LAHORE: Both the federal and Sindh governments must address the serious environmental and socioeconomic concerns related to their plan to construct a 105-km railway track linking Thar’s coalfields with existing railway network at Mirpur Khas for further coal transportation across the country for power generation and cement factories.

Another 9-km long double-line track is to be laid from Karachi’s Bin Qasim area to two power plants located near Port Qasim.

“Comprehensive mechanisms to assess the social and environmental costs of the project should be studied and sustainable and effective remedies be implemented before undertaking it,” a new study, Thar Railway Project: The Social and Environmental Costs of Coal Transportation, demands.

Pakistan Railways (PR) has already awarded the contract for Tharparkar Railway line project to connect Thar Coal mines with its network through new rail links for bulk transportation of coal, federal secretary for railways Syed Mazhar Ali Shah told a Senate panel earlier this month. He added the project is likely to be completed in one year and its costs would be covered equally by both the Sindh and federal governments.

The Rs58.2bn proposed track will have the capacity to transport 10 million tonnes of coal annually and is part of the strategy to convert coal-based power plants from imported to Thar coal, a cheaper and indigenous alternative.

The policy brief authored by Hussain Assad and Zahra Naeem of the Policy Research Institute for Equitable Development (PRIED) says That coal development has seriously hurt the fragile ecological balance that sustains local communities living in Tharparkar.

“In the absence of any effective and suitable mitigation strategies by the state, the populace has already been left to themselves to deal with the negative environmental, economic and medical fallout of coal extraction and usage right next to their homes and hearths. The railway line being constructed to increase mining activities to replace imported coal with Thar lignite will only exacerbate these fallouts,” it argues.

Policymakers believe that Thar’s coal is the best way for Pakistan to break out of its energy and financial crises simultaneously. The development of these reserves – including their mining and transportation – is, therefore, considered to be the only viable means for a sustained energy supply to the industry. The rail line project, thus, forms a vital link in the coal supply chain to three key industries: electricity, cement and fertilisers. It is, indeed, seen as a necessary step to create a country-wide market for Thar coal -- sixth largest in the world. The policy brief seeks to explore how this new rail network will impact the socially unique, environmentally fragile and economically marginalised region of Thar. It, thereby, questions some aspects of the reliability argument usually put forward to support the expansion of Thar coal development projects. The project Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) itself acknowledges the problem of livelihood loss, albeit indirectly.

It says that “most households in the project area do not own land, with land ownership being particularly rare among women-headed households”. It also states that “low agricultural productivity in the area often leads to insufficient cereal production for household consumption, especially in female-headed households.” While recognising these “key socioeconomic challenges”, the EIA acknowledges that it “lacks depth in addressing how the railway project might exacerbate or mitigate these issues, particularly the vulnerabilities of landless and women-headed households”.

The planners say the coal transportation via rail will save 65 per cent in fuel costs, have a much smaller climatic and environmental impact, and drastically cut fuel imports, slash operational and manufacturing cost of power producers, cement manufacturers and fertilisers producers benefiting consumers. It is also expected to increase land value, regional income and economic activity in Thar as the track would connect the region with the rest of the country for business and public transport.

“Even the EIA report admits that it is important to carry out detailed studies on the potential effects of the railway line on agricultural practices and food security in the project area. These studies should take into account socio-cultural, economic, medical and biodiversity aspects of the project and also provide detailed mitigation measures to address the problems related to agriculture and food security,” the brief maintains. “This is being done even when producing electricity through renewables such as solar has become far more cheaper than even local coal,” it laments.

Moreover, since the expansion of coal mining in Thar and transportation of coal through rail are both certain to increase the level of greenhouse gas emissions and other environmentally hazardous substances, they should be allowed to go ahead only after all necessary environmental, social, and economic safeguards have been put in place – and that too according to internationally acceptable standards.

“Coal transportation also generates PM 2.5 which has proven to be a serious health and environmental hazard globally. Any development project that increases the generation of this particulate matter must, therefore, be subjected to serious and detailed scrutiny involving independent experts, civil society, and local communities,” it says.

Quoting the experience of the US, Australia and India, the brief says the health and environmental price of pollution caused during coal extraction and its transportation for Thar’s populace is too high to be overlooked. And, it will also offset the supposed climatic and environmental advantages that coal rail may have over road transport.

“This is also likely to cause numerous problems outside of Thar. For one, it will increase health hazards in all those areas where the coal will be transported to and stored. That coal storage and transportation cause serious public health risks and environmental problems is evident from the numerous letters that the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) has written to the Port Qasim Authority about these very risks and problems. Secondly, coal mining and coal-based power generation in Tharparkar are already known to have caused many health and environmental hazards for the residents. The economic costs of these hazards could easily outweigh the financial benefits that Pakistan may reap from replacing imported fuels with local coal. Thirdly, the argument that the prices of electricity, cement and fertilisers will come down due to the usage of local coal is not likely to turn out to be valid. Pakistan is also likely to disqualify itself from accessing climate-specific financing tools such as Green Climate Fund (GCF) if it continues to expand its mining, transportation, and usage of coal and thereby increase its hazardous emissions profile,” the study says.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2024