Agreement b/w old friends. 
With Germany as well.
KARACHI: A delegation of the Sindh interior ministry will travel to China by the end of the month to sign a policy framework agreement with the Chinese government and Shenhua Group, an engineering company, for the purchase of power which will be produced by two 300 MW coal-fired power plants to be constructed by Shenhua, Ahmed Nawaz, section officer technical, mines and minerals development told Daily Times.
The delegation will comprise the minister and the secretary for mines and mineral development and officials from the CBR and the federal government. And the major issue on the agenda will be determining the price at which the power is to be purchased.
Engineers from Shenhua Group have been working on coal exploration in the district of Thar since August and are scheduled to complete their operation early next week, Mao Jian Min, director general, Shenhua told Daily Times. They have drilled 110 holes so far and their target is 125 holes, each hole 200 metres deep. The team shall then leave for China where they shall prepare their reports and analyses by mid-March.
Once the feasibility is complete, Shenhua Group will return to Thar to build two coal-fired power plants to produce 600 MW of electricity and China is expected to invest $600 million in this project over the course of three years on a build, own and operate basis. The delegation traveling to China later this month will ink an agreement for the purchase of this power by WAPDA.
Last week, Mao Jian Min, director general, Shenhua, Guo Hai Lin, chief engineer, Wang Shao Chun, project director and Zhang Xiang Liang, engineer met officials from the government of Sindh to review progress on the project.
“We are one month ahead of schedule,” Min said. “Around 138 of Shenhua engineers and workers have been working in eight hour shifts 24 hours a day to complete the exploration.”
However, Nawaz told Daily Times that three major problems have plagued the project so far. One is the transmission of the power.
“Electricity transmission lines from Islamkot to the national grid in Jamshoro were initially a contentious issue since WAPDA said the party that builds the electricity producing plants should also undertake the cost and lay electricity transmission lines,” Nawaz said. “But this issue has been resolved.” The lines are able to carry 500 KW of electricity, he said. The government is also planning an airstrip from Mithi to Islamkot in the next four months, which will be used to transport Chinese equipment and material in the future.
The second issue is the availability of water to operate the coal-fired plants.
A 300 MW coal fired plant will require around 85,000 cubic metres of water on a daily basis, the director general of Shenhua said. So far, the problem has been addressed through the sinking of 11 tube wells, each 20 cubic metres deep of which two are already being used. But Shenhua has expressed some interest in water studies in the area as well.
The third issue, Nawaz said, was agreeing on the tariff for the electricity to be produced by the two plants. “Both parties have been keeping their fists closed,” he said. WAPDA has been asking for the base price of the electricity, but Shenhua has yet to make their calculations, he said. Determining the final price is expected to be discussed at some length during the November meetings in China.
The total area of Thar is 22,000 square kilometers out of which coal fields comprise 9,100 sq kms believed to contain 175 million tonnes of coal. Of total coal field area, 352 sq km have been covered by detailed exploration. Lakhra, Sonda-Thatta, Jherruck, Oagar, Indus East, Meting Jhimper and Badin also have reserves.
New Rs 198m Exploration Deal Approved
KARACHI: The government of Sindh has approved a Rs 198 million deal with the Germany-based Rheinbraun Engineering for further coal exploration in the district of Thar, and a letter of intent is expected to be handed over to a local Rheinbraun representative within a few days, Aslam Sanjrani, Sindh secretary, mines and mineral development, told Daily Times.
According to the agreement, Rheinbraun Engineering shall drill 30 to 50 holes for coal exploration in the district (see map) and sample taking and undertake the compilation of data from previous explorations. The cost of the 18-month long project has been estimated by Rheinbraun at 2.9 million euros. Rheinbraun shall be assigned one of the four blocks Thar has been divided into. Of the total budgetary allocation for the project, 80 percent is to be funded by the federal government and 20 percent by the government of Sindh. A total of Rs 71 million was allocated to the project through the PSDP and Rs 39 million though the ADP fund for this fiscal year.
:k: