ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Commerce on Wednesday asked the government to encourage the use of local coal for power generation in order to save billions of dollars in foreign exchange.

In a meeting, chaired by Senator Mirza Mohammad Afridi, the committee turned to the Ministry of Commerce on a question raised by Senator Mohammad Usman Kakar regarding the import of coal.

Senator Afridi said that technology should be used and steps should be taken to refine local coal so that the economy could prosper. The committee chairman further suggested that local power plants be set up in Gwadar.

The committee called for supporting the local power generation industry and improving the quality of locally available coal using technology. Coal import is not only hurting the industry at the local level, but also causing billions of dollars in foreign exchange to flow out.

Senator Kakar said that 16.5 million tonnes of coal were coming from abroad and billions of dollars have to be paid. He said there is a huge reserve of coal in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh. “We need to rely on our own resources,” he said.

The committee chairman also recommended that the commerce ministry write a formal letter to the four provinces instructing them to run any power plant with locally produced coal so that they become self-sufficient. This will minimise dependence on imports, he added.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2021