ISLAMABAD, Aug 4: A study on the current energy crisis would be conducted by a private company with the aim to find a way out using country’s coal and hydro resources.

On Saturday, Engro Corporation’s CEO and President Aliuddin Ansari stressed that in order to overcome the current energy crisis Pakistan must make the most of its resources.

“The Thar coal fields have an estimated lignite reserve of about 200 billion tons which is equivalent to the total oil reserves of Iran and Saudi Arabia. This can be utilised to produce 100,000 MW electricity, enough power for 200 years,” he remarked.

He claimed that for one block of Thar coal, 1200 MW electricity can be generated.

“The primary objective of Thar coal development is to provide affordable, reliable and sustainable electricity to consumers using indigenous resources. Reliance on indigenous fuel would help save billions of dollars in foreign exchange which are currently being spent on import of expansive Refined Furnace oil (RFO),” he said.

He added that Thar coal based power tariff would be much lower than RFO based power tariff which means general consumers can get electricity at much cheaper rate than what they pay right now.

“Thar coal is also competitive verses imported coal and LNG”, he remarked.

He said that to expedite development of this valuable energy resource through public private partnership, in 2008 the Sindh government initiated the international competitive bidding (ICB) process to select a preferred private sector.

“In June 2009, Engro was selected as the preferred joint venture partner and Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) was established as a joint venture company between the Sindh government and Engro Powergen Limited (EPL) which reflected the government’s new strategic focus in developing the Thar coal reserves,” he informed.

“SECMC has completed the bankable feasibility study for Thar block-II coal mining project by engaging international consultants such as RWE-Germany, Sinocoal -China, SRK-UK and HBP Pakistan, meeting all national and international standards,” he added.—APP