It has been predicted in the prestigious journal of National Geographic of January 2015 that by 2030 we should be able to cut transportation oil use in half and then cut it in half again a decade later. Every bit of electricity would come from clean, renewable and carbon free sources. We in Pakistan are favourably placed to harness hydel power to the extent of 70,000 MW out of which hardly 6.5 MW is used. It is criminal negligence, having failed to exploit abundant resource of hydel energy placed as a gift of God at our disposal. Other countries that have no hydel resource are dependent on solar and wind energy which is capital intensive and depends on imported expensive technology.
Our nation must have a futurist look and exploit our hydel potential of power by making mega dams to solve our chronic water and power scarcity problem so as to get rid of carbon based fuels. We ought to plan now for energy based on hydel power to keep up with the new trends of the world that might leave us napping and progress may pass us by. This needs bold decisions by visionary leaders that are in short supply who cannot think beyond sugar mills and metro lines based on carbon related fuels that could run on cheap hydel power if used judiciously.
DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTI
Lahore
