The government has decided to establish a coal mining and power generation company on the pattern of Wapda for harnessing Thar coal resource, while negotiation between Pakistan and China for establishing a tariff for coal power generation is going on.
Official sources said to ascertain commercial viability of mining coal from Thar, a German consultant, the Rheinbraun Engineering has completed a mining feasibility on a specific block in Thar coalfield. The same block has been assigned to an American firm, ES for commissioning of integrated coal mining and 1000 MW power generation project.
They said Sindh has huge coal reserves of about 175 billion tonnes. Due to the import of high cost energy resources, the government has decided to enhance the share of coal in the over all energy mix from 5 percent to 18 percent up to 2018.
In view of the anticipated shortfall of electricity and other energy resources during the next 10 years, the maximum utilisation of coal would be required in power generation, they added.
Sources said the Approved Energy Security Action Plan has set a target of generating about 20,000 MW power from coal by 2030 and 50 percent by 2050. As a result of government endeavours, about 80 percent of cement industry now switched to indigenous coal from furnace oil that saved considerable foreign exchange being spent on the import of furnace oil, they added.
The conversion of all cement industry to coal would generate demand for 2.5 million tonnes of coal per annum.
As a part of the promotional activities to increase share of coal, the Sind government has leased out a coal block to the Fatteh Group of Hyderabad to commission a coal-based power plant of 250 MW. In addition, it has also allowed a Chinese company, the China National Chemical Engineering Group Corporation (CNCEC) to conduct a feasibility study on a coal block in Sonda Jherrick coalfields in Sindh for an integrated mining project of one million tonnes and commission a 250 MW coal-based power plant.
In pursuit of a presidential directive, the SNGPL is in the process of preparing pre-feasibility for the commissioning of town gas plant at Bakar (Punjab) by utilising Makarwal coal.
The total national coal production from operational coalmines during 2004-05 remained around 4.60 millions and about 80 percent of it was consumed by the kilns.