As many as 17 projects, both big and small, involving production of 101MT, were delayed due to the long wait in getting clearances from the environment and forest ministry

State-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) has revised its production target to 486 million tonnes (MT) from 520MT by 2012, as the delay in getting environment and forest clearances for some of its projects have affected production, company chairman Partha S Bhattacharyya told PTI.

"In the mid-term appraisal, the company's production target has been revised to 486MT from 520MT by 2012," he said.

As many as 17 projects, both big and small, involving production of 101MT, were delayed due to the long wait in getting clearances from the environment and forest ministry, Mr Bhattacharyya told reporters in Kolkata after a press conference to announce the Asian Mining Congress, which will be held here from 22nd January.

Mr Bhattacharyya said if CIL received environment and forest clearance for those projects now, the company would still be able to produce 47MT of coal in the remaining two years.

He said normally, it should take 300 days for a project to get clearance, but it has taken about five years to get these clearances.

There should be an integrated approach to give clearances and a proper policy should be formulated for this purpose, he added.
 

RCF’s plan to set up facilities in Africa has been delayed, as its partners do not believe that there is any commercial value in fertilisers

India’s largest fertiliser maker by capacity and revenue, Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF) Ltd’s plans to set up facilities in the African continent have been stalled. RCF’s mining partner in South Africa doesn’t find commercial value in investing in the continent, due to drop in prices of diammonium phosphate (DAP), company officials said.

One of its major partners, Foskor, has had reservations in setting up these facilities owing to the drop in DAP prices, a senior official from RCF said.

RCF had planned to build a greenfield DAP and urea facilities in South Africa and Mozambique last year. Both plants were estimated to have cost Rs14,000 crore-Rs15,000 crore. Under the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between RCF, Foskor and South Africa's Industrial Development Corp (IDC), the companies were to produce about 1.1 million tonnes to 1.2 million tonnes per year of urea and about 600,000-700,000 tonnes per year of phosphate fertilisers at their Mozambique plant.

“The international fertiliser market is not conducive for heavy investments,” the RCF official said.

The fact that Foskor would have provided the raw materials like mineral and rock phosphate for its facilities would have made it much easier for the fertiliser company to produce DAP and urea. Also, a key advantage would have been its ability to source natural gas at a much lower cost.

"We are looking at Africa closely as there are abundant sources of minerals which need to be exploited. However, we will not be pushing this forward without Foskor by our side," the official said.

Another official tells us that the deal is also being delayed by both governments who have not agreed as to who would get majority of the produce. There is also an argument as to the distribution of natural gas in South Africa, which is a major feedstock for producing urea.

According to him, the issues related to each company’s stake in the project and the quantity of the produce to be shipped to India has lead to the current situation.
 
RCF had agreed to set up facilities there due to the availability of feedstock resources and strong demand in the country. According to the original plan, the company was to send the produce to India through ships from Port Mabuto, at Mozambique. RCF would have to import almost 90% of the finished products for its Indian market requirements as well as exports.
 

India's colourful, stubborn loquaciousness, so enchanting on a personal level, turns out to be anything but that when it comes to the country's international relations. On crucial matters of global concern, from climate change to multilateral trade, India all too often just says no.

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