Thar's UCG project: Sindh asks Centre to increase PSDP allocations - Business Recorder (blog)

YASIR BABBAR

KARACAHI: The Sindh government has finally stepped in to save the multi-billion Thar Coal Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) and has asked the federal government to increase allocations for the project.

The project's fate is hanging in balance due to lack of funds.

Informed sources in Sindh Coal and Energy department told this scribe that the department had submitted proposal to the federal government for PSDP 2012-13, wherein the centre had been asked to increase allocation for UCG project at Thar.

They said that UCG project at Thar coalfield was purely funded by the federal government. They further said that the project team had started work on phase I & II in April 2010 and 100 percent funds were released for the phases of the project by December 2011.  The project team had conducted first test burn successfully on December 11, 2011 and syngas was being produced, they added.

Work on the phase three has not yet been started, as the government has not yet released a single penny of the Rs. 900 million allocated for the phase.

In the proposal moved to Federal government, Sindh demanded to increase funds for the project by 2014 million from Rs900 million allocated in FY 2011-12. It further demanded of the federal government to allocate Rs20 million (Rs 10 million each) for the already completed two phases of UCG project as well, they said.

The federal government had already released Rs. 490.48 million for first phase of creation of new processing facilities for handling & purification of Coal Gas produced by Underground Coal gasification and Rs. 494.45 million for the second phase of creation of new processing facilities (for production of Coal gas by underground coal gasification), they said. Sources further said the demand has been made on the proposal of the project team, which has proposed revision of first two phases to accomplish the working on production of syngas on commercial scale, its purification and installation of syngas generators to produce electricity.

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Sindh card has “run out of credit,” says Nawaz - DAWN.com

Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif addresses a public meeting at Dakhan, Shikarpur on Tuesday, May 15, 2012.—Online Photo

SHIKARPUR: Chief of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday said that the Sindh card could no longer be used as it had “run out of credit,” DawnNews reported.

Speaking to reporters in Shikarpur, the PML-N chief blamed the country’s rulers of being disconnected from the people and oblivious to their problems.

He said it was time the government paid attention to the masses’ issues and served the people.

Moreover, the former prime minister alleged that Rehman Malik’s past was rife with graft cases, saying that the interior minister had previously been convicted by the courts.

“Who is he to accuse others? He is not an angel,” said Sharif. “He (Malik) joined forces with Zardari to save himself. Now they are only protecting each other.”

Malik has accused the PML-N chief of money-laundering and corruption worth $32 million — claims the interior minister vows to prove.

The Supreme Court is hearing a case into allegations that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) illegally financed politicians in the 1990s through the now defunct Mehran Bank Limited. The bank’s former chief, Younis Habib, claims he delivered money by hand to the PML-N chief, and paid his brother, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, a sum of Rs 2.5 million.

The PML-N denies the allegations, calling the claims baseless and a “pack of lies”.

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Sindh CM threatens long march against PML-N - The Nation, Pakistan

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In a tit-for-tat reply to PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif’s call for Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani’s resignation, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah has threatened Long March to Lahore against Nawaz League.
Nawaz Sharif had appealed to the nation to rise up against what he called ‘immoral’ and ‘illegal government’.
War of the words has escalated between the PPP and PML-N after Supreme Court convicted Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani of contempt for not ordering reopening of multi-million-dollar corruption cases against President Zardari.
Qaim Ali Shah, during a press conference here in Karachi, said “Nawaz Sharif should refrain from issuing threats. If they will go to Islamabad then PPP jialas will march to Lahore.”
“He (Sharif) is taking cover of the Supreme Court which is yet to issue a detailed verdict… He should wait for general elections,” charged Qaim said in an angry tone.

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