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Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan said that the government had devised a plan to generate 10,000 megawatts of electricity from Thar coal by 2020.
The federal government had been approached for laying a transmission line to take the electricity from Thar field to the national grid, he said while presiding over a meeting on Thar coal at the Governor’s House Thursday. He said installation of transmission network is the integral part of the plan which should be ready by the time power projects are ready to generate electricity from Thar coal.
The Governor pointed out that Thar coal would be utilised to make Pakistan self-sufficient in power generation to strengthen economy and make this area the hub of the petro-chemical industry.
He was of the opinion that approval of transmission network by the federal government was vital for the successful progress of Thar coal project. All the stakeholders and financial institutions can play more effective role when the transmission network takes a final shape, he noted.
Earlier, the provincial Secretary, Coal and Energy Development, Younus Daghia while briefing the Governor on the progress of Thar coal project, said that at least 2,400 MWs of power would be generated under the project over the next three years. About 25,000 MWs will be generated from Thar over the next 17 years, he added.
He said that the laying of transmission lines was planned to be completed in two phases by June 2014 at a cost of Rs21 billion. He said Thar coal field had nearly 175 billion tonnes of black gold. Daghia said Thar coal field had been declared a special economic zone where the rate of return on investment was 20 percent in dollar terms.
In addition, the import of machinery, equipment and vehicles for the coal site is duty free while withholding tax, excise duty and other levies are exempted for initial 30 years, he added.
He informed the Governor that three road network schemes costing Rs9.6 billion would be completed in the area by the end of 2012. These included a 200-kilometre road connecting Thar coal field to Karachi via Thatta and Badin.
(Source)
