ISLAMABAD, Jan 30: Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro on Wednesday constituted a five-member inter-provincial committee to work out in 10 days a plan for international competitive bidding to produce 20,000MW coal-based thermal power by 2019 from coal reserves in Thar.

“The power generation projects in Thar should be set up in a fair, transparent and efficient manner through international bidding,” the prime minister said while presiding over a meeting on Thar coal.

The committee, headed by the petroleum and natural resources minister, will have representatives of key stakeholders, including the Sindh government, says a press release.

The prime minister said the government was committed to utilising diverse sources of energy to meet the growing electricity needs and bridge the gap between demand and supply. “The utilisation of Thar coal resources by employing modern mining techniques will be a major step in ensuring energy security,” he added.

Mr Soomro said that in order to sustain the pace of economic development the requirement for energy had increased manifold and Thar coal could play a pivotal role in this respect. He said the country had about 185 billion tons of coal reserves and a fast-track strategy should be evolved for its maximum utilisation.

The meeting was informed that the country could generate 20,000MW of electricity by 2019 from Thar coal reserves.

The prime minister emphasised that the share of coal in overall energy mix should be increased.

“This low-cost energy production through coal will give a competitive edge to Pakistani manufactured goods in the international market. Besides, direct utilisation of coal for electricity generation will also be used for gasification to meet the increasing demand of natural gas in the country,” he pointed out.

This, Mr Soomro said, would not only help save billions of dollars of foreign exchange on import of oil, but would also contribute towards economic development of rural Sindh.

The meeting was attended by Sindh Chief Minister Abdul Qadir Halipota, federal Minister for Water and Power Tariq Hamid, Federal Minister for Petroleum Ahsanullah Khan, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Akram Shaikh and the acting chairman of Nepra.