Coal India To Sign Vizag Port Deal

Coal India To Sign Vizag Port Deal

Coal India Ltd (CIL) is expected to sign a deal to acquire space at Vizag Steel’s port in Visakhapatnam.

CIL Chairman, Partha Bhattacharya, , said the company is looking to go in for joint venture or acquire parts of existing ports rather than setting up its own.

“We are more or less close to signing a deal with Vizag Steel to start with. RIL/RINL has moved out of Vizag Steel so that space has been offered to us and we have accepted it for our imports. Compensation needs to be discussed. A 4-5 million tonne capacity would be available to us at any point in time,” he said.

CIL is also in talks with other ports, including Gangavaram, Dhamra, Krishnapattanam, and Kandla and is also looking at coal-bed methane and coal mine gasification projects, though Mr Bhattacharya said water contamination problem was a concern.


“As long as there is no definite solution (to the water contamination problem) we can’t risk it because we don’t have coal in barren places. But if there is any technology evolving anywhere in the world, we will take it. We are seriously looking at underground coal gasification projects,” he said.

Coal India Ltd. may also spend $1.7 billion to buy stakes in five mines in Australia, Indonesia and the U.S. to help bridge a shortfall in Asia’s third-biggest energy consumer.