Clarification

Apropos a news story, titled ‘SECMC eyes coal supply deal with Shanghai Electric’, published in this section on July 13, Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) said it has signed no agreement with Shanghai Electric Corporation in this regard.

“While the company is committed to developing the mine, and expanding it to achieve economies of scale, currently there is no agreement to coal supply to Shanghai Electric in any of the first four phases of the mine expansion,” SECMC said in a statement on Friday.

“In fact, coal allocation for phase-4 of mine expansion has already been made to Liberty and Arif Habib who intend to set up 660MW mine mouth power plants each in Thar Block-II.”

SECMC further said the company issued letters of intent to Lucky Electric Power Company and Siddiqsons Energy Limited.

Both the entities signed coal supply agreements with SECMC for off-take from phase-3 of mine expansion and “as per the agreement coal cannot be provided to any other entities for the said period”.

“Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company is proud to be working in achieving energy self-sufficiency for the country by exploring and developing the country’s first indigenous coal fuel and is cognizant of its responsibility to quickly expand the mine further to reach its optimal capacity, guaranteeing provision of coal from block-II as the cheapest baseload option for the country,” the company added.