KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that 1320 MW of coal-fired energy has been added to the national grid in this month of December 2022 and another 660 MW would be added next year.
“I believe that solution to the country’s energy crisis lies in Thar coal,” he said on Monday while presiding over a board meeting of Thar Coal Energy here at the Cm House. The meeting was attended by Minister Education Syed Sardar Shah, Minister Energy Imtiaz Shaikh, Advisor Law Murtaza Wahab, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, PSCM Fayaz Jatoi, DG Coal Authority Khadim Channa, and others.
Minister BISP Shazia Marri, Special Assistant to PM Tariq Bajwa, Federal Secretary Energy Rashid Langrial, Federal Secretary Law Raja Naeem Akbar, and others attended the meeting through video link.
Minister Energy Imtiaz Shaikh briefing the chief minister said that Sino-Sindh Resources (SSR) started coal excavation work in Block-I in January 2022 it has completed 99 percent work to excavate 7.8 mtpa coal by December 31, 2022. He added that it was a CPEC project.
The CM was told that the Power Engineering Company has installed two 660 MW coal-fired power plants for $2 billion. Both the power plants successfully synchronized with the national grid on December 2 and December 11, 2022.
Imtiaz Shaikh told the chief minister that SECM planned to expand the mine from 7.6 Mtpa to 12.2 Mtpa mine. He said that Lucky Electric Power has started work on a 660 MW power plant for which it would be supplied 3.6 Mtpa coal. This plant would start commercial operation in 2024.
It may be noted that Thar Energy has already synchronized its 330 MW coal-fired power plant with the national Grid in October 2022 and another 330 MW would start commercial operation by 2023.
Rank-wearing ceremony
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah performed the rank-wearing ceremony of the newly promoted police officers (PSP) here at CM House. The ceremony was attended by Minister Industries Jam Ikram Dharejo, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, Inspector General of Police Ghulam Nabi Memon, Secretary to CM Raheem Shaikh, and others.
The CM wore ranks to newly promoted PSP officers to grade BS-21, including Munir Shaikh, Tariq Dharejo, and Khalid Rind. The PSP officers promoted to grade BS-20 wore the rank including Usman Ghani Siddiqui, Tanvir Odho, Tariq Dharejo, and Attaullah Chandio.
