The government on Tuesday made a landmark policy decision to put in place the methodology for auctioning coal blocks, providing for upfront and production-linked payments and benchmarking of coal sale prices.
In an official statement, the government said coal blocks would be put up for auction after the environment ministry reviewed them and bidders have to agree to a minimum work programme.
“The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the methodology for auction by competitive bidding of the coal blocks. (It) provides for auctioning fully explored coal blocks and also provides for fast-tracking the auction by exploration of regionally explored blocks.”
The policy will ensure greater transparency and will pave the way for the government to auction explored blocks.
“The process of bidding of coal blocks will be started very soon,” coal minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said after the CCEA meeting.