Sindh to produce 15.4 tons coal

KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Energy Imtiaz Ahmed Shaikh has congratulated Sindh chief minister for achieving financial closure worth $1.3 billion for mega projects in the coal mining and power generation sectors in Thar.

“We shall now be producing 15.4mtpa of coal and generating 2,640MW of cheap electricity from Thar Coal fields,” he said in a statement on Friday.

He said Block VI would be producing urea that would meet the country’s projected urea requirement for the next 30 years.

The minister said looking at the potential of Thar Coal and also of renewable energy, in which Sindh has made a major breakthrough; the day was not far when Pakistan would become self-sufficient in its energy requirements.

The important breakthrough in bio-saline agriculture that has been made in Thar definitely holds the promise of making Pakistan once again an exporter of agriculture crops and products.

He said that 12 blocks have been selected for coal power generation from Thar. Block No2 was generating 660MW electricity, while work has started on Block No1, which would be 100 percent private investment of $2 billion by Shanghai Electric, under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). It would generate 1,360MW electricity.