A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Punjab government and the China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) for mechanical mining of indigenous coal in salt range on Sunday.
Secretary Minerals Dr Arshad Mahmood signed MoU on behalf of Punjab government while Vice President Jingkai on behalf of CMEC. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was the chief guest of the function held at ModelTown. Under the agreement, renowned Chinese company will carry out mechanical mining of coal through modern methods in salt range. Besides modern mining, the Punjab government and CMEC will also extend cooperation to each other for development of indigenous coal and its economic use. The CMEC will use this coal obtained through modern mechanical methods instead of manual for the proposed power plants. The chief minister while terming the signing of MoU between the Punjab government and CMEC a welcome step said that the friendship between Pakistan and China had converted into strategic partnership. He said a number of Chinese companies were making investment in energy, infrastructure and other sectors. Shahbaz Sharif said 600 million ton coal reserves exist in Punjab which could be used in energy sector.
