President of Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), Mian Zahid Hussain has said that Pakistan should not abandon or slow down its coal power plants as the world cannot afford the luxury of banning coal as claimed by some countries. He said that the importance of coal cannot be undermined by the recent steps taken by the US, EU and China to discourage its use on environmental concerns.
The fall in coal price is result of the steps taken by developed nations to reduce pollution but the world is not in a position to ditch the use of coal forever, he said. The coal downturn is temporary as energy demand in Asia will grow by 31 percent in a decade which will be 300 percent higher than the current peak of Saudi production, said the PBIF president.
He said that neighbours of Pakistan - China and India - would be using half of the globally available fuel in the next two decades in which coal would have an important role to play. Hussain said that China's coal demand has reduced by six percent but India will fill the gap as New Delhi has no plans to reduce the use of coal in its energy mix. India is projected to surpass China as number one consumer of coal in few years.
Some global investors have started buying coal stocks to profit as soon as the market for this fuel rebounds which can be used to predict future. Pakistan has 175 billion tonnes of coal in Thar which is the best and cheapest option for India to satisfy its thirst of 204 million tonnes of coal. Climate change and environmental pollution can be contained through technology while energy policies must be business friendly, he said.