Thar coal — better late than never

The $2 billion project will address the power crisis that has for long been the country’s most consistent enemy

The Pakistan government has finally given a much-awaited sovereign guarantee to the Thar coal mine and power generation project, pushing it a step closer towards its financial close that had been in the pipeline for some time. The $2 billion project will see billions of tonnes of coal put to the one use that Pakistan so desperately needs — addressing the power crisis that has for long been the country’s most consistent enemy. Coal reserves in Thar were discovered in the 1990s, and it has taken Pakistan over two decades to come this far, with bureaucratic red tape, indifference, inefficiency and corruption of successive governments, and lack of confidence and scepticism about coal being an energy source being among the hurdles.

We are inclined to believe that this development is a positive one, coming as it does a couple of days after the Sindh chief minister had criticised the federal government for delaying the sovereign guarantee. There is no doubt that the project has been delayed for an inexcusably long period of time and all stakeholders must now display urgency to complete what should have started years ago. With the project’s financing complete, backed by the state’s guarantee, there is little left in the way of Thar contributing to the country’s energy resources. We sincerely hope that vested interests stay at bay with this one. Sindh is not exactly known for its development projects, much less its work on the energy front, but it has the potential to achieve a lot in this sector. The use of wind and solar energy are also areas that could define the province’s future energy landscape. However, for any progress in this crucial area, the Sindh government must now prove that it is not as inefficient as most people perceive it to be. The Thar coal project can be the launching pad for further development work in a highly deprived and backward area. The rural areas of Sindh, and specifically Tharparkar, have been neglected for long and, compared to rural Punjab, have seen little development work. Sindh now has the chance to change its destiny but its government needs to be awake to the opportunities that the Thar coal project presents.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2015.

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