Kolkata, Apr 7 (IANS): India's largest coal miner, Coal India, plans to set up 20 new modern washeries with a total capacity of 111 million tonnes over the next four-five years in partnership with private agencies.

The washeries will be made on build-operate-maintain basis where the selected agencies will design, construct, operate and maintain them, Coal India director (technical) N.C. Jha said.

"Coal India will make the investment and provide all logistical support like land, water and electricity," he said.

The miner's total investment will be Rs.3,200 crore.

"The agencies are being selected through corporate bidding. Tender has been floated for seven washeries. Two of the deals are in the conclusion stage. Five others are in different stages of evaluation," said Jha.

The tendering process is on in seven other washeries, while for six other, the land identification process is on.

"Our target is to complete work on all the washeries over the next four-five years," he said.

Two of the washeries will be set up under the Eastern Caolifields limited, six under the Ranchi Central Coalfields Limited, two under South Eastern Coalfields Limited, five under Central Coalfields Limited, four under Mahanadi Coalfields Limited and another under Western Coalfields Limited.

Coal India now has 19 washeries, but these function on old technological models.

The new washeries will increase the availability of coal having high utilisable heat value which can be used by steel and cement manufacturers who now go mostly for imports because the heat content is low in the coal supplied by Coal India.