*KARACHI – A private mining company excavating coal in Tharparkar hasannounced to discover first layer of indigenous coal today (Sunday).*

It said the coal was discovered at the depth of 140 meters after more thantwo years of exaction.

First electron will be generated from the power plant in December thisyear, announced Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC), a joint venturebetween the Sindh government and Engro Powergen.

Former chief minister Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah, also announced it onTwitter.

“By the Grace of the Almighty, today we have reached “Black Gold” in Thar,as envisioned by Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. This discovery of Coal isthe result of the hard work and perseverance of #PPP govt, and thebeginning of an energy sufficient Pakistan,” he tweeted.

Shamsuddin Shaikh, head of the SECMC, said the dream of discovering thecoal from Tharparkar has come true after 25 years.

In Tharparkar, Sindh has one of the world’s largest coal reserves. The coalmine is set to become Pakistan’s biggest industrial site.

The estimated 175 billion tonnes of watery, low energy coal was firstdiscovered in 1992 but because of its poor quality, most companies found ittoo costly to mine.

In 2012, SECMC, took up the challenge, convincing eight companies to jointhem, two of them Chinese.

They are also now building a 660 megawatt coal power plant nearby – whichthe company wants to increase to 3,300 MW by 2022 – and the government hasimproved roads and built an airport in the desert for the project.

Pakistan is not the only country using coal – one of the cheapest but alsomost polluting forms of energy – to help plug its growing energy needs.

Most new demand for coal-fired power stations is in Southeast Asia,although other countries including Bangladesh are also building newstations. –