Thar coal is the future of Pakistan; Khurram Dastagir Khan

On April 10th, Khurram Dastagir Khan, Minister for Power Division, declared Thar Coal as the future of Pakistan and said that it had the potential to fulfill the electricity demand of the country.

In a motion moved by Senator Taj Haider, he discussed the Government’s failure to utilize Thar coal to its full potential; he was particularly pointing towards the delay in the construction of the second transmission line and Islamkot-Chor Railway line that had left the national grid deprived of affordable electricity.

Ending the discussion on Senator Taj’s motion, Khurram Dastgir Khan Shared the details of the Thar Coal project. He mentioned that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif along with former President Asif Ali Zardari had laid down the foundation of the Thar Coal project in 2014 and extended it by establishing four more plants in 2015 and 2016 with a total number of five plants.

He also said that 2640-megawatt electricity was being produced from Thar Coal Power Plants and that Thar coal has the potential to fulfill Pakistan’s future energy demands if utilized properly and efficiently.

Pakistan is highly reliable on imported fuel sources such as reliquefied natural gas (RLNG) to produce electricity. In times of an international crisis, such as the Russia-Ukraine war, Pakistan’s energy sector is often impacted badly. The answer to this problem is the use of a Cheaper fuel — something like coal perhaps. Coal is Spread over more than 9000 km and the Thar coal fields are one of the largest deposits of lignite coal in the world.

The prospect of coal becoming a solution to Pakistan’s energy problems will be higher if new projects that are currently under construction become operational in their allotted time.

Winding up the discussion, the minister criticized the PTI Government for not focusing on the energy projects and blamed PTI for delay in the said developmental projects.