KARACHI: The provincial government on Tuesday decided to lay railway track from Thar coalfields to main railway line for supplying coal to other power plants and factories.

The decision to this effect was taken at the 25th meeting of the Thar Coal Energy Board (TCEB) held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah.

The meeting was held at the CM House and attended by Federal Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal (through video link), Energy Minister Imtiaz Sheikh, Minister of Mines & Mineral Shabbir Bijarani, Minister Education Sardar Shah, Adviser on Law Murtaza Wahab, Secretary of Energy Abubakr Madani, TCEB MD Khadim Hussain Channa and other officers concerned.

Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh informed the meeting that the coal from the Thar Coal Block-1 was being supplied to the power plants of the Shanghai Electric Company, which was generating 1,320MW.

The chief minister said the electricity generation from Thar coal was the dream of Benazir Bhutto. “The Sindh government has achieved the dream of its leader,” he added.

The meeting decided to lay the railway track from Thar coal field to Main Line (ML).

The chief minister said Thar coal would be supplied to other power plants and cement factories after the construction of railway track. “Supplying coal by trucks would be like destroying the roads of the area,” he added.

The meeting also approved mine expansion of Thar Coal Block-II and increase of production from 7.6 MTPA (million tonnes per annum) to 11.2 MTPA from Coal Block-I.

The energy minister told the meeting that the coal from Thar Coal Block-II would be supplied to an electricity generating company at Port Qasim.

Coal tariff of Block-I & Block-II approved

The board meeting approved the levelised tariff of $37.36 per tonne for the financial close stage petition for 7.8MTPA of Block-I and the levelised tariff of $30.40 per tonne for contract stage petition for 11.2MTPA of Block-II.

Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh briefed the chief minister regarding the progress of the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) and the Sino-Sindh Resources Ltd (SSRL) operating in Thar coalfields.

He said that the mines were currently producing 15.4MTPA of coal and were being primed to scale up to 19MTPA over the next 18 months. The board approved the proposal.

The coal being produced from the mines is powering 2,640 megawatts of electricity, energising more than seven million households from Thar coalfields, the meeting participants were told.

Moreover, power generated from the Thar coalfields also has one of the lowest costs of power generation in the country, and the power generated from them is considerably cheaper than imported coal.

It also provides greater energy security, saves precious foreign exchange reserves for the country.

During the presentation, it was highlighted that as the mines continued to scale up, the overall cost of production continued to decline largely due to the mines attaining ‘economies of scale’ (efficiency in production).

As mines extract greater economies of scale, the coal tariff is expected to reduce further, which will also result in a reduction in electricity-generation tariff from mine-mouth power plants located on Thar coalfields.

It is to be noted that as the mines continue to increase production, the tariff will continue to reduce further.

The chairman of TCEB appreciated the efforts of the board management for the disposal of five tariff petitions during the last few months, as well as initiating stakeholder consultation sessions to expand the scope of Thar coalfields to non-power uses.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2023