–Chief of project laments closure of first underground gasification project at Thar
— Official says Finance Ministry satisfied with non-viable project’s closure
ISLAMABAD: The Sindh government has submitted a forensic audit of the Thar coal gasification project to the Supreme Court (SC). However, sources claim that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is yet to probe the matter and submit a report.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Dr Samar Mubarakmand, chief of the project, said: “Sindh government has submitted its report and it will now decide about the fate of the first underground coal gasification project at Thar.”
However, he denied that the accountability watchdog has been directed by the apex court to investigate the project: “The court had only asked the Sindh government to take over the project while submitting its report. Sindh Energy Department is now looking into affairs of the project,” he said.
“This is very unfortunate that a successful project is heading towards closure,” he added.
Responding to questions pertaining to the employees, he added that the provincial government will be responsible for the salaries and other dues.
With the closure of the underground coal gasification (UCG), which was launched in 2009, over 450 workers (85 per cent of whom belong to Thar) have been facing hardships. The workers and officials of the project have been protesting at the plant site in the village of Bhabanio Bheel against the non-payment of salaries for months.
After the decision passed by the SC, the provincial energy department, sources say, was also in a fix to handle the protesting employees and take over assets/machinery worth billions of rupees. Till the court’s directive, the renowned nuclear scientist Dr Samar was writing letters to Sindh government, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Planning and Development to arrange sufficient funds to sustain the project.
But, interestingly, his final attempt to approach the superior court for resolution of the funding issue, caused complete closure of the project despite an expenditure of billions of rupees during the past nine years.
According to Dr Samar Mubarakmand, few megawatts were already being produced through the underground coal gas when the court directed to close the project.
“The UCG project was able to generate 8MW electricity through coal gas, but the federal and provincial governments have shown no interest in installation of the transmission line for purchasing power from it.”
The Sindh Energy Department, which was looking after the project, received funding from the federal government under the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms and the Planning Commission.
“Both ministries of finance and planning are now happy to see the closure of the project for its non-viability. The two ministries tried to stop funding but influence and pressure from various corners had kept the project getting finance,” said an official at the finance ministry in terms of anonymity.
During the last government, it had been suggested that Dr Samarmand seek private investment for running the project as the government was unable to finance it any more.
The mega project was launched in 2009 for producing gas from coal reserves on an experimental basis and it had first produced gas in 2011. Thereafter, a project for 100MW was approved to generate electricity costing Rs9 billion of which only 33per cent of the allocated funds were released.
On October 19, the top court had directed the provincial government to take over the project and asked NAB to probe the matter and submit a report within 15 days. The apex court had also sought a response from the Sindh government on the implementation of a report’s recommendations to avert environmental threats from the project.
During the course of the hearing, the CJP had observed that the coal gasification project caused a loss of billions of rupees to the government. He noted that 100MW of electricity was to be generated by the project which was shut down after production of merely 8MW.
He had regretted that nuclear scientist Dr Samar Mubarakmand had made “false claims about the project that it would generate 100MW”.