BS reported that CIL has expressed confidence that it would be able to meet the deadline set by the Mozambique government to develop two blocks in the Moatize region in the northern part of that country.

As per report the company will invite fresh bids for exploration within a month, after the earlier bids got cancelled. It expects to start work by the end of this year.

The blocks were awarded to CIL in 2009 and the local government had set a time line of five years till 2014 for the company to develop it. But even after two years of allotment, the firm failed to start exploration activities, raising anxiety from some quarters. CIL had cancelled all the three bids received for exploration of the blocks, which was supposed to start this month.

When asked about this, Phalguni Guha chief general manager of Coal Videsh, the CIL arm which scouts for coal assets overseas said that “A fresh tender would be invited within a month. Based on that, a new agency would be appointed within five months and exploration is expected to start by the end of this year. We have enough time to conclude the activity within the allottted period of five years.”

However, this seems to be a difficult prospect for the company as exploration activities may take close to three years to get completed. An official source close to the development said that “Whether CIL would be able to meet the deadline in two years, provided it starts drilling by the end of this year, is still a question. With the kind of infrastructure available in that country, production without the extension of deadline seems to a difficult task to meet.”

(Sourced from BS)