- Murad said he said Thar Coal was a game changer for Pakistan.
- Murad Ali Shah said Sindh was the energy basket of Pakistan.
- Sindh had the solution for energy crisis of Pakistan, he said.
KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Monday requested the federation for cooperation in Thar Coal Power Project, Bol News reported.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony of Thar Energy Limited Block II and Thar Coal Mines Phase II, he said Thar Coal was a game changer for Pakistan as it could yield exponential economic dividends of $4 billion annually alone from the export of 70 MTPA coal, apart from producing power, syngas for fertilizer in the country.
“Therefore, we, the provincial and the federal governments, have to work together to tap its resources in the entirety to usher in a new vista of development and prosperity in the country,” he said, giving presentation to Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif at the mine pit, Coalfield Block-II.
The presentation was attended by Foreign Minister and Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Federal Ministers- Ahsan Iqbal, Musadiq Malik, Khurram Dastagir, Provincial Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh, chairman HUBCO, CEO SECMC Amir Iqbal and others.
Murad Ali Shah said Sindh was the energy basket of Pakistan. Sindh had the solution for energy crisis of Pakistan, he said.
Had the work been continued, we would have started getting more than 10,000 megawatts electricity from the project, the chief minister said. He said the journey of discovery of coal reservoirs kicked off in 1991. “Sindh has huge reservoirs of gas and coal,” he said.
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Former prime minister late Benazir Bhutto had raised the slogan ‘Thar will change Pakistan’. Coal of Thar was criticized, he said. The chief minister said before becoming president, Asif Ali Zardari had said that the Thar project was of paramount importance.
Quoting the Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP), the chief minister said that Thar Coal had 175 billion tons of coal reserves worth $29 trillion or more than the reserves of Saudi Arabia and Iranian Oil reserves.
He added that the entire coalfield had been divided into 13 blocks, of which Sindh Engro Coal Mine Company (SECMC) was working in Block-II, a reservoir of two billion tons of coal, and SSRL was engaged in Block-I, a reservoir of five billion tons.
“Moving on the fast track for an early harvest of the black gold, Sindh govt, and Engro Energy Ltd entered a Joint Venture Agreement in 2009, and in 2014 both Mine and Power Projects were included as China and Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)- related projects,” he said and in 2015 the federal government issued Sovereign Guarantee for the Thar Coal Project and first Tariff Determination was issued for Thar Coal and Power Plants.
Murad Ali Shah proudly said that in 2019 3.8 Mtpa Mine and 600 MW Mine Mouth Power Plant was commissioned in 2019 and production capacity was expanded to15.4 Mtpa powering 2640 MW in 2022.
