ISLAMABAD -  Thar coal project is progressing five months ahead of schedule and will add 660 megawatts of electricity to the national grid by 2019, Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) CEO Shamsuddin Ahmed Shaikh said on Thursday.

"The first phase of the project based on two plants of 330MW each will cost $1.1 billion. It has 75 per cent foreign and 25pc local financing," he explained.

Mr Shaikh pointed out that SECMC's production schedule is 38 months."We are five months ahead of schedule. Of total 112m cubic metres excavation, we have done 7m cubic metres," he added.

The two power plants and mining in Block 2 of Thar coal would cost $3.2b, he added. Fifty Pakistani and three Chinese banks are financing this project. Engro Corporation and the Sindh government are the main sponsors, he said.

Thanking the federal and provincial governments for facilitating the project, he said: "The Sindh government has constructed high standard roads network in Tharparkar district linking coal deposit areas to highways and cities. The federal government is setting up an international airport there. A big dam and an effluent treatment plant were being constructed near the coal mines."

The federal government is also working on a transmission line to link power generation plants from Thar coal with the national grid, he added.Third generation technology was being used in mining and power generation.

The SECMC CEO said the federal and Sindh governments were keen to see this mega project operational at the earliest. "There is huge pressure on us from both governments. We are going as fast as we can," he remarked.

Sharing details of manpower employed at the project site, he said of the total 2,028 workers, 997 were natives of Thar district, 647 were Chinese and 384 belonged to different parts of the country.

For maximum participation of Tharis in Thar coal and other affiliated projects, SECMC along with other organizations has launched different training programmes.

As a part of the resettlement action plan, modern residential colonies are being constructed for the local people who would be displaced from the Block-II area of Thar Coal deposits.

The CEO informed that dislocation of around six and a half thousand population from two main villages - SenhriDars and TharyoHalepoto - and ten other small settlements is on the cards for mining purpose.