Sindh's wider market: Thar coal gets pricing overhaul

The revised Chapter 3 of the Thar Coal Pricing Framework 2015 establishes a transparent mechanism for determining prices for non-IPP buyers, distinguishing between short- and long-term coal supply arrangements. It also introduces safeguards to prevent double recovery of costs and ensure that benefits associated with capacity charges already paid by electricity consumers are duly credited to them.

Importantly, costs associated with coal sales to non-IPP buyers will not be passed on through IPP tariffs, protecting existing electricity consumers from additional financial burdens. The framework is aimed at attracting new buyers, encouraging wider industrial use of Thar coal and facilitating long-term investment.

Mining capacity expands. The board reviewed progress on the Thar Coal Drying and Briquetting Project in Block-I, designed to reduce coal moisture content from 45% to 18%. With an intake capacity of 30 tonnes and an output of 22 tonnes per hour, the facility is expected to improve coal quality, transportation efficiency and freight economics.

Federal Energy Minister Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari congratulated the provincial government on the project's launch. Rail link gathers pace. The Rs90.3 billion Thar Rail Connectivity Project, featuring a 105-kilometre railway line connecting Thar's coal mines to New Chhor, has achieved 68% physical progress.

Meanwhile, the process of inviting bids for a nine-kilometre double railway line between Bin Qasim and Port Qasim is under way, while construction of the coal-loading station in Block-II has reached 55% completion. Shah directed the Energy Department to complete the loading station by March 2027.