KOLKATA: Even as Coal India Ltd (CIL) gets ready to seek board approval for its proposed engagement with the ailing Mining and Allied Machinery Corporation (MAMC), Chinese companies have shown keenness to participate in the venture in which another Indian state-controlled company, Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC), has also shown interest.

Takeover not proposed

CIL Chairman, Partha S. Bhattacharyya, said at a press meet here on Thursday that at this juncture, a takeover was not proposed, but CIL would help fund the revival of MAMC, which could then supply crucial mining machinery.

CIL Director Technical, N. C. Jha, said that at the recently concluded meeting of the India-China Working Group on Coal, Chinese mining equipment manufacturing companies like China Mining Engineering Equipment Company had shown interest in participating in the venture.

Special purpose vehicle

MAMC, a central public sector undertaking, has remained closed for over ten years now and its infrastructure would have to be checked out, Mr. Jha said. "China will also send a team to assess the state of infrastructure," he said, adding that a special purpose vehicle (SPV) might be floated for this purpose. DVC was interested since it was also planning to expand its presence in coal mining to support its power plants.

Earlier, Mr. Bhattacharyya said CIL would invest Rs. 18,000 crore in the Eleventh Plan which began this week.

New projects

"Altogether, 119 projects with a coal contribution of 75 million tonnes have been planned," he said, adding that 41,000 hectares would be required by CIL, the second biggest landowner after Indian Railways. "Implementing the new projects would hinge on CIL's ability to acquire land and suggestions have been made on the formulation of a national rehabilitation policy."

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