Work on Thar coal mining, power plant projects reviewed

Karachi

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presided over a meeting on Friday that reviewed progress of the Thar Coal Field Block-II coal mining project and installation of coal-fired power plants - designed to generate 330 MW of electricity each – scheduled to be completed by 2019. 

The projects are being carried out by the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC).

The meeting was attended by senior member Board of Revenue (SMBR) Rizwan Memon, principal secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch, secretary energy Agha Wasif, secretary home Riaz Memon, secretary irrigation Zaheer Hyder Shah, SECMC CEO and two directors, Shamsuddin Shaikh, Fazal Rizvi and M Saqib respectively.

Shaikh while briefing the CM said the mining operation had been started on war footings; he added that out of 112m BCM overburden (OB), 7m BCM had been removed.

This meant that an overall progress of six percent had been achieved against the planned 5.3 percent progress, he added. 

He said that a 31m mine-depth had been achieved while large scale mining equipment would reach the site of the project by next month, while drilling of de-watering wells and other infrastructure was in progress. The revised outlook for the project stood at $766 million against the estimated amount of $845 million.

As for the coal-fired power plants, the SECMC CEO stated that basic engineering had been completed and that procurement activities were ahead of schedule as the purchase order of required equipment had been placed.

The estimated cost for the project stood at $1.1 billion, he added.

On being asked, by CM Murad, to accommodate as many locals as possible, the CM was informed that currently a total of 2,028 employees were working on the project, of which 997 were Tharis, 647 Chinese and 384 others.

Employment opportunities for women were also directed to be created.   

In a policy decision, Murad approved establishing a school over a two acre land near Thar Lodges, Islamkot, so that local residents could be imparted proper education. "I am keen to see Tharis working on good positions in companies," the CM stated. He directed the secretary finance to set the school up through public private partnership.

The CM was further informed that some 500 dumper truck drivers were required for the coal mining project; out of 500, 400 would be Tharis. Training of 200 drivers had already been started by the NLC against a sum of Rs30 million, and 100 had been hired so far.

Provincial police chief was directed by the CM to provide proper security at the coal field Chinese engineers.

Presently 35 Rangers personnel had been deployed for security of foreign workers working at Block-II, apart from which 134 policemen had also been deployed.

More police force would be deployed there till a special force of 2,000 ex-army men were formed for CPEC projects, the CM was told.