KARACHI:
In the midst of a cold dry winter, citizens should brace themselves for yet another crisis. In a recent interview on BCC Urdu, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Petroleum Nadeem Babar declared that Pakistan has alarming low reserves of fossil fuels that may last for the next 10 to 14 years, at best. This single statement should be extremely disconcerting for all Pakistanis precisely because electricity generation is conjointly dependent on gas. The crisis, therefore, as several have already foreseen, is twofold — no gas and no electricity!
The concerned authorities are now left with two options: either to reduce the consumption of fossil fuel or to come up with sustainable alternatives for producing energy. There is immense potential to invest in solar and hydro power. The Quaid-e-Azam solar park, which has the capacity to produce 100MW of solar energy, is one of the many examples. Furthermore, sustainable systems can be devised into compact systems and used domestically. If the government is willing to put the time and effort in making Pakistan a more resilient nation; progress, development and prosperity will automatically follow soon.
Mahnoor Afzal
Rawalpindi
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2021.
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