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.
