The Ministry of Coal (MoC), on 23 Jun ’21, issued a notice regarding revision in the timeline for sale of coal mines for commercial purposes under the second tranche of auctions.
Notably, this is the second time that the timeline has been revised since the tender process for sale of mines was initiated in Mar ’21.
As per the new schedule, the bid due date has been extended to 8 Jul ’21, thus providing the prospective bidders additional time for submitting their bid request for the coal mine.
Thereafter, these technical bids would be opened a day later and will be examined in order to evaluate the qualified bids that will enter the final round of auctions. Finally, the electronic auction will commence from 9 Aug ’21, which was earlier slated to begin from the second week of Jul ’21.
Revised timeline for auctions:
*Last date for registration: 6 Jul ’21
*Last date for sale of tender document: 7 Jul ’21
*Bid due date: 8 Jul ’21
*Opening of technical bids: 9 Jul ’21
*Examination of technical bids: 12 Jul-4 Aug ’21
*Conduct of electronic auction: 9-25 Aug ’21
*Selection of successful bidder: 30 Aug ’21
Background
After successfully concluding sales of 20 coal blocks in the first tranche, the ministry has initiated the second tranche of auction for sale of 67 blocks.
The blocks on offer are a mixed bag of mines with small and large reserve levels. Some are partially while others are fully explored and spread across six states – Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha.
Earlier, the coal ministry informed that initial response to the sales had been tremendous. As on 18 May ’21, 50 mine-specific tender documents were purchased by the bidders for the second tranche of commercial coal mines auctions.
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