The Government of Pakistan has made the Thar Coal Mining & Power Project part of CPEC and introduced a range of supportive government policies for utilising indigenous fuel for power generation. The Stripping Ratio & Heating Value of Thar Lignite is perfectly feasible for successful open-pit Mining & mine-mouth power generation. Countries in the west exploited their indigenous coal resources to grow their economies exponentially, they set up industries, mechanised their production techniques, introduced rural electrification and so on. And to date, coal is still used as a significant resource for coal production.
The west's carbon footprint is worse than that of China and India, as historical emissions are a greater contributor to climate change than the current. Using data from the World Resources Institute, The US had the highest emissions between 1850 and 2007 at 28.8%, whereas China only produced 9%. Thus, Developed countries are introducing legislation to restrict the use of coal due to its environmental impact. The west is shifting to lower emissions technologies and renewable resources because of growing concerns over carbon emissions that contribute to global warming and other emissions.
In retrospect, Pakistan has one of the lowest carbon footprint in the world, and the concerns raised in the west are not as dire as implied. China being an export driven economy require that their products are priced competitively in the global markets. To achieve this, it is essential for the industrial sector to have access to a reliable and cheap source of electricity. This is where coal comes into the picture. China has large reserves of coal making it the fuel of choice for power generation providing it with cheap, abundant source of energy.
On the other hand, a lot of misconception is being created through media and a negative propaganda is being made against facts and realities regarding the construction of on an evaporation pond, called Gorrano Reservoir, which is being built to dispose-off groundwater that is being extracted from Thar Coal Block II. There is a need to explain and clarify the facts about this project as it is being highlighted as an "environmental and social issue". To extract coal using open pit mining, underground water which is present in three different aquifers (layers of water) located at depths of 60m, 120m and 180m meters, need to be continuously extracted from the coal mine. In order to facilitate Thar Coal project and to dispose-off this natural underground water, the Government of Sindh through Sindh Coal Authority (SCA) is executing a scheme called the 50 Cusecs Effluent Disposal Scheme (EDS) comprising of a 37 km long pipeline and two storage reservoirs. One of the reservoirs called the Gorano Reservoir is being constructed by Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) located 26 kms from the coal mine in Thar Block-II near Gorano village of Islamkot Taulka.
There is a demand being pleaded through press that Gorrano Pond should be relocated to a Salt Take at Rann of Katch area adjacent to the Indian Border. As far as the alternate site for reservoir is concerned, consultants & designers of the project initially proposed to dispose-off this natural underground water in a natural Salt Lake called "Trisingri Dhand", located in the Rann of Kutch Wildlife Sanctuary but during the initial environmental study this site was rejected because the area falls within the boundaries of the Ramsar Treaty area.
After a detailed and thorough topographic survey of the entire area, at least 11 others sites were considered but were all found to be inadequate due to various technical, environmental or social reasons. The current site near Gorano village is not only technically feasible having the required storage capacity, it is also socially viable with no human resettlement involved. The Sindh Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) duly issued the NOC for the site after following all the legal and codal formalities.
Some of the protesters had submitted a petition in the Sindh High Court in June 2016 against the construction of the said reservoir, which is under review by the honourable Court and yet to be maintained. Recently, at the orders of the Court, Sindh Government has notified a 4-member expert committee to determine the facts of the case giving them 2 months to submit their report. The court has not issued any stay order and hence construction work is ongoing at the site. Besides the committee, it is essential to mention that SECMC believes in working with its host communities to give them maximum benefits and resolve all their issues in an amicable manner. As a policy matter, the company has always taken the path to hold dialogue with the communities to resolve conflicts and grievances and shall continue to do so in future.
Considering the above developments and SECMC's commitment to deliver the true benefit of Thar to the people of Pakistan as early as possible, SEMC plans to expand its mine capacity to 13.3 mtpa within the next 3-4 years and to 19 mtpa within 5-6 years, which would significantly bring down the Thar coal-based power tariff. It is estimated that at a Mine production capacity of 19Mtpa Thar coal power tariff would be around US 6.5c/kwh - which would be cheaper than any other energy resource. There is no doubt that Thar Coal is going to play a key role to overcome the current energy crisis and will Inshahllah be an energy savior for Pakistan very soon.
(The writer is CEO of the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017