Coal India Ltd (CIL) is planning to set up seven coal washeries at an estimated cost of Rs 2,000 crore. The washeries, expected to come up by the end of this fiscal, will wash nearly 15 million tonnes of coal.

According to Tapas Kumar Sinha, General Manager, Project Monitoring Division, CIL, short-listing of prospective bidders have already been carried out for four of the projects.

“Projects will be on a public-private-partnership format and on a turnkey basis. Discussions on four of these washeries are in an advanced stage,” Sinha said on the sidelines of a conference, ‘India-South Africa Economic Co-Operation: Promotion of Capital Equipments’, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Eastern Region.

The maintenance cost of the washeries will be borne by CIL, he added.

Coal India, currently, has 17 washeries which wash around 35 million tonnes of coal.

>abhishek.l@thehindu.co.in