ISLAMABAD : The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to probe Thar underground coal gasification project and ordered NAB to seek forensic report within 15 days.<\/p>\n
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar heard the suo motu case regarding Thar coal power project. Prominent scientist and chairman of Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) project in Thar Dr Samar Mubarakmand appeared in court for the hearing.<\/p>\n
The bench also ordered the auditor general to conduct a forensic audit of the project and submit a report within 15 days. Further, the Sindh chief secretary was directed to seize the project\u2019s belongings.<\/p>\n
During the hearing, the chief justice remarked, \u201cNo corruption was done in this project.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, court adviser Salman Akram Raja informed the bench, \u201cThe project\u2019s feasibility report was not clear. It was said that 10,000MW will be produced for 30 years but according to experts the project will lower underground water reserves and affect the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Raja continued, \u201cOne committee has said that this is a failed project and more funds should not be allocated for it. Those who approved Mubarakmand\u2019s project should have also looked into it.\u201d At this, the chief justice said, \u201cFor the first time I realised what a billion is. Billions of rupees were spent like [dried] leaves fly from a tree.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRs3.8 million have already been spent on this project and who is responsible for this? Does Dr Mubarakmand have to pay this money?\u201d he asked.
\nJustice Nisar further questioned the court adviser, \u201cWhere did Dr Mubarakmand\u2019s tall claims go? Should this matter not be sent to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) or should a fresh investigation be initiated?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of noise was created over the project that something not done by any scientist before was done this time,\u201d the chief justice said. \u201cA 100MW project is not even generating 3MW of electricity.\u201d The chief justice further said, \u201cPakistan is a poor country and is this how we will waste our money? There are two ways of producing electricity from Thar underground coal gasification project \u2014 either through coal or by operating the way plants set-up on the ports do.\u201d<\/p>\n
NAB prosecutor Asghar Haider then submitted a report regarding the projects before the bench. \u201cAccording to engineers, it is not possible to generate electricity from underground coal gasification.\u201d<\/p>\n
Court advisers Raja and Shehzad Elahi also submitted their recommendations following which the chief justice asked about \u201cthe positions of the federal and Sindh governments.\u201d<\/p>\n
The advocate general Sindh then informed the court, \u201cThe project was entirely funded by the federal government and only the land belongs to the Sindh government.\u201d Dr Mubarakmand then said, \u201cThe project did not cause any environmental degradation. An Australian company was also working on an underground gasification project and lawyers cannot judge this project.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew you would say this,\u201d Justice Nisar said in response to Dr Mubarakmand. \u201cWhen you made these claims, they were romanticised and it was said that free electricity will be provided but the national exchequer suffered a loss of Rs4 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD : The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to probe Thar underground coal gasification project and ordered NAB to seek forensic report within 15 days. A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar heard the suo motu case regarding Thar coal power project. Prominent scientist […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-32517","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-national","8":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n