PRESS RELEASE: The company said that of the 89 projects seeing delays from order problems, green clearance issues and more, 62 are related to its mining efforts. With 120 total coal projects on its radar, 58 – less than half – are running on schedule.

CIL said that 34 of the 62 delayed projects have fallen behind due to forestry clearances, while 17 delays are due to land acquisition issues and other associated problems.

Seven others are not on schedule as a result of work delays, discontinuances or non-participation by a contractor. A lack of railway infrastructure is the cause behind three project delays, and one related to a legal and order problem.

The non-mining projects delays stem largely from contractor work discontinuance, a law and order problem, land acquisition, rehabilitation issues and forestry clearances.

The world’s largest coal operator has targeted building its annual production from 550Mt/y currently to 1Bt/y by 2020. For the 2017-18 year, it is eyeing an 8.3% year-on-year rise in production to 600 million tonnes. For 2018-19, it said, it is projecting 773.7Mt/y, an increase of nearly 29%.

Even with its growth path, CIL said in the report that it fell short of its 2016-2017 annual production target by 44.48Mt, coming in at 598.61Mt/y.