News
Friday, May 09, 2008
Senate debates energy crisis: Govt to rent power plants to meet deficit
* Water and Power minister says govt will not build ‘controversial’ Kalabagh Dam
* Censures WAPDA over line lossesBy Muhammad Bilal
ISLAMABAD: The government’s planned short-term measures to deal with the energy shortage include renting power stations in the next six to eight months, Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf told the Senate on Thursday. Winding up a debate on the power crisis in Senate, Ashraf said rented power stations would be used for three to four years, until the government implements long-term hydroelectric and coal-powered electricity generation projects. He said the existing power generation system would also be overhauled. Pakistan was currently facing a 4,000-megawatt shortage of energy, the minister added. The minister said the government would not build a controversial dam that could threaten the federation, referring to the Kalabagh Dam. He said small dams could be built on various sites to overcome the shortage of energy. “I can prove that there are sites available where small dams can be built,” he said. “We will construct uncontroversial dams.” He also directed the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) to control electricity theft and line losses. He said the ongoing load shedding would continue until August when the water level in the dams would improve. A complete end to load shedding would only be possible in three years, he added. The minister said the PPP had been criticised for allowing 15 independent power producers to operate in 1994, but they were now adding 5,500 megawatts of electricity to the national grid. Senator Khursheed Ahmed said there were credible arguments for and against the construction of Kalabagh Dam but the previous government did not work on even those projects that were not controversial, such as Basha Dam. Senator Abdul Ghafoor Haideri said governments in Pakistan had made Kalabagh Dam a political issue. Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, a senator from Karachi, said the energy crisis had affected the Sindh province the most. Senator Raza Muhammad Raza strongly opposed the construction of Kalabagh Dam. Senator Ismail Buledi said government institutions including the President’s House, Prime Minister’s House and the house of the Water and Power minister should not be exempted from load shedding. Responding to several senators’ criticism on WAPDA, Ashraf said the new government would not tolerate “black sheep” in the organisation. Unbridled line losses had increased to 30 percent, and one percent of loss equalled Rs 4 billion, he said, adding that some heads were bound to roll if the authority did not put its house in order. Ashraf said the government had exempted some strategic departments of electricity bills but other departments owed about Rs 170 billion in electricity dues to WAPDA.
Courtesy Daily Times