Govt to tap private sector to meet 1.6 bn tonne coal demand

With domestic demand for coal likely to soar to 1.6 billion tonnes by 2020, government on Saturday said it is looking at the private sector to contribute 600 MT, while the rest will come from Coal India.

"The demand by 2020 would be around 1.6 billion tonnes. So where does that coal come from? We are planning that 1 billion tonne will come from Coal India (CIL)...and rest of it will come from the private sector," Coal Secretary Anil Swarup told reporters at PHD Chamber of Commerce event. 

The government believes that both public and private sectors will have to travel "together both in terms of increasing coal production. But in no way does it mean reducing the role of Coal India," he said, adding that it is working towards strengthening CIL.

On the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, he said: "We are still hopeful that it will be passed in the Rajya Sabha."

Earlier in the day, Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said: "Will look for an alternative provision if coal bill not passed in Rajya Sabha."

He declined, however, to comment when asked as to what the alternative could be.

On December 12, Lok Sabha passed a bill which provides for fresh auction of 204 coal blocks de-allocated by the Supreme Court in September with the government allaying apprehensions of some parties that the legislation would lead to privatisation of the sector.

On the draft approach paper to the tender document for auctioning of coal blocks, he said: "We have already put on the website the approach paper to the tender documents and we have given time up to Monday morning for the reactions to come.

"They have already started coming in. We will examine them in the couple of days and hopefully on 25th or 26th (December) we will release the tender document."