Coal news and updates

Cement-makers urge MoC to consider fresh linkages

February 7: The Cement Manufacturers' Association (CMA) has urged the Ministry of Coal to consider allowing fresh linkages for kilns and captive power plants required for capacity expansion in the sector.

In a letter to Coal Secretary S K Srivastava, CMA Secretary General N A Viswanathan said that a large number of applications for long-term linkages to cement units were pending before the ministry and that no linkages had been sanctioned to the sector in the last six years (since November 2007).

As of December 2012, 131 linkage applications from cement manufacturers for brown-field and green-field capacities were pending with an annual requirement of 52.4 million tons (mt), he added.