In a first for the company, CIL will only be responsible for safety and infrastructure development of the three mines, Kulda, Bhubaneswari and Kaniha. The first two would each have a production capacity of 10Mtpa, while Kaniha's capacity would be 3.5Mtpa.
The companies selected to develop the mines would be paid per tonne of coal production and per cubic metre of overburden removal, with large mining companies expected to put their hands up for the contracts.
CIL plans to spend slightly over Rs700 million ($A21 million) on developing infrastructure, including roads and a railway siding.
Yet to be finalised is for how long contracts would be awarded to development companies.
Various parts of CIL’s production cycle are already outsourced, including overburden removal, coal extraction and coal transportation
If there are no delays in awarding the tender, initial production from opencut mines could start in 2006-07. Land acquisition for the mines is underway.
