Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Wednesday 6,000 megawatts of electricity will be generated through a new coal power initiative in the Punjab.
Addressing a press conference at 180-H Model Town, he said the volume of investment for the project was around $10 billion.
He said coal-based power plants would be established at Qadirabad in Sahiwal district, at Bhiki in Sheikhupura district, at Haveli Bahadur Shah in Jhang district, at Balloki in Kasur district, at Tarinda Sawe Wala in Rahim Yar Khan district and at village Karamdad Qureshi in Muzaffargarh district.
Shahbaz Sharif said these places had been chosen on account of their geographical location. “They are close to big cities or energy consumption hubs… electricity generated there can be easily connected to the national grid… there is also abundance of subsoil water in these areas.”
He said the provincial government would initiate and set up its two plants at Qadirabad with a capacity of 1,320 MW. He said the government would start the bidding process in mid February and contracts would be awarded by March, 2014. He hoped that these plants would become functional within two and half years.
Shahbaz Sharif said investors from across the globe, including India, would be invited to bid for the other plants. “All bidding processes, advertisements and contracts will be finalised by March 2014…all plants will be operational in three to five years.”
The chief minister said $7 billion would be spent on generating electricity. “The remaining three billion will be used for other expenditures… the investment will create thousands of jobs.”
Why Punjab
He said the provincial government had earlier decided to set up coal-based power plants in coastal areas.
Shahbaz Sharif said the plan was dropped because electricity losses during transmission from coastal areas to the national grid equalled the cost of transferring imported coal from coastal areas to the Punjab.
He said during his visit to the Indian Punjab, he had discovered that coal-based power plants at Jhaghar and Achar Khand were using coal imported from thousands of miles away.
Why coal
The chief minister said, “India’s share of energy from coal amounts to 70,000 MW… Europe generates 60 per cent of its energy using coal, and 65 per cent electricity generated in the world is generated from coal.”
He said 65 per cent energy generated in Pakistan was thermal-based and 35 percent was hydropower. He said coal-based energy in Pakistan amounted to less than 1 per cent.
Shahbaz Sharif said the country imported fuel worth $10 billion including coal worth US $5 billion.
He said the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) had decided the electricity tariff – Rs19 for oil-based electricity and Rs9 for coal-based.
“Super critical boiler power points will be used at the plants to lessen toxic emissions… the provincial government will follow all laws of federal and provincial environmental agencies.”
Imported coal
The chief minister said there were 500 million tonnes of coal in the Punjab but its mechanical machining was not feasible.
He said coal-based power plants needed thousands of tonnes of coal every day. “It is not feasible for manual mining… in the short-term coal will be imported,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 23rd, 2014.