,
Electrosteel Castings, Reliance Cementation Pvt Ltd and
Sanghi Industries, among others.
New plants are being set up in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,
Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
Along with new cement plants, many cement manufacturers
are also enhancing the capacity of their existing captive
power units. Altogether, 12 such projects have coal linkage
applications pending before the ministry. These include a 50
MW capacity addition by ACC at Gulbarga in Karnataka and
48 MW additional capacity by Ambuja Cements at Bhatapara
unit in Raipur (Chhattisgarh). The latter is expanding the
captive power capacity at four units, including Bhatapara.
Additionally, three cement manufacturers are undertaking
brownfield expansion of their existing cement plants and have
sought coal linkages for the same.
A daunting task ahead
The coal sector, more particularly CIL, faces the daunting
task of meeting the ever-increasing requirement from the core
sector industries such as power, steel and cement. In the power
sector alone, there is a peaking shortage of almost 12 percent
and energy shortage of 9 to 10 percent. The government has
stated that the country can achieve only 62,000 MW during the
Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12) against an initial target of
78,700 MW. Even this revised target looks difficult to achieve,
contrary to what the power ministry believes. During the
Twelfth Five Year Plan, the capacity addition is pegged at
1,00,000 MW.
Maintaining growth in these user segments is critical for
the economic growth of the country. It would, therefore, be
hardly an overstatement to say that the economic progress
of the country largely hinges on the supply assurance and
improved performance of the coal sector.
COAL INSIGHTS 37 October 2010