Kolkata, April 29 (IANS) Power utility CESC Ltd, owned by the PRG group, will be able to import coal from a South African mine from 2014, a top executive of the company said Friday.
‘We have taken 10 percent stake in an Australian company for future offtake from a South African mine under development. We will be able to import coal from the mine from 2014,’ CESC vice chairman Sanjiv Goenka said at a press conference here.
‘We have a total of 40 million tonnes agreement. We will get 2 million tonnes in a year for 20 years,’ he said.
On the company’s 600 MW Haldia thermal project in West Bengal’s East Midnapore district, Goenka said the boiler and turbine projects for it had been finalised.
‘Financial closure for the project is achieved and infrastructure work is in progress. We expect that very soon we will reach zero date for the project,’ he said.
On coal mine auctions in the country, Goenka said: ‘We expect auction of coal mines in India in the next 12 months. We are going to bid aggressively.
‘We need to get coal mines if we have to supply electricity in the city (Kolkata). We need to get control over the coal,’ he added.
