22 tonnes of coal for Sahiwal power plant ‘stolen’ from freight train

The coal was being transported from Karachi, say project officials

Around 22 tonnes of coal, meant for the first-ever coal-fired power plant project in the country, mysteriously went missing from the bogey of a Sahiwal-bound train on Thursday.

According to Express News, officials at the Sahiwal Coal Power Plant confirmed the coal being transported from Karachi was stolen.

A team of Chinese officials working on the project inspected the train, whereas an investigation was launched by the administration of Pakistan Railways.



The incident surfaced just two days after Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif welcomed in Qadirabad a freight train carrying the first consignment of coal from Karachi for the coal-fired power plant. Addressing a ceremony, the chief minister said 12,000 tonnes of coal had arrived for Sahiwal coal power project.

The $1.8 billion Sahiwal power plant has two units of 660MW each and would be first power plant to be run on imported coal. An estimated 4.48 million tonnes of coal is required annually for the plant, based on a calculation of 22 hours of power generation per day.