THAR COAL FUTURE OF PAKISTAN

The visit of the prime minister to Thar coalfields is also significant in the backdrop of news doing the round in media that the project was not being pursued as vigorously as it deserved and that the Planning Commission was not well disposed to the potency of idea of underground gasification being spearheaded by Dr Mand.

The expression of the prime minister’s confidence in the viability of the project and political commitment to stay the course should come as a comforting development for those who saw the hand of vested interests in torpedoing what has rightly been termed as energy life-line of Pakistan.

The emphasis on the project is a manifestation of the need to explore all possible avenues to overcome the energy shortages that have come to plague Pakistan for last few years, arresting country’s economic development.

Given its all-encompassing importance in running the engine of economy on sustainable basis, energy sectors is one of the most important sectors globally. It explains why the governments around the world are focusing so hard on ensuring their energy security.

There is no denying the fact that Pakistan’s economy including its industrial and domestic sectors has suffered a great deal owing to widening gap between demand and supply of power. In fiscal year 2011-12, the energy shortages were responsible for curtailment of the Gross Domestic Product by almost 2%. For any economy to grow on sustainable basis, achieve accelerated GDP growth and reduce poverty through job creation, it needs uninterrupted, reliable and cheap supply of energy. Going by the size, diversity and depth of Pakistan’s economy, it becomes sufficiently manifest that she will need about twice of her current energy resources to drive its economy.

Pakistan’s current crisis in power sector is attributable to the neglect energy sector received at the hands of successive governments when not even a single megawatt of power was added to the national grid, while the size of population and economy’s requirements continued to grow exponentially.

The country’s current energy problems owe themselves to a lack of integrated, coherent and balanced energy mix, which is characterised by heavy dependence on import of oil, logistical bottlenecks for oil supplies, inefficient gas and power distribution networks, and the persistent problem of circular debt.

At the current rate, the country is likely to spend $5 billion for import of oil, which approximately totals up to $25 billion over a period of five years.

Hence, changing this flawed energy mix is what should top the agenda of the government. At the moment, the share of thermal power is well over 50%, while that of hydropower is 32%. The government should seek to increase the hydel generation up to 65% by 2025 by reducing its depending on oil and gas imports.

I am very clear about the fact that the country cannot achieve socio-economic growth unless we urgently focus on development of indigenous energy resources such as hydel projects and Thar coalfields, which are sources of cheap and affordable energy.

The future energy demands also require us to tap renewable energy resources, including wind, solar and biomass which have huge power generation potential. Hence, development of hydropower projects and Thar coalfields should figure on the top of the government’s agenda.

Pakistan sits on one of the largest coal deposits in the world, which range between 175,000 tons and 185,000 tons. They have the potential of 100,000 megawatt power generation, which can take care of the country’s power needs for 300 years. Ms. Benazir Bhutto laid the foundation of development of Thar coalfields in 1993. It is unfortunate that no substantial progress could be made on the project afterwards. If present government dedicatedly works on the development of Thar coalfields, it would constitute a befitting tribute to the leadership of their leader and a great service to Pakistan as well.

The national integrated energy policy of the present government seeks to provide level playing field for the energy sector and create an enabling environment to attract private sector investment in the power sector particularly in Thar coalfield. It should, however, ensure guaranteed rate of return, huge incentives and development of robust infrastructure.

The government should also bring about improvement in energy sector governance to ensure implementation of various reforms and stimulation of capital for capacity expansion.