Transportation of Thar coal: Sindh CM, CPECA chief discuss Chhor to Islamkot Railway track

A 105-kilometer railway line will be constructed from Chhor to Islamkot to transport coal from Thar Coal field to Port Qasim and up-country, apart from launching coal to gas to urea and liquid projects and installation of 1320MW power plant in Thar Coal Block-VI under CPEC-related projects.

This was disclosed in a meeting held between Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Chairman CPEC Authority (CPECA) General (Retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa here on Friday at CM House.

The meeting was attended by Minister Energy Imtiaz Shaikh, Chairman P&D Mohammad Waseem, PSCM Sajid Jamal Abro, and Secretary Energy Musadiq Khan. Gen Bajwa was assisted by Energy Specialist of CPEC Authority Yasir Arfat and Infrastructure Specialist Muzamil Zia.

Chairman CPECA Gen (Retd) Asim Bajwa told the chief minister that the Chinese president was expected to visit Pakistan between May and June this year, therefore, all the formalities and documentation of the CPEC-related projects should be completed by then.

The chief minister said that at CPEC related forums three projects of Sindh: Karachi Circular Railway, China Special Economic Zone Dhabeji and Keti Bandar have already been approved. He added that only their financial mechanism was yet to be finalised.

Talking about KCR, Shah said that framework agreement between Pakistan and Chinese Planning Commission known as NDRC was in the process. Concessional agreement between China and Pakistan is being made, the chief minister said and added that Pakistan Railways and Sindh government have also agreed on handing over the Right of Way at common corridor between ML-1 and KCR.

Gen Bajwa said that KCR was on top priority of the CPECA. He added that he would pursue the already approved project and the new project with Chinese authority so that work on them could be started at the earliest.

He said that KPT has become one of the most loaded ports, therefore a plan has been worked out to construct an expressway right on the sea upto Malir Expressway the Sindh government is going start. At this the chief minister said that Keti Bandar is also an important strategic and alternate port.

Chairman CPEC authority said that in order to transport Thar coal to Port Qasim and upcountry a 105km railway track from Chhor to Islamkot has been prepared. With the construction of this railway line an access of Islamkot, the coal field area, would serve as means of coal transportation. From Karachi upto Chhor there is a main railway line.

Dhabeji Economic Zone: The chief minister said that he has earmarked 1530 acres of land for China Special Economic Zone Dhabeji, a CPEC priority project. He added that Dhabeji has various advantages such as it has access to Port Qasim enabling raw material import and finished goods export without incurring major inland transportation costs and saving time.

CM said that Dhabeji zone has access to Jinnah Terminal which is hardly 35 kilometres via National Highway enabling safe travel of foreign workers and management personal. It has also direct access to National Highway enabling the transportation of goods to upcountry and Central Asian nations utilising the national Trade Corridor.

He said that the project has been approved by the ECNEC and it has also committed to provide services such as electricity and gas. The KE would provide 250MW electricity at doorstep of Dhabeji Zone with an estimated cost of Rs 4 billion. The planning commission has also approved the PC-I prepared by Sindh Investment Department, he said. He added that 10 MGD water and 13.5 mmcfd gas would be also provided to the zone.

Keti Bandar: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said that the Keti Bandar was located about 107km from Thatta city and 150km from Karachi via Gharo which is very promising in terms of future prospects. "The Keti Bandar Project is an important part of his government's strategy towards developing the Energy sector," he said.

He disclosed that a private firm has been engaged to conduct technical and financial feasibility study of the project in December 2019 and the financial feasibility was almost complete and report to be submitted by the end of this month.

These studies are in three phases. The first phase is the technical feasibility for setting up 1320MW power plant, railway line from Thar to Keti Bandar, power evacuation to national grid, construction of coal jetty and allied infrastructure. Second phase consists of the bid management and third phase is for transaction advises.

Other Projects: The other CPEC related projects came under discussion between the chief minister and the chairman CPEC Authority were two major potential projects based on Thar, discussed on the 9th JCC meeting held on November 5, 2019.

The first project is coal to Liquid Engineering Plan based on Thar coal at Thar. The second project is Thar Block-IV for coal gasification for fertiliser production.

It was pointed out in the meeting that the combined designed urea production capacity of urea firms in Pakistan was at 6,447KMT per annum while they are operating at 5700 KMT per annum in 2018. Reason for low capacity utilisation was reduced availability of natural gas.

The combined natural gas needs for the urea plant is 775 million std. cubic feet (MMCFD) of which 154 or 20 percent is coming from RLNG in 2018.

The natural gas needs for urea is projected to 8300 mmcfd in 2028 whereas domestic gas will be only 2000 mmcf, thus the LNG component would reach 72 percent of the total needs. At this, Gen Asim Bajwa said that therefore we would have to increase our reliance on Thar coal power generation, Thar coal gasification and Thar coal based diesel that would help in maintaining our energy, food security and reduce external crisis. Shah appreciating General Bajwa's opinion and support said that this would help in improving balance sheet of our national organisations which has become red due to circular debt and external crisis.

Bajwa said that he would visit Thar soon and then fly to China to finalise CPEC-related approved and new projects.