The Hindu reported that global investors want single window clearance mechanism to be put in place for investments to be made in the coal sector.
The long waiting list of environmental and forest approvals and problems in land acquisition and rehabilitation are the primary reasons holding back companies, global investors indicated at a road show organized by IDFC in Singapore and Hong Kong.
A government official who attended the road shows said that "We met more than 100 investors (companies dealing in coal sector, financial institutions and banks) in Singapore and Hong Kong. All of them cited green clearance and land acquisition as major hurdles faced by infrastructure projects. Unless, the government promises a single window clearance, they are not willing to come forward."
The Indian team was led by coal minister Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal.
Minister of state for coal Mr Pratik Prakashbapu Patil had voiced a similar sentiment. He had informed Rajya Sabha that coal production was adversely affected due to delays in obtaining environmental and forestry clearances, land acquisition and related rehabilitation problems.
Law and order problems in some coal fields and evacuation constraints are other issues adding to the woes. Coal demand in India has seen compounded annual growth rate of 7%, while coal production has grown by just 4.6% during the 11th Five Year Plan.
To increase domestic output, the government proposes to exploit reserves under public private partnership model.
CIL plans to increase output to 615 million tonnes by 2016-17 by outsourcing jobs to private companies. At the same time, it plans to set up washeries and improve mining technology, where private partnership is envisaged.
The public sector miner has 31,647 contractual workers engaged in different projects. Currently, 178 proposals of Coal India are awaiting the green nod. Out of these, 133 proposals are pending at State levels and 45 applications are with the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
According to Coal Ministry information to Rajya Sabha, in addition, 51 proposals from other companies are also pending at the State and Central level.
Source - The Hindu
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