around the traps, thar coal

Sindh seeks finances for Thar coal, wind resources
23 January, 2014


KARACHI: Seeking funding and cooperation from the federal government, the Sindh government has said that requirement of electricity of country could only be met by exploiting the indigenous natural resources including Thar coal reserves and wind corridors available in Sindh province.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said this while presiding over meeting of Thar Coal Energy Board (TCEB) held at CM House Karachi Wednesday.

CM also expressed his satisfaction over the result of the visit of delegation of Sindh government to China which was aimed to contact and invite the investment from Chinese companies for coal based power generation in Sindh.

Sindh Minister for Information and Local Government Sharjeel Inam Memon, Advisor to CM on Finance Syed Murad Ali Shah, Chief Secretary Sindh Sajjad Saleem Hotiyana, Secretary Energy Agha Wasif Abbas, Secretary to CM Rai Sikandar, Managing Director Thar Coal Energy, Khursheed Jamali Member Thar Coal Energy Board, Shamasudin Shaikh CEO Thar Coal Engro Power Project and others attended the meeting.

Sindh government's visiting delegation to China briefed the meeting about their efforts to contact, disseminate and invite the Chinese companies about the investment potential available for coal based power generation in Sindh and expressed their optimism that big investment would come to Sindh from Chinese investors after their visit to China.

Chief Minister Sindh said that lot of work has been made to exploit the Thar coal reserves for power generation and now Sindh was in position to take off for its coal based power projects especially at Thar Coal Block No.2. He said that Sindh government very shortly will launch coal mining at Thar Coal Block-2 and this initiative would lead the country towards coal based power generation at maximum level at cheaper rates and to bring the country out from energy crises. He said that step for mining would be followed by the generation of 600MW coal base power initially and capacity of this project would be increased in its 2nd phase.

He said that energy crises was not the only issue of Sindh government but it was the issue of all four provinces and state of Pakistan that should be addressed with mutual co-operation, understanding and under national umbrella and hopefully Sindh would be ahead of other provinces in this movement.

He said that we are seriously taking it as a national issue and want to discuss it and decide the strategy on national forum to meet out this challenge.

CM said that by exploiting the indigenous natural resources including Thar coal reserves and wind corridors available in Sindh for power generation we can not only meet the national requirement of electricity but would be able to export it and bring the agro-industrial revolution, provide income & employment opportunities to people and convert Pakistan into a welfare state.

Chief Minister Sindh asked the management for calling an important meeting of Thar Coal Energy Board with compulsory participation of its all members for further discussing, deciding, and evolving comprehensive and integrated strategy for promoting the coal based power generation with the help of national and international experts and investors.