Boiling anger
by
Javed Hafiz |
Pakistanis are seething with anger as electricity plays hide and seek
Temperatures in the Punjab and Sindh plains are rising and people are seething with anger as electricity plays hide and seek round the clock. Apart from electricity, we face gas shortages as well. Imran Khan says the energy crisis in Pakistan has been created by the government and he is not wrong. Installed electricity capacity of Pakistan is about 21,000 megawatt, far more than its daily energy demand of 16,000 megawatt. President Zardari recently told a group of businessmen that they should decide whether they wanted compressed natural gas(CNG) for the industry or the vehicles. And yet this government has given hundreds of new licenses to new CNG filling stations. Now that is mind boggling. Is there total lack of co-ordination in government departments?
Why can the government, which supervises both public and private sector energy production and distribution, not provide electricity to industries and households? The reason is a circular debt of billions of rupees piled up since 2006. As a result of this huge debt, the oil companies do not provide enough furnace oil to the electricity producers. Large newspaper advertisements state that unpaid electricity bills in Pakistan now amount to a whopping Rs.300 billion. They urge citizens to help the government end electricity theft. This is a political gimmick as some government departments themselves are defaulters. Bill collection is a government duty in which it has failed. When I go to the bank every month to pay hefty electricity bills for my household, I do get the feeling that I am also partly paying for the defaulters. I say that as the defaulters keep getting the supply either through theft or lack of will on the government’s part to catch them.
The demonstrations in Punjab against electric load shedding drew large angry crowds. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif himself joined a rally and vowed to march to Islamabad. The government was shaken and the president himself chaired a meeting to address the issue. While the common man, whose livelihood is closely connected with regular energy supplies, was venting his anger in the streets, convicted Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was away in the cool environs of London. Chief Justice Chaudhary has said that the mere fact that President Zardari himself chose to chair the energy meeting showed institutional breakdown. When officials are faced with lack of clear policy, they are confused and do not take their duties seriously. The government should have a clear policy and officials should have full powers to implement it. Had this government decided at the very beginning of its tenure that no defaulter will get electric supply and no new CNG station will be built, we in Pakistan would have been spared of our current woes.
The other day, I attended a very informative lecture on this very topic delivered by Usman Aminud Din , the former petroleum minister. He too was of the opinion that energy shortage in Pakistan was a result of poor governance. He said the government had fallen in a pit dug by itself. Technologies are now available to reduce or even eliminate losses and theft. Those who do not pay should get no electricity. About the mushrooming of CNG stations he had interesting information to share with the audience. He said he had himself allowed use of CNG for vehicles in 2000 but that was only for public transport. About the current addition of new CNG stations he suspected that ministers and officials concerned made dirty money by sanctioning more stations .I guess some honest ministers may also be distributing this favour to their political supporters.
The other day, Petroleum Secretary Ejaz Chaudhary told a parliamentary body that 75 natural gas wells were non-operational for years. Pakistan is not energy deficient. According to Aminud Din, the gross caloric value of Thar coal reserves is more than the Saudi oil reserves. Last month, I learnt from the Sindh chief minister that the wind energy potential of his province was 3000 megawatt. The Makran Coast and the Pothohar area of Punjab have that potential too. Current supply and demand gap is a mere 6000 megawatt. That gap can be filled by wind energy alone. Who is stopping the government from developing that potential? Instead of addressing these real issues, the government is indulging in political gimmicks like the creation of new provinces. I am not against new provinces but, for God’s sake, address urgent and real issues first. The creation of Sareiki or Bahawalpur or Hazara provinces will not add a single megawatt to the national grid.
This serious problem needs long term solution. Tentative measures like payments to oil suppliers when people come out on the streets will not do. This energy deficit is eating into the vitals of Pakistani economy.
Oman Tribune
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