MITHI: The first layer of an estimated 2.04 billion tonnes of coal was taken out from an open pit mine at the Thar Coal block-II about five months ahead of schedule, the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) announced on Sunday, saying that it has made history by starting extraction of coal deposits from a depth of 140 metres (460 feet) below the surface at the site.

The first layer was extracted after successfully dewatering the second acquirer, a statement issued by the firm said.

“The successful extraction of the first coal seam not only proves that Thar’s indigenous coal is exploitable but [also suggests that it] can produce thousands of megawatts of cheap electricity for many decades,” Shamsuddin Shaikh, the firm’s chief executive officer, claimed while speaking to engineers, executives and workers at the stie.

Prospects for power generation by year end brighten

The statement said that the firm was part of a joint venture comprising the Sindh government and six private sponsors -- the Engro Energy, Thal Limited, Habib Bank Limited, Hubco and two Chinese companies CMEC and SPIC. The SECMC is the largest public-private partnership in Pakistan that has undertaken exploration and development of the country’s first open-pit coal mine with an annual output of 3.8 million tonnes, according to the statement.

The entire coal production will be supplied to the Engro Powergen Thar Limited (EPTL) which is putting up a 2x330 MW mine-mouth power plant which has set the tentative deadline of the end of this year for starting power generation.

Both the projects are part of the the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and are being executed in collaboration with Chinese contractors.

Mr Shaikh said that it was a matter of great pride for the nation that the country’s indigenous energy resource would play a key role in circumventing the prevailing energy crisis.

“This is the moment for which all Pakistanis had been waiting for the past 25 years -- ever since coal had first been discovered in Thar,” he said.

He thanked all the sponsors of this mega project, lenders, federal government and specially the Sindh government for extending their whole-hearted support to SECMC in achieving the breakthrough.

He said that the firm had completed 16 million safe man-hours while removing 90 million cubic metres of overburden (earth) five months ahead of schedule. “We are now targeting a saving of $110 million against the budgeted cost, all of which is unprecedented for a mega project like this,” he said.

The CEO said that the company intended to rapidly expand the mine in the block-II to reach its optimum capacity to produce 5,000 megawatts by 2024. The expansion, he said, would drastically reduce coal price making the block-II not only the cheapest one in Thar but also the cheapest base-load energy resource in the country with [an expected] power tariff of approximately five cents per kWH.

He suggested that the federal and Sindh government should hold the development of all other coal blocks in Thar till the block-II reached its optimum capacity. This would enable Thar coal to provide cheapest electricity to consumers, he argued.

Mr Shaikh also repeated his firm’s commitment to make Islamkot a taluka that could fast attain the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs) by 2024.

Syed Abul Fazal Rizvi, the chief operating officer of the firm, said that the Thar coal, called lignite, was ideally suited for producing electricity. “There are sufficient coal reserves in block-II to produce 5,000 MWs for the next 50 years,” he said.

He said that the fully fledged coal supply would start from the third quarter of 2018 and the first electron would be generated from the EPTL power plant in December this year.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2018