KARACHI, May 14: The Planning Commission on Monday made its commitment to the Sindh government to resolve issues pertaining to the Rs20 billion power transmission line from Matiari in Thar and assured that the plan would be approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) to give a boost to power generation from Thar coal.

This was stated in a meeting when deputy chairman of the Planning Commission met Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah to discuss issues regarding the forthcoming Ecnec meeting.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said that to meet challenges of the energy shortage in the country, Thar coal was a very important project for Pakistan.

The Planning Commission’s commitment was made despite earlier report casting doubts on the Thar project that had generated misgivings in Sindh and a quick reaction from the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Planning Commission deputy chairman Dr Nadeem Haq, federal secretary planning Asif Bajwa, Board of Investment chairman Zubair Motiwala, additional chief secretary (P&D) Israr Malik, secretary BoI Naheed S. Durrani, secretary coal of government of Sindh Sohail Rajput and others attended the meeting.

With regard to the completion of the Hyderabad-Mirpur Khas dual carriageway on the basis of a public-private partnership with a South Korean firm, the Planning Commission deputy chairman appreciated the efforts of the Sindh government and said that other similar projects in the health, education, roads and other sectors would be encouraged by the federal government, official sources said.

Chairing the meeting, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said that the Thar coal project was most viable and beneficial project for Pakistan and would meet shortage of power for centuries.

Mr Shah said that all the provinces, the president and the prime minister had endorsed the importance of the Thar coal energy project and termed it beneficial for the country.

He claimed that 50,000 megawatts electricity would be generated through the Thar coal project.

Mr Shah said that the present government was paying attention to projects beneficial for the common man in every province.

He said that the president and the prime minister made certain commitments that must be honoured while the government intended to complete some development schemes by December 2012.

Zubair Motiwala said that the Thar coal project was spread over a vast area in which many concession blocks were designed.

He said that there were plans that most of the concession blocks would have open pit mining while a concession block was given to Dr Samar Mubarakmand where he was experimenting with the underground gasification process of producing electricity and other by-products derived from Thar coal.