Thar Coal Gasification Project hits a snag
Bureaucratic lobbies allegedly trying to cut its allocation in fiscal 2013.
ISLAMABAD:
The Thar coal gasification pilot project has hit a huge snag as furnace oil lobbies and the bureaucracy are pressurising the government to shelve the project.
Sources told The Express Tribune that certain bureaucratic lobbies are using all their forces to shrink the allocation for the coal gasification project in the upcoming financial year 2013. The Planning Commission Secretary is also not fond of the project, the source added.
Planning Commission Member Energy Shahid Sattar has also taken a firm stand against the Thar coal gasification project.
“The Coal Gasification Pilot project run by scientist Dr Samar Mubarakmand in Sindh has not yielded results,” he said while addressing the 4th Oil and Gas Pakistan 2012 Forum on Saturday. He maintained that the pilot project was not sustainable as it shut down after running for four months.
“The audit team that visited the site revealed that no work has been done on Thar coal gasification project,” Shahid Sattar told The Express Tribune. He added the project has failed.
Planning Commission Science and Technology member Dr Samar Mubarakmand ruled out the claim made by Member Energy and said that “we have completed work on the first phase of coal gasification project”. He said that all tests of gas converted from coal were positive.
“We successfully operated the project for four months and then shut it to avoid any coal wastage,” he said adding that a power plant is needed to use the gas for electricity production.
He did, however, say that the second phase of the project is getting a hard time to arrange funds. “We need $105 million to complete the second phase of the coal project. There is no money to even start work,” he said.
The government approved the underground coal gasification project at an estimated cost of Rs9 billion after initial experiments proved to be a success.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2012.
The Thar coal gasification pilot project has hit a huge snag as furnace oil lobbies and the bureaucracy are pressurising the government to shelve the project.
Sources told The Express Tribune that certain bureaucratic lobbies are using all their forces to shrink the allocation for the coal gasification project in the upcoming financial year 2013. The Planning Commission Secretary is also not fond of the project, the source added.
Planning Commission Member Energy Shahid Sattar has also taken a firm stand against the Thar coal gasification project.
“The Coal Gasification Pilot project run by scientist Dr Samar Mubarakmand in Sindh has not yielded results,” he said while addressing the 4th Oil and Gas Pakistan 2012 Forum on Saturday. He maintained that the pilot project was not sustainable as it shut down after running for four months.
“The audit team that visited the site revealed that no work has been done on Thar coal gasification project,” Shahid Sattar told The Express Tribune. He added the project has failed.
Planning Commission Science and Technology member Dr Samar Mubarakmand ruled out the claim made by Member Energy and said that “we have completed work on the first phase of coal gasification project”. He said that all tests of gas converted from coal were positive.
“We successfully operated the project for four months and then shut it to avoid any coal wastage,” he said adding that a power plant is needed to use the gas for electricity production.
He did, however, say that the second phase of the project is getting a hard time to arrange funds. “We need $105 million to complete the second phase of the coal project. There is no money to even start work,” he said.
The government approved the underground coal gasification project at an estimated cost of Rs9 billion after initial experiments proved to be a success.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2012.