Cement, Energy and Environment

purposes, power plants are still left with huge quantities of the effluent. While power utilities have been demanding that it should be fi lled back in the mines, lack of co-ordination between the ministry of coal, the MoEF, coalmines and the power utilities has kept the plan in limbo. India produced 163.56 million tonne of ash in 2012-13 and could utilise 63% of it. In 2011-12, against a production of 145 million tonne of ash, 60 million tonne went unutilised, lying at the sites of thermal power stations. "In India, large-capacity thermal power plants are located at the pithead of coal mines cluster. These thermal plants have serious issue of ash utilisation being remote location," NTPC said in a letter to the coal ministry, asking for inclusion of back filling guidelines. The power producer suggested in the letter that back filling of ash in the mines is the only alternative for its bulk utilisation. A copy of the letter was reviewed by ET. The environment ministry, in its gazette amendment on fly ash utilisation issued in 2009, asked for use of ash in back filling in the 50-km radius of thermal power plants located near the 0 mmes. However, the coal ministry has failed to recognise this in its guidelines on closure of mines. "Pithead stations have large capacity and generate large quantum of ash, like a 3,000 mw station generates 20,000 tonne of ash every day. Mine authorities are not willing to accept ash due to high stripping ratio and swelling factor of OB," NTPC said in an emailed reply to ET's query on the matter. In the midst of this blame game, the carry forward quantum of fly ash has been increasing every year. Adding to the problem is declining uptake by the cement industry, its largest consumer. "NTPC is selling dry ash at six stations and giving it free at the remaining nine stations. As a policy decision, we are selling free ash to willing farmers for their fields," NTPC's spokesperson said in the emailed reply. A taskforce set up by the power ministry in 2011 had identified four mines near NTPC power plants for back fill ing of ash. The coal ministry, however, is yet to initiate or issue any notice on this. Courtesy: The Economic Times, New Delhi. 6.03.2014 Pg. No: 19 India - Country Profile CEMENT DEMAND WILL STAY SLUGGISH NEXT FISCAL: INDIA RATING India Ratings and Research expects cement demand growth to remain sluggish at 5-6 per cent next fiscal. This is due to the slowdown in the construction and infrastructure sectors. The growth will be supported by an expected increase in demand from the rural sector and tier-11 and -Ill cities. There could also be some up take in demand from the second-half of next fiscal due to an investment allowance for infrastructure projects of ~ 100 crore and above announced in the previous Budget. Also, election results will impact overall growth in construction activities, said the rating agency. The sluggish demand may hamper cement companies' attempt to pass on the increase in operational cost. Freight costs went up 17 per cent in the last fiscal due to an increase in rail freight rates and higher diesel prices. The overall capacity addition may moderate as incremental demand will be lower than supply. The rating agency expects the profit margins of cement companies to fall by 0.5-1 per cent with non-integrated players suffering the most. The credit profile of non-integrated players may deteriorate due to limited pricing power and rising costs, it said. The agency expects the slowdown m construction and allied activities to lower the capacity use for next two fiscals to 70-75 per cent from 76 per cent in FY13. The capacity use in South-based companies may remain at 58 per cent, in the eastern region it will be 80-85 per cent while in the northern, western and central regional it would range between 70 and 80 per cent, it added. Courtesy: Business Line, 21.01.2014, Pg. No.2 INDUSTRIAL INCENTIVE FOR HP, U'KHAND The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given its approval for extension of the special package of industrial incentive for Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand till March 2017