KARACHI, Oct 14: Emphasizing the need for exploiting the Thar coal reserves for power generation, inappropriate energy policy and flawed policies of relying heavily on imports were termed major causes of economic difficulties of the country, at a conference held on Tuesday.

Speaking at the second international conference on power generation called for developing a master plan/ energy roadmap for the country, Syed Asad Ali Shah, member of the Thar Coal Energy Board, said that Thar coal deposits were not only a vital indigenous resource, but also had the capability to solve Pakistan’s economic problems. He advocated that in future energy should entirely be based on hydel and coal powers.

“Since the root-cause of Pakistan’s economic crisis is foreign currency shortage/ external account deficits due to a flawed energy policy, Pakistan,” he said, “needs to work on an export enhancement and import substitution strategy by ensuring an enhanced use of indigenous resources in everything.” Arguing the case for making the maximum and quick use of the Thar coal to turn around Pakistan, Mr Shah disagreed with the argument against the quality of the deposits, and said the World Bank and other international donors had shown keen interest in them.

Earlier inaugurating the conference, Sindh Minister for Environment and Alternate Energy Askari Taqvi said the government could cancel land lease of those wind-power projects which had failed to show progress in a given time.

Chief executive of AEDB Arif Alauddin said that wind-hydel power projects cost seven to eight cents per kilowatts whereas the thermal power projects touched 38 to 40 cents per kilowatts.

Ibrahim Saeed of the Private Power Infrastructure Board said that 56 projects worth $14 billion aimed at producing 15,000MW were in the pipeline. He said Thar coal was sufficient to produce 100,000MW of power for several decades. He said that western countries were producing electricity with lesser quality coal than the Thar lignite.

National Forum for Environment and Health Chairman Dr Qaiser Waheed highlighted the importance of the energy conference.Vice-chancellor of Hamdard University Dr Naseem Ahmed stressed the need for involving Pakistani engineers and other experts in the mining of Thar coal and its use in power generation. Pakistan Academy of Management Science chairman Dr Sajid Husain, PSO chairman Yasin Malik, Romeo Pacudan of GTZ and Rolf Anderson of PPR also spoke.