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South Eastern Coalfields Aims At 262 Million Tonne Coal Production By 2025-26

Coal India’s arm aims at playing a lead role to meet the parent’s production goal.



A workers unloads a sack of coal from a truck at a wholesale supplier’s in New Delhi, India, on Sunday. (Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg)
A workers unloads a sack of coal from a truck at a wholesale supplier’s in New Delhi, India, on Sunday. (Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/Bloomberg)

South Eastern Coalfields Ltd. is expected to produce 262 million tonnes by 2025-26, contributing 26 percent to the one billion tonne coal production target of Coal India, officials said.

The subsidiary of the coal behemoth aims at playing a lead role to meet the production goal with its new rail corridor being built at a cost of Rs 3,055 crore, the officials said.

"The 136 km East Rail Corridor from Kharsia-Korichapar -Dharamjaygarh-Korba will play a key role to meet the production goal, Coal India officials said.

The miner had also decided to procure rakes of its own to expedite supplies of the fuel through the mode of railways. In 2018-19, SECL had produced 153 million tonne of coal and the new railway tracks will help coal evacuation from greenfield and existing mines, the miner said.

In the first phase, the 44-km of new railway line in Chhattisgarh between Kharsia and Korichapar has been made operational from October 12.

"Already, two rakes a day are being loaded but this will be increased, and coal is now supplied to power stations of Maharashtra and Gujarat," an official said.

East Rail Corridor is developed by the Chhattisgarh East Railway Ltd., a special purpose vehicle between SECL, Chhattisgarh government and IRCON International at a cost of Rs 3,055 crore for laying down a 136 km rail line from Kharsia-Korichapar-Dharamjaygarh-Korba.

While SECL holds a stake of 64 percent in this tri-partite SPV, Chhattisgarh government and IRCON have 10 percent and 26 percent holding respectively.

The next phase of the 30 km railway line between Korichapar and Dharamjaygarh is likely to come up by middle of 2020 and from Dharamjaygarh to Korba, a stretch of 62 kms, is expected to be linked by end by 2022.

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