'CIL must buy property abroad'

To become globally competitive, Coal India Ltd must acquire property overseas to source 10 million tonne of coal per year, entailing an overseas equity investment of Rs 7,000 crore (Rs 70 billion), Minister of State for Coal and Mines Dasari Narayana Rao said on Tuesday.

Small and uneconomic underground mines, excess of low-skilled manpower, lack of adequate functional autonomy, social problems relating to land acquisition and rehabilitation and administrative delays in project approvals were some of the serious problems ailing the CIL and rendering it globally uncompetitive, he told the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Coal at Neyveli, a senior coal ministry official said.

The public sector behemoth needed to acquire property overseas to source about 10 million tonne of coal per year with an equity investment of Rs 7,000 crore. He said the coal ministry was taking initiative to introduce GPS-based Mine management system and operator independent truck dispatch system (OITDS) in 14 open cast mines.