The country is passing through the worst power crisis which is expected to get worse with the rise in demand of electricity, and the only answer to overcome the growing shortfall is immediate and serious efforts to expedite Thar coal project. This was stated here by Advisor to Sindh Chief Minister on Investment, Zubair Motiwalla.
Highlighting the incentives given by the federal government, he made an emphatic appeal to the members of Pakistan Business Council to put together their entrepreneurial and financial resources to unleash the potential of Thar coal and bring back the national economy on the track to progress and self sufficiency.
Giving details of the incentives, he said that the Federal Government has approved a very good incentive package for development of Thar coal and has declared it project of national security. Thar coal field area has been given the status of Special Economic Zone, offering 20.5 percent IRR to projects which achieve financial close by December 31, 2014. Coal mining equipment and machinery, including vehicles for site use are charged at zero percent customs duty. It carries an exemption on withholding tax, special excise duty, federal excise duty, WPPF and WWF for initial 30 years.
He said that in addition to the these incentives, coal-based power projects and coal mining projects in Sindh would have the same incentives, concessions, protection and security packages as that available to IPPs developed pursuant to Power Generation Policy 2002 (as mentioned from time to time).
He said that it is not possible to overcome the growing shortfall with stopgap arrangements like rental power or, for that matter, constructing small dams. Moreover, the growing prices of oil in the international market would take the price of furnace oil to a new height, making it impossible for power supply authorities to sell power at a reasonable rate to the consumer, he added. -PR
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