Draft rules for coal auction out

Girja Shankar Kaura

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 18

Looking to complete the process for the auctioning of the cancelled coal mines by March next year, the government today came out with the draft rules for the e-auction and invited stakeholders’ comments on the suggested floor price and its ceiling for power sector bidders.

The Coal Ministry published the draft rules for e-auction of 92 cancelled coal mines in the first phase, fixing a floor price of Rs 150 per tonne for sectors like steel, sponge iron, cement and captive power.

“In order to conduct the auction of coal mines in accordance with the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Ordinance, 2014 and the rules framed there under, the authority (nominated) is required to prepare a tender document. Accordingly, an approach paper to the tender document has been prepared for public consultation,” the government today notified.

The government said coal mines shall be earmarked for different end-use sectors and allocated through a competitive bidding process of e-auction. “The e-auction may be conducted on forward or reverse basis, depending on the end-use industry. Applications will be sought from intending companies in these sectors for pre-qualifications and only the top 50 per cent of the pre-qualified bidders will be allowed to submit their bids,” the ministry said.

The draft rules propose tariff-based reverse bidding where the end-use is power generation, and forward bidding for production of steel, cement and generation of power for captive use.

“The indicative price offer shall be bid price per tonne of the coal produced. Such bid price shall be above the floor price in case of forward bidding or below the ceiling price in case of reverse bidding. The floor price and ceiling price for the coal mine along with the methodology for fixing the same shall be included in the tender document,” it said.