Sahiwal Coal Power Plant Disrupting Lives, Water and Mobility in Host Villages: Report
LAHORE: The Citizens’ Collective for Just Energy Development (CCJED), a coalition of civil society organisations, along with legislators, political leaders, lawyers, journalists, environmentalists and energy experts, has urged the government to address the concerns of communities affected by the Sahiwal Coal Power Plant.
At a consultative dialogue, Pind Sudhaar Services (PSS), a CCJED member, presented a research report documenting the plant’s impacts on local communities. The findings were based on a survey of 121 households, focus group discussions, interviews and official records.
According to the research, households primarily dependent on agriculture declined from 35 per cent to 16 per centafter the plant became operational, while only 3pc of households identified the plant as their main source of income.
The research also highlighted the absence of publicly available environmental monitoring reports and corporate social responsibility accounts. The Huaneng Sahiwal Welfare Trust was established to receive 2pc of the plant operator’s annual net profit, but no public record of its receipts or expenditure was available until April 2026.
Local residents said the quality of drinking water had deteriorated, while the closure of an irrigation outlet to meet the plant’s operational requirements had deprived 275 acres of agricultural land of canal water.
PSS representatives Alweera Waqas, Shafiq and Rashid Chaudhry said the construction of the plant on private agricultural land had disrupted local livelihoods, irrigation, drinking water supplies and mobility.
Rafay of the Alternative Law Collective (ALC), a CCJED partner, said the true cost of coal projects for affected communities could not easily be calculated because their impacts could extend to future generations. He called for greater transparency, recognition of community voices and integrated approaches to assessing the true impacts of large-scale projects.
Abdullah Cheema of Lok Sujag said the benefits of development projects were shared by a much wider population and therefore their costs should not be borne solely by host communities.
PML-N MPA Somia Atta Shahani assured community representatives that she would raise their concerns in the Punjab Assembly. PPP Central Punjab Information Secretary Shehzad Saeed Cheema said choosing Sahiwal as the site for a coal-fired power plant had not been an appropriate decision.
Asad Buzdar and Zara of the Policy Research Institute for Equitable Development, JI leader Khalid Ahmed Butt, Durre Shehwar of the Punjab Climate Action Network (PCAN), and Advocate Abdullah Malik also spoke at the dialogue.
