Daily Times

KARACHI: Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah on Thursday claimed that the first seam of the Thar coal would be exposed and available for utilisation by the first week of June. “The pre-commissioning tests of the power plant would take place in July 2018 and after grid connectivity and synchronization, the first electron from Thar Coal will be added to the national grid by December 2018.”

Shah, in his budget speech, said Thar Block-II has been progressing well ahead of its timelines both at mining level as well as at power plant construction level, adding that 78 percent overburden has been removed and the first seam of the Thar coal would be exposed and available for utilization by the first week of June 2018.

The flow of electricity from Thar would usher a new era of development in the country and transform the entire energy sector, the CM added.

The Sindh government has so far allotted 53,600 acres land in different districts for development and production of wind and solar energy and reserved 42,000 acres for new projects.

The CM said 935 MW electricity is being injected into national grid through wind resources. Moreover, 300 MW additional power would be available by July 2018 by six more wind power projects, he added.

“We plan generation of 2,485 MW power and 1,550 MW solar energy through foreign funding while negotiations with the World Bank regarding Sindh Solar Energy Project for deployment of solar PV technologies in Sindh have been finalised at the estimated cost of $105 million.” He said the Sindh Solar Energy Project would be formally launched from next financial year as the project would strengthen investor confidence in solar energy sector in the province. The project comprises urban roof top solar programmes for Karachi and Hyderabad; village electrification for off-grid areas with an initial target of 200,000 households across Sindh; 50 MW grid connected solar project at Manjhand, Jamshoro district, and in-house capacity building.

Published in Daily Times, May 11^th 2018.