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Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
Govt likely to set up Federal Coal Authority
By Zafar Bhutta
ISLAMABAD: The government is likely to set up Federal Coal Authority (FCA) for utilising the indigenous coal reserves in order to expedite the process of generating 20,000MW power from coal based power plants, as announced by Prime Minister, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, under 100-day programme, a senior official told Daily Times Saturday.
The government is likely to take the aforesaid decision in the next federal cabinet meeting.
He said a summary for setting up FCA was moved in the special meeting of federal committee on energy crisis held Wednesday last.
Official said that the meeting considered the proposal and decided to have more consultation with the respective ministries and Sindh province in this regard. He hoped that the summary would be again moved in the next meeting of federal cabinet.
Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) and Sindh Coal Authority (SCA) are tackling the issues relating to coal but have failed to attract investment for exploiting the coal reserves in Sindh.
He said that government has decided to establish FCA to handle the issues like tariff, coal ownership and royalties. The authority will work to deal the issues of coal-based power plants that would be set up at Thar in Sindh.
He said that coal based power generation of only up to 1,000MW could save foreign exchange equivalent to $495.31 million annually and could create 20,000 jobs.
He further said that the mining of only 544 million tonnes of coal could produce 101,800MW of electricity per day for 30 years, whereas Pakistan owns around 184 billion tonnes of coal deposits, the 5th largest in the world.
He said that power generation through coal is not expensive, rather it is much more competitive than thermal. The total cost of production of Lakhra coal power project is Rs 5.67 per unit, while the existing Independent Power Producers (IPPs) are producing the same at the rate of Rs 9.27 per unit, as per the estimates of 2007-08, he said.
He said that the coal ownership is a provincial subject and the Centre-Sindh row over coal ownership may create hurdles in exploiting the largest coal reserves in the world, hampering efforts in overcoming the worst ever energy crisis which the country is facing.
He said that producing electricity from coal is cheaper than producing it through furnace oil, which had shot up to Rs 44,000 per tonne. He said that Pakistan has 12.597 billion tonnes proved coal reserves in six blocks of Thar area alone. He said that environmental issues created by coal based power plants were not a major challenge in this connection and can be successfully overcome through modern technology. Germany and Hungary have comparative low heating value of coal than in Thar, but coal power generation share in these countries is around 30 percent.
Despite huge coal reserves available in Pakistan, the share of coal power generation in Pakistan is not more than one percent, official said adding that German study in the same connection has proved that the moisture in Thar coal can be separated and then utilised for drinking purposes in the remote areas of Thar.
Govt likely to set up Federal Coal Authority
By Zafar Bhutta
ISLAMABAD: The government is likely to set up Federal Coal Authority (FCA) for utilising the indigenous coal reserves in order to expedite the process of generating 20,000MW power from coal based power plants, as announced by Prime Minister, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, under 100-day programme, a senior official told Daily Times Saturday.
The government is likely to take the aforesaid decision in the next federal cabinet meeting.
He said a summary for setting up FCA was moved in the special meeting of federal committee on energy crisis held Wednesday last.
Official said that the meeting considered the proposal and decided to have more consultation with the respective ministries and Sindh province in this regard. He hoped that the summary would be again moved in the next meeting of federal cabinet.
Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) and Sindh Coal Authority (SCA) are tackling the issues relating to coal but have failed to attract investment for exploiting the coal reserves in Sindh.
He said that government has decided to establish FCA to handle the issues like tariff, coal ownership and royalties. The authority will work to deal the issues of coal-based power plants that would be set up at Thar in Sindh.
He said that coal based power generation of only up to 1,000MW could save foreign exchange equivalent to $495.31 million annually and could create 20,000 jobs.
He further said that the mining of only 544 million tonnes of coal could produce 101,800MW of electricity per day for 30 years, whereas Pakistan owns around 184 billion tonnes of coal deposits, the 5th largest in the world.
He said that power generation through coal is not expensive, rather it is much more competitive than thermal. The total cost of production of Lakhra coal power project is Rs 5.67 per unit, while the existing Independent Power Producers (IPPs) are producing the same at the rate of Rs 9.27 per unit, as per the estimates of 2007-08, he said.
He said that the coal ownership is a provincial subject and the Centre-Sindh row over coal ownership may create hurdles in exploiting the largest coal reserves in the world, hampering efforts in overcoming the worst ever energy crisis which the country is facing.
He said that producing electricity from coal is cheaper than producing it through furnace oil, which had shot up to Rs 44,000 per tonne. He said that Pakistan has 12.597 billion tonnes proved coal reserves in six blocks of Thar area alone. He said that environmental issues created by coal based power plants were not a major challenge in this connection and can be successfully overcome through modern technology. Germany and Hungary have comparative low heating value of coal than in Thar, but coal power generation share in these countries is around 30 percent.
Despite huge coal reserves available in Pakistan, the share of coal power generation in Pakistan is not more than one percent, official said adding that German study in the same connection has proved that the moisture in Thar coal can be separated and then utilised for drinking purposes in the remote areas of Thar.
