The CCEA approved two opencast coal-mining projects — Bhubaneswari and Kaniha — of Mahanadi Coalfields in Orissa as part of its efforts to meet the fuel shortage. The Bhubaneswari opencast coal-mining project would need a capital investment of Rs.336.68 crore and incur a completion cost of Rs.418.81 crore.

The Kaniha opencast project will cost Rs.106.88 crore on completion and require Rs.96.18 crore of capital investment.

While the Bhubaneswari project is targeted to produce 10 million tonnes of grade F (non-coking) coal from ninth year of operation, the Kaniha unit will mine 3.5 million tonnes of the same coal variety from the fourth year of operation.

Coal produced from the Bhubaneswari project will be supplied to linked customers like National Thermal Power Corporation and other State Government-owned thermal power stations.

Bhubaneswari has total coal reserves of 741 million tonnes, of which 374 million tonnes will be mined by this project. Kaniha has total reserves of 756 million tonnes, of which 93 million tonnes will be produced by the project.

Mahanadi Coalfields will come up with an expansion programme for the Kaniha project in 12 months.