KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah on Monday urged the federal government to construct a 105-kilometre railway line between the Thar Coalfield in Islamkot and Chhor for transportation of coal to the upcountry areas.

He was speaking to Khalid Mansoor, the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on CPEC affairs, at CM House. The meeting was attended by Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh, Special Assistant to the CM on Investment Qasim Naveed, Investment Secretary Zahid Abbasi and Energy Secretary Tariq Shah.

“Thar’s coal is a great national treasure; it should be used in all coal-fired power generation and other projects being developed in different parts of the country,” the chief minister said.

He said that through a private firm, a feasibility study for the construction of the proposed 105km railway line from Islamkot to Chhor had been conducted. The study revealed that the railway line will cost $160 million and the cost of rolling stock will cost $127 million.

PM’s aide on CPEC urged to get project approved with additional cost of $127m

The chief minister suggested that the railway line project be executed under federal PSDP so that infrastructure did not cause an impact on power tariff.

He pointed out that the Pakistan Railways authorities had prepared a Rs130 billion PC-1 of the project which was pending with the federal government for approval. He urged Mr Mansoor to get it approved by the centre so that important projects could be started.

Mr Shah further said that apart from the Islamkot-Chhor railway line, the existing rail network onward, Chhor-Mirpurkhas-Hyder­abad and apportion up to the Port Qasim might be rehabilitated for coal transportation.

Khalid Mansoor assured Mr Shah that he would put in his personal efforts to get the project approved and started.

Another project which came under discussion at the meeting was Thar Coalfield Block-VI. The chief Minister said that M/s Oracle Powers was working on an integrated project of coalmine, power plant and coal-to-gas (CtG) and coal-to-liquid (CtL) facility. He urged the federal government to frame a policy for the CtG, CtL as well as coal-to-urea (CtU) conversions so that letter of intent (LoI) could be issued in favor of M/s Oracle Powers enabling them to take off.

The chief minister has scheduled another meeting for Saturday in which the Special Economic Zone at Dhabeji would be discussed.

CM meets DG ANF

CM Syed Murad Ali Shah held a meeting with Anti-Narcotic Force (ANF) Director General Major-General Ghulam Shabir Narejo. He told the ANF chief that he had already issued a directive to the provincial police to launch a targeted operation against “drug mafia”.

The chief minister said that drug peddlers/pusher and their suppliers were not only destroying future of the new generations, but also creating a law and order issue in the province, particularly in Karachi.

He urged the ANF chief to support the provincial police and help the government rehabilitate drug addicts.

Maj-General Narejo assured the chief minister that his force would support the provincial police in eliminating the drug mafia and its chain.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2021