Thar coalfield: Rs 513 million desalination plant to be operational by December

The Rs 513 million desalination (reverse osmosis) plant in district Tharparkar, aimed at increasing water supply to Thar coalfield, will be made functional by the end of December, Business Recorder learnt on Saturday.
According to official sources, at the end of 2006-07 fiscal year, about 85 percent physical progress has been completed on the installation of the plant and completion of the project is expected within the next five months.
The sources said around Rs 433.952 million had been spent on it till the end of June, while the total allocation for the project in the 2007-08 budget was Rs 80.045 million, bringing the total cost at Rs 513.997 million.
The basic aim of the project is to increase the supply of usable water to Thar coalfield as the present supply of water is sufficient only for drinking purposes. The sources further said the desalination plant would not only help rid the area of salinity problem, but would also be used for domestic use and for cooling the power plant.
According to experts, reverse osmosis is a process of purifying water or other liquids by passing them through a semi-permeable membrane that filters out unwanted substances and make it usable. The Sindh Coal Authority (SCA) has also planned to install new reverse osmosis (desalination) plants in Badin and Dadu districts with an estimated cost of RS. 550 million.
It is hoped that 63 percent physical work on these projects would be completed by the end of the 2007-08 fiscal year. These plants, on completion, would increase the water supply to Lakhra coalfield, Dadu district and Badin.