The National Power Generation Plan 2007 has failed to achieve its set targets of power production through indigenous resources and needs the attention of authorities concerned to review the plan on priority basis. A well informed source told Online here on Monday that the power generation plan 2007 was developed with the aim to establish a balance between power production and its consumption. It was decided that power production from hydel sources would be increased and 1,260 megawatts (MW) of power would be generated from hydel resources in the country, but unfortunately power production through hydel sources had not been ensured and different projects under the umbrella of the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) have been delayed and not made operational. The source said that Khan Khawar (72MW), Malakand III (81MW), Allai Khawar (130MW), Gomal Zam dam (17MW) and Satpara dam (16MW) were not made fully operational so far, while the demand of power production was escalating due to the current power crisis being faced by the country. Furthermore, 96 MW of power generated through Jinnah hydro power had been delayed while Jabban power plant was expected to become operational till March next year, the source added. He further said that the government had planned to fulfil the country’s power requirement through coal that was another cheap source of power production, but contrary to that not even a single megawatt of electricity had been produced so far from coal. Meanwhile, two other projects of 405 MW and 205 MW power plants based on coal energy were also planned but these plants have not been materialized as yet. The source apprised that power production plants using Thar coal have not been initiated and not even a single megawatt had been produced from the much touted Thar Coal project in the last several years. However, the source informed that satisfactory progress had been made in the area of nuclear power generation where Chashma II nuclear power plant of 325 MW capacity was operating from 2011 and construction work on other projects was continuing at a good pace. It was expected that these projects would be materialized during the next two to three years, he added. Online claimed that it tried to contact Special Secretary Himayatullah to get his version on the issue, but he did not respond to the calls and text messages.
