Mudajaya : No updates on Indian coal block license

PETALING JAYA: Mudajaya Group Bhd 's 26% associate company RKM Powergen Private Ltd (RKMP) has not been notified of any developments in relation to its coal block license in India, the group said last Friday.
It clarified that its 4x360MW coal-fired power plant in Chhattisgarh, India currently has sufficient coal-linkages for its operation.
"We wish to state that RKMP, which has an interest in the Fatehpur East coal block, has not been notified by the Indian authorities of any further development in relation to its coal block license.
"The coal block allocation acts only to supplement the tapering coal-linkage supply requirement of RKMP and has no impact to the operations of the power plant project," Mudajaya group managing director and CEO Anto Joseph said in a statement released Friday.
Last Wednesday various media reported that India's Supreme Court had canceled 214 of the 218 coal-block licenses issued since 1993, saying they were granted illegally.
The cancellations followed a ruling by the court last month that issuance of the licenses was arbitrary and non-transparent. India's federal auditor in 2012 said the government lost as much as 1.86 trillion rupees (US$30 billion) in potential revenue because it granted the licenses without competitive bidding.
Joseph added in his statement that the coal supply agreements have fuel pass-through clauses which allow any changes in coal prices to be adjusted in the power tariff.
RKMP had signed coal supply agreements for the total contracted quantity of coal of 6.24 million metric tonnes per year as per its filings with Bursa Malaysia dated September 9 and October 2, 2013.