Coal Ministry to take up 19 additional First Mile Connectivity projects

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Coal will take up additional 19 first mile connectivity (FMC) projects for Coal India Ltd (CIL) and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) with a capacity of 330 million tonnes and these projects will be implemented by the financial year 2026-27.

The coal ministry on Monday said it has already undertaken 55 such projects (44 - CIL, 5- SCCL and 3 - NLCIL) of 526 MTPA capacity with an investment of Rs 18,000 crore.

"Out of which eight projects (6-CIL & 2-SCCL) of 95.5 MTPA capacity have been commissioned and the remaining will be commissioned by FY2025," the Ministry said in a release.

To ensure efficient and environ-friendly coal evacuation in future, the Ministry of Coal is working on developing the National Coal Logistic Plan including first-mile connectivity (FMC) through railway sidings near coal mines and strengthening the rail network in coalfields.

Also, the Ministry has set a target to produce 1.31 billion tonne of coal by 2024-25 and 1.5 billion tonne in 2029-30.

For such ambition, the development of coal transportation that is the cost-efficient, fast and environmentally friendly manner is important.

"The Ministry has formulated a strategy to develop an integrated approach for eliminating road transportation of coal in mines and has taken steps to upgrade mechanized coal transportation and loading system under FMC projects. Coal Handling Plants (CHPs) and SILOs with Rapid Loading Systems will have benefits like crushing, sizing coal and speedy computer-aided loading," the release said.