An article has appeared by Dr Farid A Malik titled “The future of coal” in which detailed working has been reported on the cost of using gassified coal for power generation which comes to 4.8 billion US$ for a 582 MW plant with a life span of 40 years. This would amount to US$ 29.69 billion to generate 3,600 MW of hydel power generated by Kalabagh dam while the benefit of 6.1 MAF of water storage would be additional benefit. However, the cost of KBD would be 10 billion US$ approximately.

When we talk of burning coal as such in our coal fired plants without gassification, what would be the fate of pollution in atmosphere and the cost of environmental degradation resulting from using such coal? This fact has to be reckoned with while going ahead with coal fired plans on a large scale. May be when we finish building such coal fired plants at exorbitant costs, the United Nations may prohibit by law the operation of coal burning plants due to its harmful environmental effects. The comparison of coal powered plants with hydel energy will open the eyes of planners. For those who have eyes to see, the best options are in hydel based power or hydroelectric dam which are the future of Pakistan and not the imported coal fired plants. The planners ought to beware of adopting the wrong option.