The danger is that the 20 years will become 35 years if we wait for Bhasha Dam
LAHORE: The Senate body has realised what factors are pushing exports towards decline. Surely, the Senators must know why both industrial exports and agro-based exports are in decline. Industry is at half-mast because of high cost and shortage of power, thanks to the oil guzzling independent power producers that were installed when oil was $10 per barrel, not realising that one day it would become $100 per barrel, resulting in a circular debt of Rs500 billion annually.
Growth in agriculture is also negative because the hydel option was willfully ignored due to the location of the only dam that was ready to be built at that time. The 70:30 hydel to thermal ratio was turned on its head, thereby costing us Rs192 billion annually in terms of the cost differential between hydel and thermal power. By not increasing storage capacity for the last 40 years, not only are our exports suffering but we are also losing the benefits that accrue from each million acre-feet (maf) of stored water; in other words, two billion dollars multiplied by 6.1maf for 20 years, with the total $240 billion. The danger is that the 20 years will become 35 years if we wait for Bhasha Dam.
Engr Khurshid Anwer
Published in The Express Tribune, February 24th, 2017.
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