CPEC’s Shanghai Electric Thar Coal Project to bring total power generation from local Thar Coal to 2,640 MW
Islamabad: The official commissioning of the 1,320 Megawatt (MW) Shanghai Electric Thar Coal Project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will bring the total power generation from local Thar Coal to 2,640 MW, Federal Minister for Power Division Engineer Khurram Dastgir said.
Speaking at a news conference here, the minister said the project, was completed in a short period of time and the power supply had resumed.
He maintained that the current government, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, has added a total of 1,980 MW of cheap electricity from the country’s thar coal deposits to the system in just 10 months. He added that thar coal will not only help reduce power loads in the summer, but also lower electricity bills.
The minister said Thar has coal reserves of 175 billion tons, enough to generate 100,000 MW of electricity. He said that power generation from tar coal would dispel any doubts about the inability to generate electricity from local coal and bode well for the country as a whole.
He thanked the entire leadership including Prime Minister of Sindh Saeed Murad Ali Shah and Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Sheikh for their full cooperation in achieving this milestone.
Khan informed that another project, the Bolan-Gwadar transmission line, has also been completed and will help import 100MW of electricity from Iran to Gwadar.
“The prime minister will inaugurate the project soon. Power transmission to Gwadar was a major issue, but now the project will help address it, with work on the transmission line set to begin in mid-March,” he mentioned.
Regarding PM’s 6,000 MW solar project, he said a call for proposals for the establishment of the first 600 MW solar project in Muzzaffargarh has already opened and a public tender for the project will be held on 17 April. He stressed that the goal was not only to address energy issues, but also to bring down electricity prices in the country.
