Engro Thar Block II Coal Power Project

power

Cities

Thar desert

Pakistan

Cost

$1.1b

$1,100,000,000

Phases

operational, 2019

Objective

Description

The Engro Thar Coal Power Project (Thar ll) consists of two 330 MW coal-fired power plants and adjoining open cast coal mine in Thar Block-II of the Thar Coalfield, Tharparkar District, Sindh. It is located at a distance of 25 kilometers from the town of Islamkot near the village of Singharo-Bitra.

History

In 1994 US Geological Survey collected data on the area, coal thickness, and energy yield of the coal field in Thar. On the basis of this report, Singh Coal Authority divided Thar’s coal field area of 9100 square kilometres in ‘blocks’. Block II was the first operational block under CPEC. Government of Sindh started working on developing the Thar coal reserves in 2008. Supporting infrastructures like roads, cell phone towers, and 3G internet had started being built in 2004. Due to a lack of funds, Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) persuaded the federal government to include Thar coal mining under CPEC in 2014.