NEW DELHI: Coal India Ltd’s capital expenditure rose 33% in the first half of the current financial year (April-September) to Rs 7,027 crore, or Rs 1,727 crore more in the same period a year ago, as the state-run miner expanded coal evacuation infrastructure to speed up supplies.
Evacuation infrastructure was identified as one of the hurdles in improving supplies during the fuel crisis faced by coal-fired plants in 2021 and this year. No wonder, building new coal handling plants or silos and rail corridors and sidings accounted for 36%, or Rs 2,547 crore, of the capital expenditure.
Indeed, coal evacuation projects exceeded expenditure on land acquisition and procurement of heavy earth moving machinery which conventionally accounted for the major part of capital expenditure.
