Team News Riveting
The coal ministry failed to get buyers for the four coal blocks in the second attempt after the tender process was annulled in the first round of auction following the number of technically qualified bidder for each mine was just one.
Of the four coal blocks, which have been put for commercial mining, three are in Odisha and one is in Jharkhand. It includes Chendipada, Chendipada-II and Kuraloi (A) North coal mines in Odisha and Seregarha block in Jharkhand.
The blocks, which are fully explored, have an annual peak-rated capacity of 52 million tonnes (MT).
According to the coal ministry, the auction process of four coal mines for sale of coal was launched by the Nominated Authority, Ministry of Coal on December 09, 2020. Pursuant to Para 2.2.(b) of the Office Memorandum No. CBA2-13011/2/2020-CBA2 dated June 1, 2020 issued by Ministry of Coal, the Nominated Authority had initiated the second attempt of auction with the same terms and conditions as in the first annulled attempt of auction but with the highest Initial Offer of Technically Qualified Bidder received in the first annulled attempt of auction as the Floor Price for the second attempt of auction.
The last date for submission of technical bid was January 27, 2021.Technical Bids of bidders, consisting of online and offline bid documents, were opened today at the Ministry of Coal, Shastri Bhawan, New Delhi, in the presence of the representative of bidders. Bidders were provided with the option of joining the meeting in-person or virtually. The online bids were decrypted and opened electronically and subsequently, sealed envelopes containing offline bid documents were also opened.
One bid has been received for Kuraloi (A) North coal mine while no bids have been received for the other coal mines, the coal ministry said. The bids will be evaluated by a multi-disciplinary Technical Evaluation Committee and further actions shall be taken in accordance with provisions of the Tender Document, under the auction process.
