CIL to raise production capacity to 180 mt in 5 years

State-run Coal India today said it aims at raising production capacity to 180 million tonne over the next five years. "We aim at 8 percent growth in capacity in the current Plan period (2012-2017) to 180 million tonne. It is the combination of what we produced in the last three Plan periods," Coal India Chairman S Narsing Rao said at an Assocham event here.

Coal India has set a production target of 464 million tonne for the current financial year. The company had achieved 435.84 million tonne in 2011-12 against the targeted 447 million tonne. Rao said the company has also asked the government to expedite the law for land acquisition and rehabilitation so that acquiring land for projects could be easier and clear.

Also read: Short Coal India, says Sudarshan Sukhani

"Environment and land acquisition are issues but can be handled. We have apprised the government the need for expediting the passing of Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill," he said. He said that rail infrastructure should be improved as ideally coal should not be transported by road.

At present, 50 percent of coal is transported by railways when it should be much more, Rao said. The world's largest coal producer, CIL has identified 142 new projects, including 107 open cast and 35 underground mining schemes with an ultimate capacity of 380.22 million tonne per annum (MTPA), as new projects and a part of it is likely to be added during this Plan period.

Earlier, CIL had said it wanted to take production capacity to 556 million tonne (MT) by 2016-17. CIL had also said that it was in the process of earmarking about Rs 30,000 crore for capacity expansion during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2012-17) period.