Although Sindh has been blessed with immense natural resources in almost all its districts, there are only 11 policemen who are safeguarding the province’s mines and minerals which are worth billions of rupees, Pakistan Today has learnt.
These 11 policemen do not include a single senior official who could guide and regulate the policies of the Mines and Mineral Development (M&MD) Department. The small team consists of one sub-inspector, two assistant sub-inspectors and eight constables, all of whom are stationed at the department’s director general’s office at NIPA Chowrangi.
Asked about the proper discharge of their duties, the police officials, requesting anonymity, said whenever they received a written instruction from the director general, they visited the field and resolved the matter. They added that they were dependent on the local police, as their own strength was too little to deal with the mafias in the region. The M&MD Department was created in August 2011 to implement the National Mineral Policy 1995. The vision of the policy was to establish an enabling institutional framework which could cater to and facilitate foreign and domestic investment in the field of mineral development. In accordance with this vision, the department has taken all necessary steps to further establish its field offices vis-à-vis the Directorate of M&MD, Inspectorate of Mines and the Sindh Coal Authority.
The province of Sindh has large quantities of minerals. In all there are 24 minerals which are being mined at present, which include large quantities of coal and granite reserves. The area hosting the granite reserves, which was inaccessible earlies, has now been connected with Karachi by a network of roads and other infrastructure. The construction of a granite park at Nagarparkar has also been proposed. The Karunjhar mountain range in Nagarparkar has massive reserves of granite and other extractable minerals which have the potential to compete in the international market. Its reserves are estimated to be 10 billion tonnes. The Directorate of M&MD is sponsoring a feasibility study of granite deposits in Tharparkar through a consultant.
Previously, leases were granted in a haphazard manner without any regulatory policy. The department has now instituted a policy for the judicious and transparent awarding of leases in this area. It will be ensured that three large granite factories are set up by the year 2030 in this remote area. This will not only generate large employment opportunities for the poor of this far flung area but will also provide world class granite for local consumption and export. Consequently, one can expect a reduction in poverty and an increase in the growth of government revenue, both of which will play a major part in Sindh’s economic development.
Sindh also has large coal reserves. Estimates indicate the presence of 185 billion tonnes of coal in Lakhra, Thar and east of the river Indus. At present, the percentage of energy produced using coal is negligible (not even three percent). The department is in the process of assessment and exploitation studies of these coal reserves and intends to set up power houses which will run on coal. It also intends to increase the share of energy produced by coal to 30 percent by 2030.
