New Delhi: Giving a boost to its ambitious coal and lignite gasification programme, the government on Wednesday released request for proposals (RFP) to invite companies to set up projects under the Rs 37,500 crore incentive scheme.The scheme, launched in May, aims to support gasification of 75 million tonnes (MT) of coal and lignite to produce syngas by 2030, thereby reducing dependence on imports of LNG, urea, ammonia and methanol and promoting self-reliance in the energy and chemicals sectors. Officials said they hope to select companies under the scheme within the next four months.The RFP comes after the Union Cabinet approved the scheme in May and the Coal Ministry issued operational guidelines on June 25.To facilitate the participation of stakeholders and provide clarity on the scheme provisions and application process, the Ministry will organize a pre-application conference on July 20.India currently imports about 85% of its crude oil requirement, about 90% of its methanol requirement and 13-15% of its ammonia requirement. The country’s import bill for key substitutable products including liquefied natural gas, urea, ammonium nitrate, ammonia, coking coal, methanol and dimethyl ether (DME) stood at about Rs 2.8 lakh crore in FY2015.DME is considered a promising cleaner-burning alternative to LPG, with blending up to 20% already permitted by the Bureau of Indian Standards for domestic, commercial and industrial use.The government expects the scheme to attract investments of Rs 2.5-3 lakh crore in about 25 projects in coal-rich areas to gasify 75 metric tonnes of coal in the next five years.
