KARACHI, July 11: The setting up of Thar Coal Authority early this week as a ‘provincial agency’ through a notification by Islamabad-based cabinet division is being seriously questioned in Sindh by retired bureaucrats and knowledgeable people, who wonder as to how a statutory body -- Sindh Coal Authority -- can be abolished with just a stroke of pen by some bureaucrats in the federal capital.

The cabinet division notification issued on July 8 mentions Sindh chief minister as the chairman of the proposed body until Sindh Assembly proposes name of a professional or a technocrat as the permanent chairman.

What has alarmed knowledgeable people in Karachi is the composition of seven-member authority that is tilted heavily towards federal government. The Sindh Assembly will nominate a professional or a technocrat as chairman of the authority and one of the provincial ministers as one of the members.

The vice-chairman of the authority is federal minister for water and power. The deputy chairman Planning Commission and Secretary ministry of water and power are the members.

The seventh member of the authority will be the managing director and the notification is silent on nomination of this vital position. “Obviously, the chief executive will be nominated by Islamabad,” a retired bureaucrat in Karachi said. It means that five out of seven members of the authority will look towards Islamabad for guidance rather than safeguarding interests of Sindh by way of securing royalty and equity in the coal mining and power project.

Officials and retired bureaucrats wonder as to why the names of Sindh mining minister and Secretary mines and minerals have not been included in the seven member body.

According to the notification the Thar Coal Authority will act as a one stop organisation of federal and Sindh governments and will replace all federal and provincial agencies in matters relating to development and leasing and sub-leasing at Thar, mining, development of clean coal technologies, research and development activities and other allied matters but not limited to gasification, briquetting on Thar coal.

“Minerals all over the world are attracting huge investment,” an analyst in a bank said to point out that investments are coming for minerals in Balochistan as well as for coal exploitation in Sindh. “But the real problems lie with negative mindsets of the federal government agencies,’’ he said.“No one will invest $500 million on coal development in Thar and then depend entirely on federal government agencies like National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) or Private Power Investment Board (PPIB) to decide on tariff issue and settle other important matters,” the analyst said.

In case of Thar coal, the people of Sindh carry bitter memories of the treatment given by the federal government to the Chinese company -- Shenhua Group Corporation -- in the year 2004, forcing it to roll back its $1.5 billion investment plan, after the company had shipped heavy machinery for drilling coal in Thar. Shenhua had asked for 6.5 cent a unit tariff on electric generation based on coal. The federal government did not agree but as it happened Islamabad even approved 9.5 cents a unit projects.

Shenhua was investing in 1,000MW power project. The completion of that project would have contributed not only in reducing the impact of current acute power shortages but would have paved way for more investment.“Provincial autonomy” was a priority issue on Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s 100 days agenda. But now that 100 days of his government are over, the prime minister has authorised a notification that kills the soul of provincial autonomy and empowers bureaucrats in Islamabad to decide on entirely provincial issues, a retired bureaucrat said.

The federal government plans to hold an international conference on coal in Washington when there are about seven investment proposals stipulating over $2.5 billion investment in Sindh.

“Why does not the Sindh government hold a conference in Karachi instead of spending millions on trips of bureaucrats to Washington?” the bureaucrat asked.