Plan devised to generate 10,000 megawatts from Thar coal by 2020: Ibad

Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan said the government had devised a plan to generate 10,000 megawatts of electricity from Thar coal by the year 2020. The federal government had been approached for laying a transmission line to take electricity from Thar field to national grid, he said while presiding over a meeting on Thar coal at Governor House here on Thursday.
He said installation of transmission network was the integral part of the plan, which should be ready by the time. Governor pointed out that Thar coal would be utilised to make Pakistan self-sufficient in power generation to strengthen economy and make this area as the hub of petrochemical industry.
He was of the opinion that approval of transmission network by the federal government was vital for the successful progress of Thar coal project. Earlier, Provincial Secretary Coal and Energy Development Younus Dagha while briefing the Governor on the progress of Thar coal project, said that at least 2,400 MW of power would be generated under the project in next three years. About 25,000 MW would be generated from Thar coal in next 17 years, he added.
He said that laying of transmission line was planned to be completed in two phases by June 2014, at a cost of Rs 21 billion. He said Thar coal field was the seventh largest coal reserves in the world with nearly 175 billion tons of black gold equivalent to 50 billion of crude oil (TOEs).
This is larger than the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia and Iran and equal to 2,000 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas reserves. He said Sindh had a total of 186 billion tons of coal, Punjab 235 billion tons, Balochistan 217 billion tons, Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa 90 billion tons and Azad Jammu Kashmir nine billion tons of coal reserves.
Dagha said Thar coal field had been declared as special economic zone where the rate of return on investment was 20 percent in dollar terms. In addition, the import of machinery, equipment and vehicles for the coal site was duty free while withholding tax, excise duty and other levies were exempted for initial 30 years, he added. He informed the Governor that three road network schemes costing Rs 9.6 billion would be completed in the area by the end of 2012. These included a 200-kilometer road connecting Thar coal field to Karachi via Thatta and Badin. Similarly, effluent disposal system will be completed by December 2012 at a cost of Rs 3.7 billion to flush out water from Thar coal field. Three reverse osmosis plants for producing clean drinking water and rescue station had already been completed at the site, he opined.