KARACHI, May 10: The Sindh government has issued a Letter of Intent (LoI), to Messrs Hassan Associates for setting up four power generation plants of 250 MW each and coalmining in Thar area.

This was stated by Sindh Minister for Mining and Mineral Development, Irfanullah Khan Marwat, while addressing a press conference here on Thursday.

He said it would be a fast track project to be completed in about 38 months at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion, for which the company is providing both financial and technical commitment.

The minister said they will provide bank guarantee to the tune of $5-7 million (non-refundable) within a week, while physical work on the project will start after one month.

He pointed out that another company, CNC, is working in Sondha Jherk, while the consortium of Fateh Group have applied for tariff determination.

Irfanullah Marwat said that Hassan Associates have not restricted their project to 1000 MW and it could be to the extent of 1500 or 2000 MW by the time the designing is complete and digging of the mine starts.

To another question, he said that it would take about 24 to 30 months to complete the mining work and 10-12 months for setting up the power plant.

He told a questioner that the tariff to be determined for supply of electricity will hold good for 30 years.—APP