New Delhi:
The government on Thursday said it has received only one technical bid for Kuraloi (A) North coal mine in Odisha out of four mines put up for re-auction.
The coal ministry had re-invited bids for four coal blocks whose tender process was annulled in the first round of auction for commercial mining as the number of technically qualified bidder for each mine was just one.
Of the four coal blocks, three are in Odisha and one in Jharkhand.
”The online bids were decrypted and opened electronically and subsequently, sealed envelopes containing offline bid documents were also opened. ”One bid has been received for Kuraloi (A) North coal mine. No bids have been received for the other coal mines,” the Ministry of Coal said in a statement.
The bids will be evaluated by a multi-disciplinary Technical Evaluation Committee and further action shall be taken in accordance with provisions of the tender document, under the auction process, it said.
The auction process of four coal mines (Chendipada & Chendipada-II, Kuraloi (A) North and Seregarha) for sale of coal was launched on December 9, 2020.
This was the second attempt of auction for these coal mines, for which the process was annulled in first attempt due to the number of technically qualified bidders being less than two.
The blocks, which are fully explored, have an annual peak-rated capacity of 52 million tonnes (MT).
The auction of blocks for commercial mining has opened India’s coal sector to private players.
The first-ever auction of coal mines for commercial mining witnessed ”fierce competition”.
Earlier, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi had said 19 auctioned mines will generate total revenues of around Rs 7,000 crore per annum and create more than 69,000 jobs once they are operationalised.
In June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched the auction process for 41 coal blocks for commercial mining. Some of the large corporate groups that have bagged blocks include Adani Enterprises, Vedanta, Hindalco Industries and Jindal Power.
