The question of coal

Does Pakistan need more coal power plants? This question rises again, with the Sindh government’s inauguration of two coal power plants in Thar. We can agree that Pakistan has a need for more power sources, but is coal really the source we would like to use to build a future Pakistan? The issue of air pollution has become severe across the country. Sindh has suffered less than Punjab, where a number of coal power plants are already operational. Will the people of Sindh also face a more polluted environment now, merely because of the failure of provincial and federal governments to look towards renewable and alternate sources of energy? The decision of the Sindh government to pay for the electricity provided to the residents of Islamkot and Thar is well-meaning and should be appreciated as should the decision to set up a campus of the NED University in Thar. So, while there is some attempt at ensuring local benefits of the project, the locals of the area are also the ones who will be directly affected by the polluted air and water supply.

There is also the question of whether the project adds to the neglect of Thar that the PPP-led Sindh government has become famous for or whether it provides a break from that pattern. What is good to see is that the PPP government has thought of social responsibility, but at the same time it has not shown environmental or health responsibility. The many contradictions of the once socialist PPP were laid bare in Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s speech. He spoke of his mother’s decision to start public-private partnerships in 1993 – a decision that remains controversial to this day – admiringly. But he also spoke of his grandfather laying the foundations of the 18th Amendment, whose success he claimed the Thar Coal Plants were proof of.

Pakistan is more aware than before of the dangers of coal-based power generation, much in line with the global awareness that the industrial growth based model of development is creating a climate crisis. Also, the fact that a $700 million sovereign guarantee is involved in the implementation of the project should raise more questions about a model that has only added more debt to Pakistan’s already crippled power sector. One can congratulate the Sindh government for the launch of the two coal power plants, but one can also wish that it had chosen a different direction.