KARACHI: Govt eager for early start of power plant
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Sept 14: The government has decided to expedite the process of setting up a coal-fired power plant in Thar by negotiating tariff with the Chinese group, Shenhua.
This decision was taken in view of rising international oil prices coupled with increasing energy demands, and so that 50 per cent of the total energy requirement could be met through coal generation.
With eyes on obtaining 2,000-3,000mw power generation from the plant by 2010-11, the government has released money for completion of infrastructure development in Thar on schedule, and was taking necessary measures to make the Sindh Coal Authority more effective and a result-oriented organisation.
Former Sindh Chief Secretary KB Rind, who led a delegation to China last February, had signed the agreement on behalf of the Sindh government with the Shenhua Group. This project would initially generate 300mw electricity, which would be raised to 600mw after the addition of another plant of the same capacity.
With the commissioning of the power project, revenue of the provincial exchequer as royalty would increase annually by Rs60-70 million.The power generation capacity could later be increased from 600mw to 3,000mw.
A single circuit 500kv transmission line from the power plant to Jamshoro Grid would be built to match the commissioning of the power plant and a second 500kv circuit to cover the contingency. These would be functional two months before the trial operation of the power plant.
With regard to the operational years, it was indicated that operation time for the power plant would be 25-30 years according to the usual practice, and when time expires, assets of the power plant would be transferred to Pakistan once and for all.
According to a report, coal potentials in Thar area are spread over 9,000km, enough to generate power for 200 to 300 years. The proven coal reserves in Sindh are up to 184.123 billion tonnes.
Thar's coal reserves were divided into four blocks for coal exploration. One of these blocks had been given to the Chinese group. Besides the Chinese group, a German power generation group has also shown interest in setting up a 1,000mw power generation plant in Thar at a cost of Rs2.4 billion. Negotiations in this connection were under way.
