With the increase in population, development of new
projects in private and public sectors, Pakistan needed to improve its existing
energy resources, manage fresh discoveries to satisfy fat increasing current
domestic requirements. Energy is obtained from three main sources— hydel, coal
and oil. For hydel energy construction of Kala Bagh Dam was essential. In the
wake of international sanctions for conducting nuclear blasts one of the
important measures that the government announced on was to take it up on
priority basis. The Dam had been under consideration since 1953 as a
multi-purpose project for irrigation, hydropower and flood control. Millions of
rupees had been spent on feasibility reports and initial spade work. It had
been approved by the World Bank. The power demand of the country was increasing
from year to year. A serious shortfall was building up. Had the Dam been built
well in time the country would have been spared of the colossal energy deficit
that followed. Unfortunately the construction got delayed due to the so called
opposition of Sindh, NWFP and Balochistan. Consensus of all the provinces was
needed which was not possible to obtain because opposition to the Dam was due
to provincial prejudices and not on any technical ground. In 1999 when Pervaiz
Musharraf took over as the head of the state he was fully empowered to have
ordered the construction of the Dam. But he too developed cold feet. For eight
long years he kept on postponing the project until the arrival of the new
government as a result of the June election that finally sealed the fate of the
Dam. After 55 years of dilly dallying the new government declared to shelve the
project.
While the existing dams are being silted resulting
in reduced capacity to hold water and consequently reduced capacity to produce
enough electricity and provide the required amount of water for irrigation, no
new dams have been built whereas with the passing of each year country’s
requirement of power and irrigation water have increased at a progressive rate.
The second big alternative energy source of
Pakistan is the Thar Coal Reserve which is spread over 9000 sq kilometers,
contains 175 billion tonnes of high quality carbon deposit below 120 meters of
sand layer and if prospected each coal block has potential to generate 1000 MWs
of power for 60 years. A road network from Karachi to the mining area in Thar
has been constructed to transport heavy machinery required for mining and power
generation projects. Transmission lines for power and communication network has
been laid in the area. The question is 2019 is the year that lies 5 years in
the future. Will the present or the coming governments be able to stick to the
schedule or like the Kala Bagh Dam keep on postponing it indefinitely for want
of competence and political will? Already far too much time has been wasted in
making use of the coal reserves.
These are long term projects which may or may not
materialize depending on the kind of leadership that holds the reins of the
government. The Central Asian Republics particularly Kirghizstan are keen to
sell their surplus electric energy. Its feasibility, perhaps, depended upon
normalcy to prevail in Afghanistan but what debarred the governments to import
power from Iran which is equally enthusiastic to export its surplus electricity
to Pakistan? The success of such short term measures, however, depends upon the
ability of the leaders to take bold initiatives and pursue them vigorously.
This quality is woefully lacking in the kind of leadership available to
Pakistan.
Oil and gas is the third important source of
energy. Oil and Gas Development Limited (OGDCL) is the largest petroleum
exploration company in the country. Its major oil and gas fields are located at
24 different sites in Southern Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and a few in Northern
Punjab. It has made 60 discoveries since its inception. During the last four
years alone it has made 10 discoveries two oil and eight of gas. But all these
put together fall short of country’s energy needs. Our oil import bill runs
into billions of dollars. Even gas is insufficient. That is why it is being
imported from Iran. A pipeline is being laid under an agreement between Iran
and Pakistan which is likely to be extended to India as well.