http://pakobserver.net/200908/19/news/topstories03.aspThar coal...

http://pakobserver.net/200908/19/news/topstories03.asp

Thar coal project
WB to extend technical assistance
Shah Hasan

Islamabad—In a positive development, the World Bank has agreed to provide technical assistance amounting to Rs 2.4 billion ($30 million) to government of Sindh and Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) to exploit the Thar coal reserves for energy, a senior official at Ministry of Water and Power confided to Pakistan Observer.

The World Bank will extend the technical assistance under Thar Coal & Power Technical Assistance Programme.

The objective of the Thar Coal & Power Technical Assistance Programme is to strengthen policy, legal and regulatory framework conducive to new private sector investment in the coal to energy sector at federal and provincial level.

The Executive Committee of National Economic Council that is to meet with Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday (tomorrow) is mostly likely to accord approval to the said project. The official the project comprises of two components.

Under first component, the government of Sindh would have to hire the services of consultants (international and local) for conducting the studies ranging from assessment of coal reserves to prepare the master plan for development of coal resources and updating of bankable feasibility report of Block-1.

The consultants would also have the mandate to embark upon the work on policy pertaining to legal and regulatory issues. The official said that under the technical assistance by the bank, the government of Sindh is also bound to hire transaction advisory services for the ongoing joint venture in Thar Block-II and in future for international competitive bidding in Thar Block-I.

Under the 2nd component of the programme, Private Power Infrastructure Board will to go for capacity building including hiring of services of different consultants in the areas of coal feasibility cum tendering, power (coal based) environment expert and conducting of the training courses. The PPIB, under the said component, would also be hiring services for transaction advisors to finalize information memorandum for the IPP’s in Thar area.

The Bank will give PPIB the funding of Rs 336 million ($4.2 million) and the government of Sindh Rs 2.064 billion ($25.8 million). The official said that the share of the coal in the overall energy supply mix has been decreased from 60 percent at the time of independence of the country to mere 9 percent at present. A substantial foreign exchange is spent annually on the import of energy products, therefore to accelerate the development and utilization of indigenous coal, as a fuel for power generation and other industrial uses is essential.

The official said, the Energy Security Action Plan (2005-30) envisages to generate coal based power of about 20,000 megawatt by the year 2030.