Damodar Valley Corp (DVC) will pay Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) Rs 43 crore in 1998-99 for exclusive use of coal from the newly-developed Biswakarma coal mines. The coal is to be used for DVCs 630 mw Mejia power station.
This is the first time ever that DVC has agreed to pay a coal company to develop a particular coal mine to ensure that the entire output is exclusively available to it. The Rs 43 crore to be paid will be adjusted against coal supply at an agreed rate.
DVC has, however, rejected another offer by the Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL) for a joint venture to develop the Bakulia coal mine.
The DVC management feels that ECLs concept of pricing coal from this particular colliery on a cost-plus basis will be too high. Estimates are that the coal will cost Rs 200 more for every tonne.
Moreover, Bakulia will be an underground mine located in a gaseous zone where mining will be hazardous. DVC is, therefore, unwilling to block its money in the Bakulia venture.
The DVC power project had originally been allocated three coal mines at Kalidaspur, Bakulia and Ardhagram. DVC expects to finish laying its merry-go-round railway track between Mejia and Kalidaspur by April 15. So far, coal was being transported by trucks and this was restricting generation at Mejia.
Coal from the Biswakarma coal mine will be available in a few months time.
The mine will produce 70 lakh tonnes of coal every year and the reserves are expected to last 10 years. Though the coal is primarily meant for the Mejia plant, it will also be occasionally routed to DVCs Waria power station in Durgapur.
Mejias 3-unit station will need three million tonnes of coal every year when all the units are fully operational.
Its merry-go-round railway track is 21.73 km-long, while the nearest railway station is at Ranigunj, about 15 km from the power station.
