Islamkot

The first phase of a program aimed at teaching the Chinese language to youth in Thar has been completed with outstanding results.

A top official of Sino Sindh Resources Private Limited, a local subsidiary of Shanghai Electric, said that dozens of boys and girls in Thar Block-1 are getting proficient in the Chinese language.

Children of local villagers in Thar Block-1 are being taught the Chinese language by qualified teachers under a long-term program initiated by SSSL. The project which SSRL is carrying out in collaboration with the Confucius Institute, University of Karachi was inaugurated a few months ago.

The first session has been recently completed and the results are quite heartening. Both boys and girls have now become familiar with the Chinese language. The second session has commenced recently.

To encourage the students, the trophies and medals and gifts for top ten will be distributed during the second session.

“Such initiatives are the need of times as the local youth are being equipped with an additional skill which will help them in establishing themselves in the future,” commented Li Jigen, SSRL’s CEO.

“We have initiated this project to help local kids learn the Chinese language. This skill will be an added tool for them once they enter professional life.

“Dedicated Chinese teachers from Confucius Institute have been employed to impart Chinese language to local kids. These classes are helping the local residents of Thar in overcoming the language barrier,” he added.

A total of 30 boys and 30 girls from local schools of Thar are attending these classes. The classes are being held in three different schools. On weekends the teachers are teaching the Chinese language to local employees of SSRL, which is working on a Coal-electricity integration project in Block 1 of Thar Coalfield. It is a China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) priority implementation project.

Shanghai Electric is working on a Coal-electricity integration project in Block 1 of Thar Coalfield, which is a “China-Pakistan Economic Corridor” priority implementation project. It includes construction and operation of open-pit coal mine with an annual output of 7.8 million tons and 2X660MW supercritical lignite power station.

Thar Coalfield is No. 1 in Asia and No. 7 in the world. The Block 1 open-pit coal field covers an area of 150 sq-km, and the estimated total lignite resource reserve is about 2.6 billion tons. Block 1 is the largest open-pit coal mine under construction in Pakistan. (PR)

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The post Thari youth show outstanding results in Chinese language program first appeared on Sindh Courier.

By GR Junejo

Mithi

The first shovel of lignite coal was excavated at the coal pit of Block-1 in the Thar coalfields at 9a.m on Monday January 31, 2022. Block-1 is owned and operated by Sino-Sindh Resources (Private) Limited (SSRL), whose majority shareholder is Shanghai Electric Group.

Block-1 is Pakistan’s largest coal mine with reserves of over 3 billion tons (or over 5 billion barrels of crude oil equivalent) with annual output of 7.8 million tons per annum in just the first phase alone and is classified as an “Early Harvest Project – EHP” under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) which is a flagship project of China’s historic Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to bring unparalleled levels of infrastructure and development to countries falling under the BRI.

On Sep 19, 2011, the SSRL received allocation of Thar–Coal Block I to develop open-pit coal mine while on May 24, 2012 it was granted mining lease and project was included in Joint Energy Working Group (JEWG) by government of Pakistan and Government of China. As soon as both the governments of Pakistan & China officially announced CPEC in 2013, the Thar-Coal Block I project was included in CPEC as a part of Early Harvest program. After becoming part of EHP of CPEC energy projects agreed between Government of Pakistan and China, SSRL was fortunate to receive all round support from the Governments of Pakistan & China as well as from Government of Sindh. After back to back meetings between SSRL and Shanghai Electric group and Government of Sindh Energy Department on January 23, 2019 first excavation started for development of the largest open-pit Coal mine in Block-I. Financial close for the project was achieved done on December 31, 2019. Soon after first excavation SSRL management started importing mining equipment from China and by July 2020 all the required equipment was at project Site.

“After arrival of machinery SSRL management and its sub-contractors worked in full capacity day and night despite all the Challenges (COVID-19 pandemic, hot weather, dewatering and etc.) by the grace of Almighty Allah today on January 31, 2022, the first layer of Coal was explored in extremely good condition,” SSRL said in a press release.

“This first shovel of Coal will go long way for solving energy crisis, employment generation and allied developments resulting in commercial and other economic activities in Thar region,” it said adding that development of indigenous resource base at Thar will go a long way toward Pakistan achieving its long cherished goal of energy security and economic security and sovereignty.

Thar coal can be used in power generation at mine mouth plus used to substitute imported coal and also be used to produce all manner of chemicals which Pakistan is currently importing.

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The post First shovel of coal excavated in Thar Coal Block-I first appeared on Sindh Courier.