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Bilawal Bhutto shares some thoughts on Thar Coal Power project

Bilawal shared some thoughts on the project saying part of this area was lost to India in the 1971 war. Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto recovered 5 thousand square miles and 90,000 POWs through his successful diplomacy.

By Web Desk
April 10, 2019

KARACHI: Pakistan People's Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Wednesday inaugurated the first coal based power project in Tharparkar.

The power plant has a capacity to generate 660 Megawatts and consists of two power generation units of 330 Megawatts each.

Bilawal shared some thoughts on the project saying part of this area was lost to India in the 1971 war. Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto recovered 5 thousand square miles and 90,000 POWs through his successful diplomacy.

In 1994 Prime Minister Shaheed Benazir Bhutto laid the foundation stone for Thar coal project on that very same land. She raised the slogan ‘Thar Badlayga Pakistan’ and promised to provide the whole county with Electricity from Thar’s coal. Unfortunately her government was toppled.

Bilawal added the selected governments and dictatorship that followed scrapped the project. In 2009 the democratic government led by President Zardari started the process once again.

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#tharparkar Sindh April 10th 2019. Part of this area was lost to India in the 1971 war. Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto recovered 5 thousand square miles and 90,000 POWs through his successful diplomacy. In 1994 Prime Minister Shaheed Benazir Bhutto laid the foundation stone for Thar coal project on that very same land. She raised the slogan #tharbadlaygapakistan & promised to provide the whole county with Electricity from Thar’s coal. Unfortunately her government was toppled. The selected governments & dictatorship that followed scrapped the project. In 2009 the democratic government led by President Zardari started the process once again. We passed the 18th amendment restoring democracy & the 1973 constitution. This gave the provinces the rights over their own resources, the financial space to initiate such projects and the authority to deliver a mega project of this scale. The #China Pakistan Economic Corridor was negotiated & Initiated during our government. This facilitated all our great partnerships with our Chinese friends that not only helped us with financing but also with technology & training essential for the task. Shaheed Benazir Bhutto introduces the concept of public partnership in Pakistan. The #SECMC 54% owned by the Sindh Government, 11% by Engro and a whole host of domestic & international partners is the largest & most successful public-private partnership in #Pakistan. That’s not all, a recent report by @theeconomist raked the province of #Sindh as the 6th best in Asia for our public private partnerships. Today I inaugurated Thar coal mining project & the power plant. The coal from Thar now powers the industries of Faisalabad. #tharnebadlapakistan we have made Shaheed Benazir Bhutto’s dream a reality. With 71% of the employees being Tharis, all displaced people set up in model homes in model villages, one member of each of their their families employed at Thar coal, the same families receiving a guaranteed income in lieu of revenue in the project, women now employed everywhere from truck drivers to engineers, infant mortality down 40%, bio-saline agriculture and farming taking place, we are witnessing a revolution. Yeh hain #BenazirPakistan.

A post shared by Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (@bbhuttozardari) on

“We passed the 18th amendment restoring democracy and the 1973 constitution. This gave the provinces the rights over their own resources, the financial space to initiate such projects and the authority to deliver a mega project of this scale.”

The China Pakistan Economic Corridor was negotiated and Initiated during our government. This facilitated all our great partnerships with our Chinese friends that not only helped us with financing but also with technology and training essential for the task.

Shaheed Benazir Bhutto introduces the concept of public partnership in Pakistan. The SECMC 54% owned by the Sindh Government, 11% by Engro and a whole host of domestic and international partners is the largest and most successful public-private partnership in Pakistan. That’s not all, a recent report by The Economist raked the province of Sindh as the 6th best in Asia for our public private partnerships.

“Today I inaugurated Thar coal mining project and the power plant. The coal from Thar now powers the industries of Faisalabad,” he said and added that ‘Thar Badlayga Pakistan’ we have made Shaheed Benazir Bhutto’s dream a reality.

With 71% of the employees being Tharis, all displaced people set up in model homes in model villages, one member of each of their families employed at Thar coal, the same families receiving a guaranteed income in lieu of revenue in the project, women now employed everywhere from truck drivers to engineers, infant mortality down 40%, bio-saline agriculture and farming taking place, we are witnessing a revolution.