Coal India to submit report on Aerotropolis impact soon

Kolkata: The controversy over the economic impact of constructing the country’s first Aerotropolis at the high quality thermal coal bearing zone of Andal (approximately 150 km from Kolkata) may take a definitive turn next week.

Coal India will submit a detailed study on the impact of the project on coal mining projects in the area to the State Government and the Union Coal Ministry in about seven days.

Aerotropolis is an emerging concept for building an aviation-oriented businesses cluster around airports and along transportation corridors radiating from them, similar in shape to the traditional metropolis made up of a central city core and its commuter-linked suburbs.

The $2.5-billion Durgapur Aerotropolis project promoted by Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd. (BAPL) will include a private airport proposed to be set up with technical assistance of Changi Airports International (CAI).

“Early estimates showed that about 2,355 million tonnes of prime thermal coal reserves are present in that area,” Mr Partha Bhattacharyya, Chairman CIL, told newspersons at the sidelines of the Ninth International Mining & Machinery Exhibition in Kolkata. Thermal coal is used in power generation.

As the State has been provided with the detailed map of the airport city project, CIL through its wholly owned subsidiary Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI) is now preparing a detailed report on the geological and recoverable reserves as well as the impact, if any, on the existing and proposed coal mines in the area. “We will give our studied opinion on the estimation of loss of mining reserves. Following this it will be up to the State and the Centre to decide on relocating the project or sacrificing the coal reserves for construction of the airport city,” he said.

Earlier inaugurating IMME ‘08, the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, stressed upon the need to step up coal production in the State using modern underground technologies.

On queries regarding signing fuel supply agreement (FSA) with power sector, the CIL Chairman indicated that the company may have to raise the minimum supply/off-take level (trigger) for the existing power stations from the proposed 60 per cent. “We may have to give some relaxation to the power sector. However, it should commensurate with the country’s coal production projections,” he said.

According to Mr Bhattacharjee, the scheduled meeting with NTPC chairman in this regard is postponed to November 10.