New Delhi, Oct. 28 NTPC Ltd is looking at the option of importing coal directly from the next financial year instead of the current practice of routing it through agencies such as MMTC, Chairman and Managing Director, Mr R.S. Sharma, said on Wednesday. The power major has set up a committee to look into the issue after experiencing delay in imports.
“We are exploring that (direct imports). We have set up a committee,” Mr Sharma told newspersons in response to queries on delays in getting coal from abroad this year. The Government had mandated State-run MMTC to import 12.5 million tonnes of coal on behalf of NTPC . The tender, reissued at the end of August, is yet to be awarded and the delay is hitting production at some of NTPC’s plants.
Speaking at the event later, the Power Secretary, Mr H.S. Brahma, said MMTC may award the coal-import tender in the next eight to 10 days. “MMTC is likely to award the much-delayed tender for the import of 12.5 million tonnes of coal on behalf of NTPC in the next 8-10 days,” Mr Brahma told presspersons here on the sidelines of ‘India Power forum’. The total coal requirement of NTPC during the current fiscal is around 150 mt. Since the imported coal has a high calorific value, 12.5 mt of the imported dry fuel would be equivalent to around 19 mt of domestic coal.
Mr Sharma earlier said that NTPC would float the bulk tender order for securing equipment for five 800 MW units before March 2010. “We would float bulk tenders for four to five units of 800 MW units before March 2010.” NTPC, which has an installed generation capacity of 30.64 gigawatts, plans to achieve a generation of 75 GW by 2017.
Source : Business Line