The majority of this investment has gone into coal: 70% of the 13.8 GW worth of power projects in operation and planned under are coal fired. Coal from the Thar desert – one of the largest untapped coal deposits in the world – may be cheaper than imported coal, but it is a particularly dirty type of coal with low energy content. World says goodbye to coal, Pakistan opens new power plantsNevertheless Pakistan’s embrace of coal bucks the global trend. Omar Cheema, director of Vivantive Ltd, an advisory service for energy projects and technology ventures, remarked, “Pakistan is splurging on a coal supply chain with terrible timing, when it is becoming history elsewhere.” He also predicted that the coal projects will end up as “stranded assets.”Let people investThere is still time for Pakistan to jump out of the coal cauldron, argued Zakaria, since the price for renewables is low in Pakistan. Cheema added that it was unfair that the Chinese government is made responsible for Pakistan’s spending “binge” on coal projects.

Source: The Express Tribune June 21, 2019 18:11 UTC