Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has rejected claims that Pakistan’s political system has failed, citing development in Tharparkar as an example of what he described as the system’s success.
Addressing a ceremony in Tharparkar to inaugurate Phase III of the Thar Coal Project’s Block II, Bilawal said the district’s development reflected the effectiveness of the 1973 Constitution and the 18th Amendment.
Responding to calls for the creation of new provinces and claims that the existing system had failed, Bilawal said Islamabad should be handed over to the people of Tharparkar if the capital was considered to have failed.
“If Islamabad has failed, hand it over to the people of Tharparkar; they will fix it,” he said.
Bilawal also criticised an unnamed political party, accusing it of promoting politics based on hate and division in Karachi. He said his party would not allow such efforts to succeed.
Highlighting development in Tharparkar, the PPP chairman said the district had made progress in infrastructure, healthcare and education.
He said Thar’s development had demonstrated the potential of public-private partnerships and challenged critics who had previously questioned the viability of using local coal.
According to Bilawal, Thar currently contributes around 14 per cent of electricity to the national grid and produces it at a comparatively lower cost.
He said the Thar Coal Project was helping Pakistan save up to $1.6 billion in foreign exchange reserves and had created employment opportunities for residents of Sindh.
Bilawal said 94 per cent of the project’s employees were from Sindh, while 60pc belonged to Tharparkar.
Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said the completion of Phase III of Thar Block II would increase the coal mine’s annual production capacity from 7.6 million tonnes to 11.2 million tonnes.
He said the expansion would add 3.6 million tonnes to annual production and was being completed through 100 per cent self-financing.
According to the chief minister, electricity generated from locally mined coal would cost significantly less than electricity produced using imported coal.
He said Phase III would allow Lucky Electric’s 660-megawatt power plant to operate on Thar coal, taking total electricity generation from Thar to 1,980MW.
Shah said around 4.5 million households would benefit from electricity generated from Thar after the completion of the project.
He added that Phase III was expected to reduce electricity generation costs by approximately Rs15 billion annually and save around $220 million in foreign exchange each year.
The chief minister said the expansion would also facilitate the launch of Thar Rail, which would improve the transportation of Thar coal to other parts of the country.
He described the Thar Coal Project as an important example of public-private partnership in Pakistan’s mining sector.
