Chinese Co may resume work on Thar coal project RAMZAN CHANDIO KARACHI - The Mines and Mineral Department of the Sindh government has made a comprehensive plan to utilise the natural resources of province while three large granite factories would be set up in Nagarparkar of Tharparker and 30 percent energy will be produced from the coal reserves by 2030, the senior official told The Nation. The official of the Sindh government, while talking to The Nation said that President Pervez Musharraf was likely to meet Chinese investors and invite them for resumption of coal project, which they left unfinished over tariff issue. The Water and Power Development Authority was main hindrance in setting up a coal-based power plant in Thar because the Chinese investors had sought a tariff of 5.7 cents per unit but the Wapda insisted on 4 cents a unit, the senior official claimed and informed, there was only a difference of 0.3per cent in the tariff being demanded by the investors and that was offered by the Wapda. He said that Sindh has large quantities of coal, granite and other reserves of natural resources in different parts of the province. The granite area, which was inaccessible had now been connected with Karachi by a network of roads and other facilities like electricity in Nagarparkar, he added. The official informed that 3 large granite factories would be set up by year 2030 in Tharparker, which would not only generate large employment opportunities for poor and downtrodden masses of this far flung area but also get world class granite for local consumption and export with the result that poverty ratio would be decreased and increase in growth rate of the government revenue, the official said. A granite park would also be established at Nagarparkar, he said and informed that Karunjhar range of mountains in Nagarparkar has huge reserves of granite and other rock types of extractable thickness, which also has the potential to compete the international market. "It spreads over vast area and its estimated reserves are around 10 billion tons,' he presumed. He informed that the Directorate of Mine and Mineral Development was sponsoring a scheme for feasibility study of granite deposits in Tharparkar, which would conducted through consultants. He said, previously leases of granite were granted in haphazard manner and without any policy, but the department has now constituted a policy for judicious and transparent award of leases in this area. Sindh has large coal reserves of the country, which estimated around 185 billion tons in Lakhra, east of Indus and Thar. Presently, the percentage of coal in energy was negligible and not even 3 percent, the official said adding that the provincial department was in the process of assessment and exploitation studies of these coal reserves and intended to set up power houses/projects running on this coal. The Mines and Mineral Department of Sindh intended to have 30 per cent energy produce on coal by year 2030. Sharing the comprehensive plan regarding utilisation of coal reserves of Sindh, the official said, the share of coal in country's energy was to be increased at least 19 per cent by 2030 and 50 per cent by 2050. In Sindh, estimated reserves of Thar coalfield erre about 175 billion tons suitable for power generation. It was a cheap dependable energy source and could meet Pakistan's energy requirements for centuries, he maintained.