Questions arise over coal import for power plants

As unaffordable power supplies affect demand and push consumers out of the nati­onal grid, question marks are being raised over the procurement of imported coal for power plants in the long term despite the government’s and the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) overall policy direction for localisation and import substitution. The power plants are getting into long-term coal import — a market where liquidity and availability are in plenty — after the National Electric Power Reg­ulatory Authority (Nepra) streamlined spot imports through procurement guidelines, causing coal prices to tumble by almost half. While feeling delinquency, former caretaker power minister Muham­mad Ali had ordered an investigation into coal purchases for the Sahiwal Coal Power Project, recommending a report within 14 days, i.e. by March 15, 2024. Investigations have apparently been shelved.