The government is aware of the weaknesses in the management of electricity crises in the province and is taking appropriate measures to resolve the problems, Balochistan Minister for Social Welfare Mir Aghar Rind said on Tuesday.
He was addressing a policy dialogue on “Management of Electricity Crises by Provinces” held here under the auspices of the Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP).
The provincial minister said after the passage of the 18th Amendment, the Balochistan government created a separate department of energy which would be headed by a minister with an administrative secretary. He said the department would start functioning within two months. He said although there were weaknesses in every department and governance issues, the government had already resolved the issues and the rest would also be done.
He said the provincial government would also resolve the problems of WAPDA in the province. He said under his Rs 250 million annual development fund, he had allocated Rs 150 million for the education sector and Rs 50 each for health and solar energy in his constituency. Amina Sohail, consultant for the CRCP made her presentation about the introduction of Electricity Governance Initiative Pakistan and Governance issues in electricity crises. A number of stakeholders and representatives of the Quetta Electric Supply Company and non-government organisations participated in the dialogue.
During the discussion, the participants said Balochistan was getting 750MW of electricity from the national grid against its need 1500MG. They said on the coastal line, if wind mills with the cost of Rs 10 billion were installed, Balochistan could not only meet its energy needs, but could also have surplus energy. They said due to the energy crisis, agriculture in Balochistan had reached to the brink of complete destruction. They said it was the need of the hour that agriculture sector should be given more incentive for its progress so that not only the food need of the country could be met, but foreign exchange could be earned through export. Amina said it was a myth that the provinces had provincial power before the 18th Amendment, in fact the politician wanted to get credit through the amendment. She said the autonomy was guaranteed in the concurrent list of the constitution, but never implemented. She said the provinces had powers to generate energy, but needed licences.
