Thar coal mining project in Pakistan | Updates & Discussions.

[Jango]

@niaz sir, recently on TV shows and in the budget discussions, the PML representatives were still talking about coal gasification rather than open pit mining and direct transportation. Shouldn't gasification project be buried for good?

 

[niaz]

@niaz sir, recently on TV shows and in the budget discussions, the PML representatives were still talking about coal gasification rather than open pit mining and direct transportation. Shouldn't gasification project be buried for good?

Uderground coal gassification in altogether a different project and only one block has been allocated to it. Understand the existing project encountered some under ground water problems. However main reason why the project has been stalled is lack of allocation of funds.

UCG is a new technology and many scientists & engineers in Pakistan are not convinced that it will work. Primary reason as to why funds were not released is because many in the Ministry of Finance consider funds for UCG as money down the drain. I have faith in Dr Mubarakmand. I am convinced that he and his team will eventually overcome the underground acquifer problem.

In my humble opinion we should not abondon this project but for the energy starved Pakistan, I would hedge my bets and would give open pit mining top priority.

Open pit mining is one of most common mining procedure for lignite. This is basically making a very big hole in the ground and digging out the lignite with machine operated shovel & bucket.

 

[Argus Panoptes]

.............

Internationally, a coal fired plant costs about $3000 per KW. Thus a 500 MW (500,000 KW) would cost about $1.5-billion. However in the Pakistani scenario manpower & labour costs are a lot less, nevertheless a 500 MW plant should still cost close to $1-billion and would take about 18 months to 2 years to complete.

In the Pakistan scenario, the manpower and labor costs will be less, but still the overall project for a 500MW plant could easily take $5 billion and 15 years to construct, if you take into account all the other factors typical to our way of doing things.

 

[patentneer]

Question:

Urgently speaking, why not import electricity from neibhbours Iran, China or India?

Emergency, times are tough, no.

 

[W.11]

Mining for Thar coal to begin in first quarter of 2014 - Express Tribune

KARACHI:
With all the disruption and delays in the development of Thar coal, the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) is nonetheless confident that it can kick off mining activity in Thar during the first three months of 2014, saying that it is “now or never”.
While presenting the Sindh Budget 2013-14 on Monday, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah – who holds multiple portfolios, including the province’s finance ministry – said that the provincial government will continue to invest in Thar coal as it is the most reliable future source of energy for Sindh and for Pakistan.
Reiterating his commitment to develop the Thar coal reserves, Shah said that the groundbreaking ceremony of the SECMC – a joint venture between Engro Corporation, one of the biggest conglomerates operating in Pakistan, and the Government of Sindh – is expected in January 2014.

“It [the groundbreaking ceremony] will be conducted by January 2014 or maximum by March 2014, but it has to be in the first quarter of next year,” Shamsuddin Sheikh, SECMC CEO, told The Express Tribune. “There is immense pressure on us from the Sindh government as well as the federal government to start this project. We know it is now or never.”
Dismissing any impressions that there will be further delays, Sheikh said the project is a unique mining project in Pakistan, which needs sovereign guarantees from the government to kick off. “Now that we have a sovereign guarantee of $700 million, we are confident that things will move fast in the right direction in the coming months,” he said.

Industry officials say that the biggest hurdle for the SECMC has been financing, because lenders were hesitant after the government fell short in its sovereign commitments to independent power producers.
In his budget speech, Shah also mentioned that the sovereign guarantee will help in overcoming financial problems, but he still requested further support from the federal government. Even if the SECMC starts mining from January next year, it will take at least 3.5-4 years to produce the first megawatt of power from Thar coal.
The Sindh government has allocated Rs12 billion for fiscal 2014 for the development of Thar coal, up 16% from last year’s Rs10.1 billion.
Disagreeing with analysts who say that Rs12 billion is not enough, Sheikh said that the amount will be sufficient since the Sindh government only has to take care of infrastructure development in the area.
“It is wrong to say that nothing has been done [so far] to develop infrastructure in Thar. A lot of work has been done to build roads and maintain the infrastructure, especially in the last few months,” Sheikh said, when questioned about the slow progress of development in the vicinity of the mines.
“You can gauge the interest of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Thar coal, as he asked our team to give him a detailed presentation on Thar coal development even before the general elections,” he said; adding that Sharif pressed the SECMC to swiftly complete mining so that Pakistan can resolve the energy crisis and reduce its dependence on expensive fuel imports.
With all the support of the provincial and the federal governments behind it, Sheikh feels confident that the company will move fast in the future. “We know Pakistan has no other reliable energy option other than Thar coal,” he stressed.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 19th, 2013.

 

[muse]

Industry officials say that the biggest hurdle for the SECMC has been financing, because lenders were hesitant after the government fell short in its sovereign commitments to independent power producers.

Should power producers be able to sell their production directly to the consumer without the the govt in the middle?

 

[Bobby]

Pakistan may have huge coal reserve ...but India has the biggest in the world

 

[W.11]

Should power producers be able to sell their production directly to the consumer without the the govt in the middle?

semi private investment should be encourgaed

 

[Kompromat]

Pakistan may have huge coal reserve ...but India has the biggest in the world

Anyone talking about India here?

 

[muse]

semi private investment should be encourgaed

You like govt ownership of part of the power producers? If yes, WHY? Why do you want the govt in the middle of what is essentially a business transaction between the producers, distributors and consumer - Shouldn't govt role be that of regulator?

 

[W.11]

You like govt ownership of part of the power producers? If yes, WHY? Why do you want the govt in the middle of what is essentially a business transaction between the producers, distributors and consumer - Shouldn't govt role be that of regulator?

my dear its very common even in UK, national rail is semi privatised

it keeps the private companies in check from taking extra undue advantage from the consumer

personally i think that the national resource of a country belongs to its people and not owned by a person

 

[muse]

my dear its very common even in UK, national rail is semi privatised

it keeps the private companies in check from taking extra undue advantage from the consumer

personally i think that the national resource of a country belongs to its people and not owned by a person

And how is my private investment a national resource? You give the example of UK like it was heaven or the way it is supposed to be - and you are quite mistaken that Govt is involved to not allow prducers from taking "extra advantage" of consumers, after all are also going to suggest that govt should be part owner in the clothing business, in the grocery business, after all, to stop these business from taking "extra advantage" ?

See, if govt is not involved then power producers and distributors have to compete for your business, the cost to you goes down - just like a PIA ticket cost more than private airline ticket - govt does not protect you from business, govt is supposed to regulate, competition protects you.

 

[Kompromat]

World's institutions endorse quality of Thar Coal: Motiwala

June 20, 2013 RECORDER REPORT

Chairman Sindh Board of Investment Muhammad Zubair Motiwala said the world's renowned institutions recognised quality of huge reserves at Thar Coal. He was speaking at Clean Coal Forum 2013 held at Beijing, China. In his keynote address, Chairman SBI explained the international audience about current development projects in Thar, Sindh, to increase access and develop infrastructure for increased participation of local and foreign investors. These include development of Airport, which is expected to be functional till December.

He said that re-strengthening of road heading from Karachi to Thar on specification of 70kms load bearing capacity, improvement of water scheme, establishment of effluent treatment plants, upgrading of grid for evacuation of power, development of reverse osmosis plants and many other development projects are also in development programme.

They also clarified all misconceptions about Thar Coal. He said that Coal contributes 41 percent of total generation capacity of the world; however, it only constitutes 0.1 percent in Pakistan.

Chairman further clarified that the specifications of coal reserves available at Thar Coal are duly certified by RWE of Germany, M/s Shenhua of China, Mangolian Institute, United States Geological Survey, etc. He also presented comparisons with world as well as country to country basis. Thar lignite has a stripping ratio of 6:1, heating value of 11-12 MJ/Kg, Ash 7%, Moisture 45-47% and Sulphur 0.9-1.3%. This lignite is suitable for Power Generation and other uses.

As a consequence, many of participating companies have committed to visit Pakistan and Thar and a few of companies are also willing to participate in next international bidding. Muhammad Motiwala instilled that Coal is the only solution to resolve Pakistan's Energy crisis. Pakistan has no option and Government of Pakistan, both Federal and provincial should apply all its efforts to explore Thar Coal to overcome energy crisis of Pakistan. He added that Thar Coal resources have an estimated potential of generating 100,000MW of electricity for a period of 300 years; thus, providing an opportunity for large scale mining and power generation over a long period of time. However, according to estimates, if we start today then it will require minimum 31/2 years from today for sand evacuation only. So decision today will be better than taking decision tomorrow.

Chairman SBI informed that Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) is a jointly managed company by Government of Sindh and private sector. This company is near its financial close. However, few of guarantees like sovereign guarantee for mining and power plant of GENCO are still in pipeline. Looking at seriousness of Federal Government, it is advisable that they should come up with trigger to explore this most important resource of Pakistan. It is matter of ownership and commitment which is required. Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC), Department of Coal and Energy Development Department, Government of Sindh and Sindh Board of Investment participated and represent Pakistan at the event.-PR

World's institutions endorse quality of Thar Coal: Motiwala | Business Recorder

 

[W.11]

And how is my private investment a national resource? You give the example of UK like it was heaven or the way it is supposed to be - and you are quite mistaken that Govt is involved to not allow prducers from taking "extra advantage" of consumers, after all are also going to suggest that govt should be part owner in the clothing business, in the grocery business, after all, to stop these business from taking "extra advantage" ?

See, if govt is not involved then power producers and distributors have to compete for your business, the cost to you goes down - just like a PIA ticket cost more than private airline ticket - govt does not protect you from business, govt is supposed to regulate, competition protects you.

we have experience with KESC so please dont teach me something

semi privitased because government will also earn through it and it will regulate the prices and keep check and balance

any national resource is a public property it shouldnt be sold to any buyer to be misused in any way

selling some national resource solely means monopoly of one person which cant be challanged by any public authority

their monopoly on revenues and income

 

[Edevelop]

Pakistan may have huge coal reserve ...but India has the biggest in the world

Obviously because we are in the same region and your country is 6x bigger than us.