Pak-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) President Shah Faisal Afridi has said the joint ventures with Indonesia in terms of importing eco-friendly coal could prove to be prolific in overcoming the voracious energy crises in Pakistan. He was speaking to an Indonesian delegation from Prosperity Indonesia Holdings Company. The delegation members included Wu Xin Qiang, General Manager Prosperity Indonesia, Ching Wenchang, Director Pakistan office and Tian li, Quality Manager, Prosperity Company.
Pakistan needs to redefine the energy mix on the pattern of developed countries that are utilising coal as major source of power generation and for this he regarded Indonesian collaboration a positive development, he said.
The coal should be given the highest priority to meet our energy needs, he said adding that coal is cheap and plentiful. It will cost less than Rs 1.5 per unit while the power generated by burning furnace oil costs around Rs 13 per unit and power from burning gas costs Rs 5.5 per unit, he added. Afridi said that conversion of power generation towards coal will halve the cost of electricity production and will boost industrial development, he said. He said that importing coal from Indonesia could be immensely beneficial for Pakistan and conversion of power plants to coal seems the only viable solution.
He said that power projects could initially be set up on imported coal as a medium-term solution, meanwhile the country explores its own coal resources in the longer run. He proposed to seek assistance from the Chinese mining experts in this regard that would not only be cost effective but also easy to be installed. He mentioned that China is still producing more than 75 percent electricity from coal and we can learn a lot from them.
The PCJCCI chief said the time has proved that the policy of running power plants on natural gas was the worst decision that has not helped in keeping electricity tariff low but depleted gas reserves at much faster pace". "This all has resulted in costlier electricity which has wiped out our competitive edge in the international market," he added.
"We have relied too much on gas, oil and other sources to generate electricity whereas in all over the world 40 percent electricity is generated through coal but in case of Pakistan, less than 1-percent electricity is being generated from coal. Sitting on one of the biggest source of energy and facing chronic power deficits and abnormally high cost of energy is simply incomprehensible," he added.
The delegation's visit was aimed to discuss the possibilities of exporting high quality eco-friendly harnessed coal to Pakistan from Indonesia. The Company's general manager Wu Xin Qiang said the coal from Indonesia is preferred all over the world due to the utilisation of clean coal technologies employed in mining, these clean coal technologies are focused on the reduction of emissions produced by coal-fired power generation, he added.
While briefing about the Indonesia Holdings Company, he said that his company has invested about US $2 billion in coal mining, cement manufacturing, real estate development and hydro electrical power plants all around the country. Coal is the upcoming dominating force in power generation, he said, adding that about 27 percent of the world's total energy output and more than 39 percent of all electricity is produced by coal-fired power plants due to coal's abundance. It is relatively easy and low-cost extraction and less expensive infrastructure requirements has made it a preferred choice for power generation, he said.