GOVT’S AIM TO REDUCE COAL IMPORT MAY HIT ADANI’S PLANS

The government’s aim of reducing coal import and improving domestic production could upset the plan of Adani Enterprises, one of the country’s largest importers of the fuel. Some early signs are already showing. Analysts are also sceptical of the company’s mining and trading targets for 2020. Part of the Adani Group’s ‘Year 2020’ vision is to achieve a mining and trading volume of 200 million tonnes. AMRITHA PILLAY reports

The Adani Group plans to begin extracting coal from the $16.5-billion Carmichael project in Australia in 2020 after environmental protests had delayed the first phase of the mine. The company will begin work on the project three months after it gets final approval from Australia’s federal government, Gautam Adani, chairman of the group, said on Friday. Adani expects permission from Malcolm Turnbull’s government for the project in Queensland’s Galilee Basin as early as May, he said. Protests against Australia’s largest coal project had delayed production, prompting the company to cut underground mining capacity by 38 per cent. Environmentalists are concerned that the development will threaten vulnerable species including a lizard known as the yakka skink, as well as the Great Barrier Reef. The project was meant to fuel power generation for 100 million Indians and create 10,000 jobs in Queensland.

“Most of the approvals have gone through,” Annastacia Palaszczuk, premier of Queensland said in Mumbai on Friday, with Adani present during the briefing. “We don’t believe there will be any obstacles for that final piece of legislation going through the federal parliament and environmental conditions have been attached as well.” Palaszczuk said.