Parliamentary Committee of Pakistan Industrial and Traders Association Front (PIAF) has urged the prime minister and federal minister for finance to give priority to Thar Coal Project in the forthcoming budget to avoid annual loss of Rs230 billion.
Chairman PIAF Sohail Lashari presided over the PIAF parliamentary committee meeting, while LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh, former Presidents Mian Anjum Nisar, Muhammad Ali Mian, former Senior Vice President Sheikh Muhammad Arshad and PIAF Senior Vice Chairman Nadir Kalam Osman, were also present on the occasion.
Sohail Lashari said country has vast coal reserves and scientists are making out their best efforts to complete the project in shortest time, but lack of funds is coming in the way.
He said country was facing massive energy crisis. Electricity and gas load shedding have crippled the industrial and economic activities, but the government is showing least interest in solving the issue of energy crisis. Unavailability of gas and electricity forced a large number of industrialists to close down their industrial sectors or shift to the other countries and millions industrial workers became jobless. He said India is generating 53 per cent of energy through coal and only 0.9 through thermal resources, whereas, the situation in Pakistan is quite different where 60 of electricity is being generated through costly thermal resources. Thar Coal Project could play a vital role to solve the energy crisis, he underscored. The project will face serious threats if the government does not release funds for it, he exclaimed. Sohail Lashari said Thar Coal was a project of national importance and could not only solve the energy crisis, but also help export extra gas and electricity. Participants of PIAF parliamentary committee meeting urged the prime Minister to allocate sufficient funds for Thar Coal and other energy projects to keep the industrial wheel moving.
