CM to lay stone for power plant

Hyderabad, Oct 7 :

The Chief Minister K Rosaiah will lay foundation stone for a coal-based 600 MW power plant to be set up by the Singareni Collieries at Jaipur village near Mancherial  in Adilabad District at the earliest.

Mr S Narsing Rao, Chairman and Managing Director of Singareni Collieries, informed the Chief Minister that everything is ready to launch the project and land to the tune of 1900 acres has already been acquired. The total estimated cost of the Project is Rs. 2700 crores. Coal reserves from an abandoned underground mine is also tied up for the Project. He said a Power Purchase Agreement with AP Transco will also be signed in this regard.  

Meanwhile the Chief Minister appreciated the performance of the Singareni Collieries.  He was assured by the Singareni MD that the Singareni Collieries will not allow Genco to suffer for want of coal. “It is our responsibility to meet the requirements of AP Genco. We have not allowed AP Genco to suffer for want of coal,” he said

The Singareni MD informed the Chief Minister that there are a total reserves of 9384.33 MT of coal in the SCCL fields at Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam districts, The turnover of the Company as on March 31 is Rs.6396  crores and human assets are 70,586. The SCCL is the largest and only coal producer in the South India. It produces 9% of total coal from 7% of total reserves in the country. 73% of the 32 MT dispatched to 9 power houses in 4 States and it has the locational advantages with lesser transportation costs. It has the healthy product mix of underground and opencast coal ensures prudent and concervative exploitation of a scarce resource. The net profit of the company during 2008-09 was Rs. 132 crores. 

The Singareni Collieries Company paid Rs. 780.8 crores during 2008-09 to the State Government towards royalty and VAT etc.

The Company also paid Rs.382 crores to Government of India during 2008-09 as Income Tax, excise duty etc. Easing pressure on natural resources, the company is using steel and hadraulic supports in underground in lieu of timber. The specific energy consumption of SCCL has come down from 24.93 (1998-99) to 13.93 (2008-09). The Chief Minister was explained that 60% of pumped mine water is reused for internal consumption and balance is let out for agriculture. Special Chief Secretary, Energy, A K Goel and other officials also attended the meeting.