KARACHI: The two coal-fired power plants of 330MW each in Thar, inaugurated on April 10, have attained the capacity to generate 500MW during their testing period and will reach full capacity of 660MW by the second week of June, according to Sindh Minister for Energy Imtiaz Shaikh.

The minister shared this information in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah at the Chief Minister House on Thursday.

The chief minister termed generation of 500MW a significant milestone and said he would personally visit the plants when they started operating to their maximum capacity.

Sugar mills told to stop disposing of effluent into canal feeding Tharparkar

He directed the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) to start expansion work of mining in its phase-I project so that two companies could establish their coal-based power plants in Thar.

The meeting was told that Hubco was setting up two power plants of 330MW each at the Thar Coal site in collaboration with its partners, Thar Energy Limited (TEL) and Thal Nova Power Thar Limited (TNPTL). These projects were part of mines phase-II of SECMC Block-II. TNPTL was in advanced stage of arranging finances.

Speaking at an earlier meeting held two days back, Mr Shaikh said that Nespak had been appointed for the study of pre-treatment system for LBOD [Left Bank Outfall Drain].

The work would be started once the study papers were submitted and then approved by the chief minister, he said and added the TEL would require water in June 2020, therefore the pre-treatment system would be made before this date.

Sindh Minister for Irrigation Nasir Shah told the meeting that the portions of LBOD schemes that had been delayed would be taken up shortly.

The chief minister directed the irrigation department to prepare water use agreement for TEL and TNPTL so that they could be signed after mutual agreement.

Treatment of waste water

Sindh Minister for Environment and Climate Change Taimur Talpur on Thursday asked all sugar mills to treat waste water before releasing it into the LBOD as the untreated waste water was poisoning lands in Thar.

“Every sugar mill should have a treatment plant to ensure that water going towards Thar is safe and not harmful as it is at present,” said the minister at a meeting at the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency office.

The minister ordered the officers of Sepa to immediately resolve the problem with all available resources and asked mills’ owners that they should immediately install treatment plants as the canal water was a major source of water for the desert population and it had become even more valuable after the launch of Thar Coal project in the region.

“This is direly needed in Tharparkar as its need for water has increased with the beginning of generation of electricity,” he said.

He warned the Sepa officials that he would review their performance again as he had so far not seen any improvement in their functioning. “Improve your performance else be ready for strict action.

He said that Sindh in general and Thar in particular was rich in minerals and coal that had enabled the government to generate 600MW electricity.

“Soon this generation will increase manifold and Thar will soon supply electricity to the province and the rest of the country,” he said.

He said that the Sindh government had decided to take revolutionary steps to bring progress to the backward Thar region and the launch of coal-fired power plants were a step in that direction.

Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh spoke on the issues related to his department during the meeting and said the department was taking steps to make the province energy-efficient by using all available means including alternative energy resources.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2019