Failure of the government to expedite construction of the hydel power projects started under the Power Policy 2002 have started to haunt its efforts to change the costly fuel mix, which was the only thing that could provide some relief to over burdened consumers.
An official source said that after the announcement of the prime minister that load shedding would be reduced during the current calendar year, the Ministry of Water and Power (MOWP) was under pressure to make efforts to fast track at least the run of the river hydel power projects.
Under the Power Policy 2002, the government had planned run-of-rivers hydropower projects for adding 4,325MW of electricity, and funds were provided accordingly during the last 11 years. However, only two major projects were completed. Delay in all these projects has intensified the energy crisis in the country. The government has never bothered to look into causes of delay for these projects even though funds were regularly released, the source added.
During 2000 to 2011 period, WAPDA managed construction of only run of the river 1,450MW Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Project, Mangla dam upraising project which is estimated to provide 2.8MAF additional storage and 655GWh additional power generation, but is not being utilised for the last two years due to the land resettlement issues. WAPDA only managed construction of 72MW Khan Khawar and non grid 17.3MW Satpara dam project in Sakurdu.
Pakistan had surplus of electricity in 2002, but is now faced with a shortfall of 5,500MW. The annual rate of growth in electricity consumption is estimated to be close to 10 percent because of the continuous unplanned rural electrification under political pressures.
The government’s failure to anticipate the galloping growth and taking appropriate measures is major cause of the energy crisis. The major challenge for the government is to change the fuel mix from 30 percent hydel generation to 70 percent level to provide some relief to the consumers. Currently the per unit cost of hydel power is Rs 1.06 per kWh, thermal power of GENCOs Rs 8.74 kWh, IPPs Rs 9.07 kWh and RPPs Rs 31 kWh. Water sector export Arshad H Abbasi told Pakistan Today that hydroelectricity had not received the priority it deserved in government planning.
Had hydroelectricity generation been dominant mode of power production, the government could have achieved the objective of consumer-end tariffs at affordable levels and also met the true cost of electricity production.
He said whenever the question about hydroelectricity was raised, the MOWP always came up with the response that hydropower projects took a long time to build and needed huge capital investment. “But this is a rather weak argument in view of modern hydropower project management”.
Abbasi said Indian policymakers were working towards adding 50,000MW of clean and renewable hydropower to their energy mix.
He said their public sector hydropower projects, 520MW Omkareshwar project on the Narmada River was completed in four years.
Small hydropower projects are taking 20 to 22 months for completion.
He said the 86MW Malana hydroelectric power project in Himachal Pradesh was constructed within 30 months against its five-year schedule in difficult mountainous terrain at high altitude. Abbasi said in 2008, an entrepreneur sought permission for 600MW Mahl hydropower plant which was advertised by the Board of Investment for private-sector investment.
He even managed to arrange $800 million for the generation and sale of electricity at just Rs 4 per unit. This was sabotaged by some officials of the ministry. As a last resort, the investor published an appeal to the president and prime minister on March 27, 2010, requesting them to intervene to enable the development of the Mahl hydropower project. He never had a reply from them.
However, in April 2011, MOWP sent another demand to the Friends of Pakistan seeking funds of $37 billion for hydropower projects, including for the Mahl hydropower project.
Abbasi said the government’s failure to address the energy crisis showed that some elements in the government had their own plans.
“If Pakistan is to prosper, the country needs honest, dedicated and sincere leaders, who can help create an enabling competitive environment for the private sector to participate in investment in the field of power generation without fear.”
