The ministry has planned to launch second edition of auction for commercial coal mining on 25 Mar ’21. Union Coal Minister-Mr. Pralhad Joshi will set the ball rolling for sale of 67 coal blocks at 10:30 AM in an event to be held at ‘The Oberoi’ in New Delhi.
Earlier, 75 coal blocks were proposed for sale in the auction which have been brought down to 67 after receiving stakeholders consent in order to arrive at the final list.
In contrast to the previous tranche, the coal blocks have been cautiously handpicked while deliberating certain factors that may obstruct the mining operation. Hence, these are expected to sail over initial hurdle of being subjected to resistance from state government over environment concerns.
No major amendments in allotment process
By introducing commercial coal mining, the government has allowed private players to mine coal without placing any end-use restrictions. At the same time, incentives are placed in case of early production and setting-up of projects based on coal liquefaction/gasification.
The modalities for auction process have been kept similar to the previous tranche which includes revenue sharing model as bid parameter along with implementation of NCI.
One considerable change that has been noticed is regarding the lock-in period for change of control of successful bidder or transfer of blocks. In case of partially explored blocks the lock-in period has been expanded in two phases.
In the first phase, it is valid till one year after issuance of vesting order and the successful bidder having incurred 15% of estimated exploration expense. The newly introduced second phase would initiate after preparation of geological report till execution of mining lease or order by the central government.
Detailed time-line for the allotment process is expected to be released tomorrow, while inviting the prospective bidders and addressing their concerns before these blocks are put for final round of auction.
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