Bhubaneswar: No bids have been received for three coal blocks out of four for which the Union Ministry of Coal had once again invited bids.
Ministry of Coal, which invited bids for four coal blocks – Chendipada, Chendipada-II and Kuraloi (A) North Coal Blocks in Odisha and Seregarha Coal Block in Jharkhand.
One bid has been received for Kuraloi (A) North Coal Block. No bids have been received for the other coal blocks.
Earlier the tender process for these coal blocks was annulled in the first round of auction for commercial mining as the number of technically qualified bidders for each mine was just one.
The coal blocks which are fully explored have an annual peak-rated capacity of 52 Million Tonnes (MT).
The Nominated Authority initiated the second attempt of auction of these coal mines with the same terms and conditions as in the first annulled attempt of auction.
The auction process of four coal mines – Chendipada &Chendipada-II, Kuraloi (A) North and Seregarha – for sale of coal was launched by the Nominated Authority, Ministry of Coal on 9 December, 2020.
This was the second attempt of auction for these coal mines, for which the process was annulled in first attempt due to number of Technically Qualified Bidders being less than two.
The last date for submission of Technical Bid was 27 January, 2021.
Technical Bids of bidders, comprising of online and offline bid documents, were opened on 28 January, 2021, 12:00 noon onwards at the Union Ministry of Coal at Shastri Bhawan in New Delhi.
This was done in the presence of the representatives of bidders. Bidders were provided with the option of joining the meeting in-person or virtually.
The online bids were decrypted and opened electronically and subsequently sealed envelopes containing offline bid documents were also opened.
The bids will be evaluated by a multi-disciplinary Technical Evaluation Committee and further actions shall be taken in accordance with provisions of Tender Document under the auction process, said an official.
Earlier, Union Minister Coal, Pralhad Joshi said 19 auctioned mines will generate total revenues of around Rs 7,000 crore per annum and create more than 69,000 jobs once they are operationalized.
In June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the auction process for 41 coal blocks for commercial mining.
The auction of coal blocks for commercial mining has opened India’s coal sector to private players.
The first-ever auction of coal blocks for commercial mining witnessed tough competition.
Some of the large corporate houses that have bagged coal blocks include Adani Enterprises, Vedanta, Hindalco Industries and Jindal Power.
