NTPC to mine local coal to meet its need - Quoted in the Financial Chronicle

Mr Arup Roy Choudhury chairman of NTPC in an interview with Financial Chronicle said that NTPC is not looking at acquiring overseas coal mines, and instead, it will focus on exploiting captive mines allocated to it to meet fuel demand.
Mr Choudhury said that “By 2017, I see one third of the coal coming from our own mines. It is always good to do own coal linkage. We (India) have fifth largest coal bearings in the world. We have 106 billion tonne of established reserves. We are not even mining one billion a year.”
Undisrupted coal linkage to its thermal units is vital for NTPC to achieve the 12th five year plan target of 66,000 MW by March 31st 2017. This is slightly less than double the present installed capacity of 36,014 mw. Earlier, NTPC was eyeing acquisition of coal blocks abroad, including Africa. It was also a part of the International Coal Ventures which was formed to acquire coal assets overseas in 2009. In 2011, NTPC opted put of ICVL. The PSU power producer has been allocated three captive mines in Jharkhand. Out of these, NTPC will mine coal from Pakri Barwadih starting 2012-13. The mine near Hazaribagh in Jharkhand can produce 15 million tonne of coal per annum.
Mr Choudhury said that “We took seven years to come to this stage (to start production from Pakri Barwadih). Traditionally, Indian miners take double that time to start output from a coal mine.”
At the same time, tenders have been floated for the Chatti Bariatu mine, which is expected to produce 7 million tonne a year. The third mine, Kerandari, is estimated to produce 6 million tonne per annum.
Hyderabad based Mr Dipesh Dipu director at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Private said that “The choice of having domestic coal linkage or using imported coal primarily depends on the availability and location of its plant. If the unit is situated in a coal bearing state such as Chhattisgarh or Jharkhand or in their neighbourhood, the transportation cost would be less.”