Coal block auctions to kick off by June

Mumbai: The government is gearing up to hold the first round of coal block auctions in the second quarter of 2012. This will throw up 50 coal blocks for grabs immediately, Union coal minister 

Sriprakash Jaisawal was quoted as saying by news agencies on Monday. 

    On March 22, TOI had front-paged a draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General which stated that public and private commercial entities had reaped windfall gains of Rs 10.67 lakh crore because the government distributed 155 coal blocks to them without auction. 

    The coal ministry has now called for bids from consultants to devise a methodology to fix the floor/reserve price of the blocks to be put up for auction for captive use. 

    On February 2, the ministry had notified rules for auction by competitive bidding and last week asked for applications from domestic as well as international service providers to set up a bid management system for the auction process. The bids will be opened on April 17. 'Auction an alternative to costly coal imports' 

Mumbai: The Central Mine Planning and Design Institute, under the aegis of the coal ministry, will rope in consultants for the coal block auctions by mid-April. They will also help the government structure a tender document for the selection of successful bidders, and the model agreement between the government and the successful bidder. 

    Several agencies had earlier called for a process of competitive bids through a transparent auction for handing over precious natural resources to companies in the light of the 2G telecom scam. "The coal ministry intends to offer captive coal blocks through the bidding route for captive mining of coal for permitted enduse like steel, power and cement sectors notified by the government," said the notice inviting tenders for selection of service providers. The hiring of consultants will end by April and based upon their advice, the government may call first bids by the end of June this year. In a gazette notification last month, the government had notified the rules for auction of coal mines through a competitive bidding process called the Auction by Competitive Bidding of Coal Mines Rules 2012. As per this notification, separate bids would be called for government, non-government firms and power projects won through competitive bids. 

    "The modalities of the auction process are yet to be seen. However, it is expected to draw significant interests from private cement, steel and power firms, besides state-owned SAIL, NTPC and state-utility firms, said an analyst.