Government is taking pride in imported coal fired plants to generate power in the country with the cooperation of China. The ample resources of hydel power are being ignored consistently. It is due to the apparent reason that there is ample chance of kickbacks in importing coal instead of using indigenous source of water to generate power that has little chance of ensuring kickbacks. The coal was popular 40 years ago as fuel but has now been relegated to a level of dirtiest fuel that has a potential of threatening the clean air in which we breathe, leading to hazards of human health as experienced in China with smog in big cities.
China makes full use of hydel power in the form of Three Gorges dam that generates 18,200 MW of power and provides water for 30 percent crops of China and in addition helps in controlling damage from floods thus saving hundreds of thousands of lives. The newly found love for imported coal from our scarce foreign exchange deposits will lead us nowhere. The industrial brothers may like to examine closely the new-fangled idea of coal fired plants that would not provide any water. The plants may not repeat the old stay of IPPs and RPPs that became the millstone around our necks by building up of circular debt due to the govt being forced to import fuel at ever escalating prices.
It would be wise to exploit our 44,000 MW potential of hydel power that lies beneath our feet and does not need to be mined or imported like coal. The recently inflicted damage of floods ought to teach a lesson to our Sharif brothers to harness the water which is going to become a punishment for us if not used sagaciously. It is predicted that we would have heavy rains in the 21st century and shrinkage of glaciers that would inflict on us double penalty if we do not read the writing on the wall; otherwise, our story would not be told in the annals of the world due to our rank ingratitude to harness our sweet water resources and insisting on setting up coal fired plants.
DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTI
Lahore
