Govt to expedite approval of Rs20b 500kV Thar-Matiari electricity transmission line

The government has decided to expedite construction of the double circuit 500 kV transmission line between Thar Matiari which is expected to cost around Rs20 billion, but will allow the interconnection of Thar coal based 1200 MW Engro Power Plant with the national grid by 2016.
An official source said the project is expected to be approved at the upcoming Central Development Working Party (CDWP) meeting. PC-I of the project will be submitted to the planning commission and the project is likely to be financed with the assistance of China and Japan.
He said the government decided to expedite the project, as it was informed that there was no way out of the expensive thermal mix without enhancing the power generation from hydel and coal resources. While a few hydel projects were approved, there was no progress on the Thar coal. The Ministry of Water and Power was given a green signal to submit PC-I for the project which will be approved by CDWP.
The construction of transmission line is necessary as Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company Limited (SECMC), a joint venture between the government of Sindh and Engro, has completed the feasibility study. Without the transmission line, the company will face difficulty in achieving financial close, set for December this year, he said.
Thar desert contains the world’s seventh largest coal reserves, totalling an estimated 175 billion tonnes of lignite grade coal. This is equivalent to 50 billion tonnes of crude oil, more than Iran and Saudi Arabia’s combined oil reserves. Initially, SECMC plans to develop a 6.5 million tonne per annum coal mine in parallel with 1200 MW power plant, but the production capacity of the coal mine will be enhanced to 22.5 Mt/a to support 4,000 MW of power generation capacity for 70 years. In subsequent phases, chemical and fertiliser plants would be set-up as part of a mega petro-chemical complex which would be supported by additional coal mining. Coal mining and power generation is estimated to start operation by December 2016.
The source said, Japan has also shown interest to finance the transmission line and has stressed establishment of a power house. Japan has been historically averse to coal power projects due to environmental issues, but its stance dramatically changed after the damage to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant by tsunami on March 11, 2011.
Keeping in view the possible evacuation of 10,000 MW from Thar coalfield within next 10 years, National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) with the support Asian Development Bank funding has initiated a feasibility study for laying 1300 km of transmission line to initially disperse up to 3000 MW from the Thar coal field to the national grid.
Pakistan has huge coal reserves mainly in Sindh, estimated at 186 billion tonnes, Punjab 235 billion tonnes, Balochistan 217 billion tonnes, Pukhtoonkhwa 90 billion tonnes and Azad Jammu Kashmir 9 billion tonnes. These coal reserves can be used for affordable power generation for about 200 years.