In South Pakistan, the challenge of coal at the expense of the environment
AFP 15 November 2018
The ballet of the trucks is incessant in the desert of Tharparkar, in the south of Pakistan. A gigantic mine and a coal-fired power plant, built thanks to China, will soon be operating in disregard of the environment in a country where it is already weakened.
The enormous machines, laden with rubble, struggle to climb to the top of the mine. Then they dump their cargoes in a huge dump. Huge excavators assault the depths of the site.
The machines are working even at night for this flagship project of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), an agreement providing tens of billions of euros of Chinese investment in Pakistan, including infrastructure and power plants. Nine of them on the 17 planned will run on coal.
A few kilometers away, the tall chimneys of the future power plant emerge in the middle of the dunes. Myriads of Chinese and Pakistani workers are busy in the bowels of the building.
"We are five months ahead of our schedule," said Shams Shaikh, Managing Director of Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SMEC), a Sino-Pakistani joint venture that has invested nearly 1,7 billion euros. in the mine and the power plant.
Thanks to Chinese expertise, all of the work will be completed in "May 2019", he adds, or less than 4 years. The deposit is considered the seventh largest in the world, with 175 billion tonnes of coal. Discovered in 1992, it had so far not been exploited.
According to experts, it should allow the production of some 200.000 MW of electricity for a hundred years. A windfall for a country in constant energy shortage and whose needs are growing by 8% every year, according to official statistics.
The consortium plans to extract 3,8 million tonnes of coal per year to power the plant, with a total capacity of 660 MW, according to Shaikh.
- Salt lake -
The project is causing concern for its ecological impact, despite the authorities' reassurances. Especially since the fuel is lignite, low energy yield and emitting more carbon dioxide, responsible for global warming.
The site "conforms to national environmental standards," says Murtaza Rizivi, director of mining operations at Tharparkar. Yan Bing Bing, the Chinese engineer in charge of the project, ensures for his part that "international environmental laws (...) will be respected".
Tharpakar already has an impact on the water resources of this vast and very poor desert area, say the inhabitants of Gorano, a small village 25 km away.
Underground rivers flowed into the mine, which had to be diverted. Gorano has seen its pastures transformed into salt lake.
"It's complete chaos," laments Raja, a villager. "The water attracted mosquitoes, which spread disease," sighs another, Yameen Bhatti.
According to the SMEC, an envelope of 950 million rupees (6,7 million EUR) has been released to compensate the community.
After the floods, the inhabitants will probably have to deal with a drying up of groundwater, the thermal power plants being very greedy in water, warn specialists.
"Millions of liters of water will be used every day (by the power plant). Very quickly, there will be no more. What will they do next?" Asks Omar Cheema, an environmental expert, who describes the project as an "environmental and financial disaster".
Pakistan could experience an "absolute" water shortage by 2025, according to the UN. The arid South will be particularly affected.
- Untapped solar -
In addition to the serious environmental issues it raises, the Tharparkar project is also a political and economic aberration, Mr. Cheema annoys.
"While everyone gets out of the coal, we throw ourselves on it, he plague." Pakistan is going against history and against its own resources.
Several international studies have shown in recent years that coal is no longer competitive with renewable energies.
Irfan Yousuf, the Director of Renewable Energy at the Ministry of Energy, evaluates the price of the KW from solar energy to 4,8 rupees (3 cents) against 8,5 (6 cts euro) for coal.
"Pakistan is a very sunny country, but this potential is untapped," he regrets. Only 500 MW of solar electricity are produced in Pakistan, against a potential estimated at 2,9 million MW according to him.
As for the project manager, China, it is showing "hypocrisy" in terms of energy, thunders the German NGO Urgewald. Far from reducing its fleet of coal-fired power stations, it is in the process of expanding it in its territory as well as in 16 other countries including Pakistan, she says.
"The government and its state companies must put an end to the expansion of coal in China and abroad," protested its director Heffa Schuecking.
