Lakhra Coal Power Project: Senate panel to move SC against coal extractor

A district session court allowed a private company to extract coal, despite cancellation of its lease by Sindh govt.

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Water and Power on Monday decided to file a reference in the Supreme Court against a stay order on the Lakhra Coal Power Plant Project in Jamshoro where a private company is extracting tonnes of coal but not generating any electricity.

The decision was taken after the Sindh government expressed its inability to take any action against the private company, Fatah Group which, despite cancellation of its lease agreement, is still excavating coal from an area of 8,500 acres of land and selling them to seven other companies because of a stay order granted by a session court in Sindh.

The committee has decided to become a party and file a reference in the Supreme Court for scraping the stay order and disallowing the company from further excavations.

“We will go to Supreme Court against this stay order to save national resources from private companies,” said committee chairman Senator Zahid Khan.

Another member of the committee, Senator Shahi Syed expressed doubt over the stay order’s indefinite timeframe. “We don’t understand why a stay order was issued for an indefinite period of time. There should be a timeframe for a stay order if a party obtains it from the court,” he said.

The committee was informed that the Lakhra Power Project was spread over an area of 18,000 acres of which 8,000 acres were given to the Fatah Group for extraction of coal for electricity generation. The committee was further informed that the land was given on lease with a condition that a 50-megawatt (MW) power plant will be installed, but the plant has not been installed and the coal is being sold in the open market.

Later, the Sindh government cancelled the lease but the company got a stay order from a sessions court and continued to extract coal.

The committee has also urged the federal government to provide funds for the upgrade of transmission and distribution system in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and also sought report over the delay of 220KV grid station in Malakand.

The committee chair has also said that Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), distribution companies, National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC), National Electricity and Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) have failed to provide and ensure cheap and uninterrupted electricity to consumers.

“Billions of funds are spent merely on paper projects, but still there is no relief and respite for consumers on ground,” Khan said, adding that rampant corruption in all departments concerned made matters worse.

Agreement with foreign countries

Meanwhile, officials of the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) informed the committee that the government has not made any agreement with any foreign country including India for importing electricity. Senator Kamil Ali Agha said that paper industry in Sheikhupura was in turmoil due to frequent load-shedding. He also pointed out that WAPDA officials in Lahore took huge bribes and gave fresh transformers in exchange for burnt or dysfunctional ones, a matter that needed to be checked.