BHUBANESWAR | Apr 21, 2015: The state government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with coal and railway ministries in New Delhi on Monday to form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for evacuation of coal through rail from Talcher coalfields.
This SPV is meant to augment railway infrastructure by constructing additional lines, sidings for evacuating coal from mines of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), official sources said.
The MoU was signed in the presence of railway minister Suresh Prabhu, Union coal minister Piyush Goyal and Odisha commerce and transport minister Ramesh Majhi.
"The state government will have 10% equity in the SPV while coal and railway ministries or their PSUs will have 64% and 26% share respectively," Majhi told TOI over phone.
He said the state government will facilitate acquisition of land and obtain forest and environment clearances for the venture.
The sources said PSU IRCON will participate in the SPV on behalf of the railway ministry.
Since the main aim of the SPV is to increase rail connectivity for coal movement, 50-odd rail projects have been identified to be connected with mines.
The SPV will have an authorized share capital of Rs 1,000 crore with initial paid up capital of Rs 50 crore.
To encourage participation of private investors, project promoters and other stakeholders, further joint venture companies will be formed, said an officer.
In February, Union coal secretary Anil Swarup had a meeting with Odisha chief secretary G C Pati in this matter. Augmentation of the railway infrastructure in the Talcher and Ib Valley is crucial as the Coal India Limited (CIL) has set a target to produce one billion tonne (1,000 MT) of coal by 2019.
Similarly, MCL, a subsidiary of CIL, is also set to double its production from 125 million tonne a year by 2020. The coal ministry is also planning similar SPV for evacuation of coal in Ib Valley.
Earlier, the Centre had taken up a number of initiatives for evacuation of coal.
(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)