TN power utility turns to non-forest Coal block in Odisha to bypass eco hurdle

Chennai, Feb 19 The Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Company (TANGEDCO) will soon float a tender to develop the Chandrabila coal block in Odisha.

The tender, according to sources in TANGEDCO will be floated by the end of February.

TANGEDCO will be using the coal mines from this block for its power projects such as the 800 MW North Chennai Thermal power station Stage -3. The coal will be used also for the 1320 MW Ennore SEZ power station.

The Centre had allocated the Chandrabila coal block in Odisha to TANGEDCO in 2016 and the state-owned company should have completed the development of coal mines at Chandrabila before 2021.

However, the lack of clearance from the Union Ministry of Environment it could not be taken forward as environment clearance was required for forest areas that were not permitted by the Ministry.

Interestingly, two tenders were floated earlier but there were no takers due to the low price of the tender. However, TANGEDCO officials told IANS that this time around, the bidders will be allowed to quote the price that suits them to develop the project.

TANGEDCO has now devised plans to develop part of the Chandrabila coal block that is not within the forest area and for this tenders will be floated.

It is to be noted that the Chandrabila Coal block is spread across 9.32 square kilometers with a total geographical reserve of coal of 896.16 tonnes. Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Company have been allowed to mine 10 million tonnes per year for a period of 35 years.

The non-forest area of the Chandrabila coal mine is around 5 sq km out of the 9.32 sq km.