February 27, 2013

NTPC Ltd. is planning to invest about Rs. 13,000 crore ($2.4 billion) to develop a coal mine and set up a new coal-fired power plant. The company’s board has approved an investment of 13.15 billion rupees to develop the Chatti-Bariatu coal mine in the eastern state of Jharkhand.

The company could produce 7.0 million metric tons of coal annually from the Chatti-Bariatu mine. The coal block had been allotted to NTPC by the central government a few years ago. The government in 2011 cancelled the license as the company hadn’t done much to start mining, but late last month reallocated the block to NTPC.

India is suffering from a critical shortage of electricity, mainly due to inadequate supply of coal to run power plants. Around 57% of India’s power plants run on the dry fuel.

NTPC said it would invest 116.38 billion rupees to build a 1,600-megawatts power plant in Madhya Pradesh. The company said the proposed project doesn’t yet have the environment ministry’s approval.

Getting environmental clearances in India is a tedious process, which could take between several months and a few years. Several infrastructure projects are held up because of the delay in getting the environment ministry’s approval.