Power solutions

The PML-N government inherited a veritable nightmare in the power sector. A crisis of almost existential magnitude and there was never going to be a quick fix. Pakistan needs a basket of remedies for its power ills, an inefficient and corrupt system of dues collection is but one facet, another being the hardware of generation and distribution. The entire system, be it hydro, thermal or nuclear, has been allowed to fall into decay and the long-term sustained investment that is at the heart of maintaining a reliable power supply for industry and the private consumer, largely missing. That is beginning to turn around. Just over a month ago, a large solar array was inaugurated in Cholistan, and on November 26, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif did the honours at the inauguration of the country’s largest nuclear power plant to be completed within six years supported by Chinese technical assistance. The plant will produce 2,200MW and is located 40kms to the east of Karachi.

An indication of the government’s commitment to durable long-term solutions came with the announcement that it intends to make nuclear power our primary source of power generation in the future. By 2050, Pakistan is aiming to generate 40,000MW of nuclear power alone. Coupled with wind, coal, hydro and solar projects, all of which have received support either in terms of hard cash or verbal commitment, there is a real possibility of Pakistan becoming a net exporter of power by the middle of the century and load-shedding a thing of the distant past. The Diamer and Bhasha dams are to go ahead simultaneously, with the Chinese and the Americans both putting money and expertise into the pot and there are plans for 10 smaller coal-fired units at Gaddani Beach as part of an ‘energy park’. None of this puts power in the wires in the here and now, and the crisis in the short term requires the ruthless application of pressure on power defaulters and thieves large and small, no matter what the political ‘sensitivity’. Fixable yes, but not painlessly so.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2013.

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