He said the field would start generating 100 megawatt power within the next 15-18 months, whereas, in the next phase, 500 to 1000 megawatt power plants will be installed to generate power through coal gasification, adding that after about 3 years Pakistan will be able to install the first 1000 megawatt power plant in Thar.
Dr Samar said power generated from coal gasification would be much cheaper, which will be sold to Sindh government at the rate of Rs 3.90 per unit. He said our focus is to produce turbine and generators in the country as 75 percent cost of a power plant is incurred on import of these equipments.
He said South Africa and China are producing ample diesel from coal and added that Pakistan could also produce more than enough diesel from Thar coal. He said Pakistan has also sound potential to generate energy from waste material and once these indigenous resources are brought into the mainstream production, there would be no need to resort to expensive power generation.
He said the country is blessed with $1.2 trillion worth of copper and gold reserves, mostly in Balochistan, and our country could become financially stable by exploiting these reserves.
Highlighting other projects, he said textile and garments cities have been set up in many cities of the country to facilitate businessmen while an Expo Centre at the cost of Rs 2.2 billion is being set up in Lahore for promotion of exports.
Earlier, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce, Zahid Maqbool said manufacturing and industrial units were badly suffering due to shortage of energy and natural energy resources should be utilized to provide cheap energy to industry.
He said Thar coal has huge coal reserves and the government should fully exploit this potential not only to become self-sufficient in energy, but also to export the surplus coal to other countries and earn more foreign exchange.
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