For Coal India Ltd (CIL) and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), the Ministry of Coal will take on an additional 19 first mile connectivity (FMC) projects with a combined capacity of 330 million tonnes. These projects will be completed by the fiscal year 2026–2027.
The coal ministry announced on Monday that it had already invested 180,000 million in 55 such projects, totaling 526 MTPA in capacity (44 CIL, 5 SCCL, and 3 NLCIL).
"Eight projects, of which six (CIL) and two (SCCL) are of 95.5 MTPA capacity have been put into service, and by FY2025 the remaining capacity will as well "a release from the ministry stated.
The Ministry of Coal is establishing the National Coal Logistic Plan, which includes first-mile connectivity (FMC) through railway sidings near coal mines and strengthening the rail network in coalfields, to enable efficient and environmentally beneficial coal evacuation in the future.
Additionally, the Ministry has set production goals for coal of 1.31 billion tonnes by 2024–2025 and 1.5 billion tonnes by 2029–2030.
For such a goal, it is crucial to build coal transportation that is affordable, quick, and environmentally benign. "The Ministry has formulated a strategy to develop an integrated approach for eliminating road transportation of coal in mines and has taken steps to upgrade mechanized coal transportation and loading system under FMC projects. Coal Handling Plants (CHPs) and SILOs with Rapid Loading Systems will have benefits like crushing, sizing coal and speedy computer-aided loading," the release said.
