PM Shehbaz Sharif orders to link Thar coal mines to railway by March 2023

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered authorities to complete the linking of Thar Coal Mines with railways by March 23, 2023, ARY News reported. 

The linkage would enable the use of local coal for energy production rather than importing coal. 

The Prime Minister has ordered relevant authorities to complete the work to link the Thar coal mines to railways. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) of the linkage would be signed between the Federal and Sindh government today at PM and CM Sindh’s meeting. 

The PM said that severe damage was caused to the country in the last four years. The government would restore the development of the country that was halted in 2022. 

The PTI government halted projects and wasted public money, he added. 

He claimed that a total of $2 billion could be saved annually if the Thar coal mines are linked to railways. 

Back in January, huge deposits of coal were discovered at the Thar Coal Block-1 site after the completion of an excavation project jointly run by the Pakistani administration and a Chinese firm.

The efforts of coal miners bore fruit in Sindh province as a huge coal reserve was discovered below 145 metres during the excavation project of the Thar Coal Block-1 site completed in January 2022.

Experts said that the coal reserves discovered from Thar Coal Block-I were equivalent to 3 billion to 5 billion barrels of crude oil.

The administration said in a statement that the annual production is estimated at 7.8 million tonnes in the first phase. The Thar Coal Block-I was rated under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.

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Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah congratulated the nation on the discovery of coal reserves in Tharparkar and said that it was the second biggest success of the provincial government. Block 1 has coal deposits of up to 3 billion tonnes that are equivalent to 5 billion barrels of crude oil.