20,000 MW coal based thermal power by 2019: Ahsan
By Adnan Rafique

ISLAMABAD—Caretaker Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Ahsan Ullah Khan Friday said power generation from vast deposits of coal in Thar will help overcome growing energy supply and demand gap in view of rapid socio-economic growth in the country.
He made these remarks while chairing a meeting of Inter-Provincial Committee constituted by the Prime Minister to work out expeditious plan for International competitive bidding to produce 20,000 MW coal based thermal power by 2019 from 175 Billion tons of coal resource of Thar.
The meeting was attended by Caretaker Federal Minister for Water and Power,Tariq Hamid, Deputy, Chairman Planning Commission, Dr. Muhammad Akram Sheikh, Secretaries Ministries of Petroleum and Water and Power, Managing Director, Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB), Chairman NEPRA, Managing Director WAPDA and representatives of Sindh government.
In his opening remarks, the Minister said the government was striving to exploit the indigenous energy resources to meet the growing need of the country.
He said power generation from vast deposits of coal in Thar is the need of the hour to overcome growing energy supply and demand gap for sustaining rapid socio-economic growth in the country.
The Minister said utilization of Thar Coal resources by employing modern mining technology and skills would be a major step ensuring energy security as well as curtailing the dependence on import of energy.
The meeting reviewed the updated progress on Thar coal development and recommended that document for indicative tariff of Thar coal be processed for international competitive bidding on urgent basis in order to invite prospective companies of repute and standing for their participation in the mega project of power generation based on the indigenous lignite coal.