The Ministry of Coal has placed on offer 124 coal blocks for sale via auctions based on commercial mining scheme, thereby stepping up efforts to expedite the allocation process.
The grand event would comprise auctions under the third, fourth and fifth tranches that will take place concurrently. However, there remain differences in terms of attempts made for sale of these blocks.
Fifth tranche
Upon introduction of the new auction regime in 2020, the government has successfully carried out various rounds of auctions based on the revenue-sharing model, which promotes sustainable mining by removing any restriction on sale of coal.
These auctions have now extended to the fifth tranche, which is a new round of auction altogether, featuring a total of 109 coal blocks spread across 11 coal-bearing states in the country.
Of the total blocks on offer, 18 are new blocks entering into the auction fray for the first time, whereas the remaining blocks are unsold ones that have been rolled-over from the earlier tranches.
Third and fourth tranches
Unlike the fifth tranche, auctions under the third and fourth tranches are second attempts for sale for blocks which had received a single bid in the technical round.
As per the methodology of the auction process, only blocks that receive more than one technical bid in the first attempt of sale qualify for the financial round of bidding. On the other hand, blocks that receive just one technical bid are bound to undergo a second attempt at sale.
There are nine such blocks on offer under the third tranche, whereas six blocks would feature under the fourth.
Initially, there were 10 coal blocks in all that had received just a single bid under the third tranche. But, the Ministry has removed the Basantpur coal block from the list and put it for sale under the fifth tranche.
Auction schedule
Irrespective of the auction tranche, the Ministry has decided to carry out sale for blocks simultaneously.
As per the latest schedule, various pre-bid activities including pre-bid meeting, written responses to queries and request for site visit would be completed by the second week of May.
The due date for bid submission is 27 May after which these bids would be examined for evaluating the technically qualified bidders. Finally, the electronic auction will commence 21 Jun.
* Last date for registration: 20 May, 2022
* Last date for sale of tender document: 23 May, 2022
* Bid due date: 27 May, 2022
* Opening of technical bid: 30 May, 2022
* Examination of technical bid: 31 May-20 Jun, 2022
* Conduct of electronic auction: 21 Jun- 4 Jul, 2022
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