Mining major Coal India said it had appointed the Power Finance Corporation to select a suitable partner and operator for its proposed 1,600 MW power project in Orissa.

Mr NC Jha chairman of CIL said that "We have appointed PFC to identify a partner for management of power plant at a tariff based pricing system. We are looking for a 50:50 JV with the partner.”

CIL had mooted the 1,600 MW coal based power plant to utilize the coal from Vasundhara coalfields in Orissa.

Mr Jha said that "If we want to raise production, there must also be consumption. We are planning for more thermal power plants at coalfields where there is inadequate evacuation infrastructure.”

He said there were two more such locations where power projects could come up, one in Bandraigarh in Chatttisgarh and the other in North Karanpura in Jharkhand.

At present, CIL tries to evacuate coal by selling it through e-auction and already has permission to sell 20 per cent of the coal from these locations through the auction route.

(Sourced from ET)