Coal news and updates

GSECL floats tender seeking long-term imported coal supply

October 28: The Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited (GSECL) has floated a tender inviting bids (online and physical) to procure up to 100 million tons (mt) imported steam coal directly from miners or a consortium over a period of 20 years on CIF/HSS basis for its three existing and one upcoming power plants in the state of Gujarat.

As per the tender, floated on October 20, the company is looking to procure 5 mt imported coal annually for a period of 20 years.

Of this, 2.5 mt annually would be needed at the Sikka Power Station, 1.1 mtpa at Wanakbori, 0.8 mtpa at Ukai and 0.6 mtpa at its Gandhinagar plant, it said.

The last date for receipt of queries is November 17, 2014 and a pre-bid meeting will be held on November 24. The last date for submission of both physical and online bids is January 27, 2015.

The power generator is looking to procure coal with GCV (ARB) of 5,000-6,000 Kcal/kg, TM (ARB) of 10-22%, ash content (ADB) of 8-12%, FC (ADB) of 30-50% and VM (ADB) of 25-45%. However, the exact specifications would be decided after the pre-bid meeting.

For physical bids, interested suppliers will have to submit earnest money deposit (EMD) equal to Rs 6 crore for every 1 mt of quoted coal quantity.

Only players with at least 51% ownership in the company holding the mining license with minimum remaining validity of 25 years and minimum reserve of 100 mt of mineable coal would be eligible to participate in the tender.

The company had floated a similar tender about a year back also, but could not finalise the deal as it had received limited response, industry sources said.