Electricity has become an essential part of our lives and its outage adversely affects the country’s economic growth and daily lives of common people. Since the past few decades, there has been an enormous increase in the demand of electricity and no appreciative steps have been taken to cope up this issue. Now the demand has exceeded supply and ‘loadshedding’ has become a common issue. Every day an outage of 3-4 hours has to be faced by the people and in summer season the outage length increases to an unbearable level which is making the lives miserable for everyone.
What is the government doing to ensure a sustainable supply of energy resources for economic growth? What strategic steps are being taken to acquire energy resources in future? Is private sector willing to invest in Pakistan’s oil industry? What are the incentives being offered to the foreign players to continue working in the exploration sector? What hurdles are stopping other big players around the world to enter Pakistan? What is the role of gas distribution companies so far? Are the citizens of Pakistan being robbed by energy giants with ever rising utility bills? What should be the real price of petroleum, kerosene and other oil products in Pakistan? When will the nation have “loadshedding free” electric supply? Have we been able to make long term contracts with the countries to provide uninterrupted supply of energy resources? Will the government be able to provide enough sources to the citizens for a sustainable economic growth? Have we lost the race for acquiring maximum energy resources for future survival?
Pakistan has rich reserves of coal. Most of the power generation in many parts of the world is being done by using coal as an energy resource. Thar, Lakhra, Badin etc are some of the mammoth coal reserves in Pakistan. If we talk about Thar reserves only we get astonishing facts. Thar coal reserves of Sindh are about 850 trillion cubic feet, which is more than oil reserves of Saudi Arabia and Iran put together. These reserves are estimated at 850 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas, about 300 times higher than Pakistan’s proven gas reserves of 28 TCF.
Dr Murtaza Mughal, President of Pakistan Economy Watch, in a statement said that these reserves of coal worth USD 25 trillion could not only cater to the electricity requirements of the country for the next 100 years but also save almost billions of dollars in staggering oil import bill.
Just two percent usage of Thar coal can produce 20,000 MW of electricity for next 40 years, without any single second of loadshedding and if the whole reserves are utilised, then it can easily be imagined how much energy could be generated. The coal power generation would cost Pakistan PKR 5.67 per unit while power generated by Independent Power Projects cost PKR 9.27 It requires just 420 billion rupees initial investment whereas Pakistan receives annually 1220 billion from tax only.
Chinese and other countries’ companies have not only carried out surveys and feasibility of this project but also offered 100 percent investment in the last seven to eight years but the “petroleum gang” always discouraged them in a very systematic way.
Petroleum lobby is very strong in Pakistan and they are against any other means of power generation except for the imported oil. This lobby is the major beneficiary of the increasing oil bill that is estimated to be above 15 billion dollar this year.
Beyond the shadow of any doubt coal energy is the most viable solution to the energy crisis situation in Pakistan. The government should seriously think about it and put untiring efforts to cater to the energy crisis situation in Pakistan by utilising coal reserves.
BUSHRA ASIM
Karachi
Punjab government having failed to produce electricity, puts the entire blame on the federal government, added that the ransacking and burning of state property was not rendering any service to the nation. It is backing protests against the federal government under the cover of the energy crisis, which works against democracy and the country. The PML-N two-thirds majority government did not produce even a single unit of electricity; rather they had squeezed the IPPs through false allegations of corruption. As a result, the IPPs had to stop expansion and reduce capacity of electricity-generation.
In February 2012, Punjab Energy Secretary Rab Nawaz revealed that the Punjab government was creating legislation to manage energy generation and distribution within a fair and transparent system that was likely to help overcome the energy crisis within the province. He said that a 50 megawatt energy plant had been built in the M-3 Industrial City. Another plant of 25 megawatts in Useful City and Small Industrial Estate, Sargodha Road were set up, which would help provide continuous electricity supply to the industries of Faisalabad. Where has that piece of legislation gone? What happened to the energy plants built in different cities of Punjab? Following the 18th amendment in the Constitution, the provinces are now vested with full authority to develop power projects of any capacity through the public or private sector and establish the required regulatory framework. In view of the lingering energy crisis and opportunity provided by the new enabling framework, the Punjab Power Policy 2009 provides a framework for the development of power plants in both the public and private sector as well as for joint venture projects. The policy is intended to promote all types of technologies including hydel, coal, solar, wind and biomass. Hydel projects in the private sector would be implemented on Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) basis while other projects in the private sector can be established on either BOOT basis or on Build-Own-Operate (BOO) basis. Provinces are independent in producing electricity. Will the Punjab government tell the people how much electricity it has produced since it got the NFC share? After the passage of the 18th Amendment, the provincial governments could install power generation units but the Punjab government did not take any steps to produce even a single unit.
Joint efforts are required to overcome the energy crisis in the country whereas all the Punjab government is doing is politics over the issue. Why is every fault of the Punjab government put on the shoulders of the federal government all the time, be it the fake drugs issue or the energy crisis?
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