Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, on Wednesday held a meeting with seven-member Chinese delegation at the CM House. Syed Qaim Ali Shah welcomed the Chinese delegation on behalf of the Sindh Government, Sindh Cabinet and people of the province.
He said that Pakistan and Peoples Republic of China have friendly and old relations, which were strengthened during the visit of former Prime Minister Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Syed Qaim Ali Shah added that the Prime Minister of China during his visit to Pakistan, had expressed that his country wants to invest in Pakistan particularly in energy sector. He added that China is a very advanced country and has achieved remarkable development and progress in various sectors, and Pakistan intends to avail the facilities from those achievements.
Chairman of state owned China Godian Group, Ms Renaiquin, in her discussion informed that their group is engaged in Mining and Power sector based with coal power, solar energy, wind energy and also in petro-chemicals. She said that their group is generating 88,000 MW of power in China and intends to invest in Thar coal and, all other projects under infrastructure.
She further informed that their group is generating 6,000 MW through solar system and 3,000 MW through wind power generation. Besides, they possess all types of machinery, equipment and operators with maintenance facility, she said. The Chinese group informed that they will prepare detailed proposal and the same will be sent to the Sindh Government for further negotiations.
Advisor to CM Sindh for Investments, Zubair Motiwala, said on the occasion that Pakistan has always treated China as trust worthy and hoped that the Chinese Guodian Group will fully participate in development process of Thar coal and energy project. He added that the project is commercially viable and the Chinese group can also utilise sources of solar energy and wind energy together with coal gasification for power generation.
Sindh Secretary for Thar Coal and Energy Department, Aijaz Ali Khan, in his detailed briefing informed that there is an estimated 860 billion tonnes of coal reserve in the world, which includes bituminous and anthracite 405 billion tonnes, sub-bituminous 260 billion tonnes and lignite 195 billion tonnes. He added that according to survey of energy resources 2010 by world energy council, the use of coal would rise by 60 percent by the year 2030, while the share of coal in power generation is set to increase from 41 percent to 44 percent by 2030.
He said that there is coal reserve of 186.560 billion tonnes in Sindh, 235 million tonnes in Punjab, 217 million tonnes in Balochistan, 90 million tonnes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 9- million tonnes is Azad Kashmir. Aijaz Ali Khan also pointed to the socio-economic impact of load-shedding and said that Pakistan is facing acute energy shortages leading to socio-economic costs of loadshedding estimated at $37 billion between 2007 and 2012, while loss of Rs 219 billion to industrial sector alone during 2008 in Pakistan.
He said that the vision for Thar coal is to develop it as a source of power generation for energy and economic security of the country and as a Hub of petro chemical industry, while as per goal, at least 10,000 MW power will be generated by 2020. Secretary Thar Coal Energy Department informed that the Thar coal field has been declared as Special Economic Zone (SEZ) where there is an exemption on with-holding tax to shareholders on dividend for initial 30-year and there is zero percent Customs duties on import of coal mining equipment and machinery including vehicles for site use, and there will be 20 percent (dollar based) 1RR to firms, which achieve financial close by December 2015 for Mine and Power Plants, and additional half a percentage for firms which are financially closed by December 2014.
Besides, there is best infrastructure available at Thar, which includes 70-tonnes load carrying capacity metalled road, 11 Kv feeder emanating from Islamkot to Thar Coal Project area with 200 Watts transformer, telephone and Internet communication through optic fibre cable; 29 Reverse Osmosis Plants are available in Thar for provision of potable water to residents as well as project staff free of cost.
Besides, rescue station in coal mining area at Thar coal field covering an area of 8200 sq-ft has been completed and a coal library at office of Sindh Coal Authority has been set up. The meeting was also attended by Advisor to CM for Investment Zubair Motiwala, Secretary to CM Alamuddin Bullo, Secretary Investment Sindh M. Younis Dagha, Asad Ali Shah, and others.