KARACHI – The Sindh government has requested the federal government, particularly the president and the prime minister, to persuade the World Bank (WB) to finance the multi-billion dollar Thar coal project to help resolve the energy crisis in the country, sources told Pakistan Today.
The Sindh Finance Department recently forwarded a letter to the Finance Ministry requesting it to approach the WB for attracting huge investments for the vast natural coal reserves in the Tharparkar district.
The WB had withdrawn its support for the Thar coal project last year citing many reasons behind its decision, including lack of emphasis and trust deficit among the locals of Tharparkar. Federal Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh recently held talks with WB’s representatives and requested them to support the huge investments in the Thar coal project, which could easily end the country’s energy crisis.
The WB would be allotted Block No 1 of the coal project for investment. After the WB had shown reservations over the resettlement issue of the local population of Tharparkar, the Sindh government had started a detailed survey about their resettlement and compensating the affected people of the coal mines area at a cost of Rs 200 million.
To carry out the resettlement process of the coal areas, a new agency, the Coalfield Empowerment and Resettlement Agency, was established with the appointment of a fulltime director. It works under the administrative control of the Sindh Coal Authority. The new agency liaised with the local district administration to ensure that the requisite infrastructure and services are provided in the proposed resettlement areas and the people are given due basic facilities and employment opportunities.
Thar coal reserves are among the world’s largest natural reserves estimated at more than 185 billion tonnes found in early 1990s in Tharparkar, but successive governments have failed to exploit this huge energy resource. During the past three years, the Pakistan People’s Party-led government has only set up committees and engaged in public-private partnership for utilising coal reserves, but the process of getting regulatory approvals is too long and complicated. However, Engro Energy is the only firm that is effectively pursing the coal prospects in the country.
