If we had Diamer Bhasha of 8.1MAF and 4500MW before 2010, we could have saved $10 bn by mitigating floods (super flood of 2010 and others) plus increasing life of Tarbela Dam by 35 years through blocking sedimentation. By a thumb rule 1MAF = $2 bn and we waste 35MAF every year in Arabian Sea. No Mega Dam after 1974 in Pak , IPPPs and Thermal Power makes 70% of Energy Mix with Rs. 16/unit whereas Hydel is Rs. 1.50/unit and how can our Manufacturing Sector and Exports compete with Rs. 16/unit. Pak Agro Economy needs Tarbela like Dam after every 10 years as we have seen after Tarbela and Mangla, Pak GDP Growth almost 2 times that of India from 1960-1995 due to cheapest energy input to Industry/Agriculture. Whole political lot and military rulers after 1974 are responsible for today's miserable power/energy sector !
What happened, done or not done is water under the bridge... lets not waste time talking about that
as of now, govt of punjab and federal govt is wasting time in solar and wind kind of projects which cannot cater the existing and upcoming demand of power in general and cheap electricity in particular. So Pakistan need Coal based power projects, nuclear power plants... along with hydel.... we all know that hydel takes time so let it go on the back burner, what about coal based power projects, how many in pipelines and how many being installed???? same about nuclear power plants... these two along with dams and hydel energy and can not only carter the electricity demand but would also provide cheap electricity...
moreover, so far what is the status of upgrading of National Transmission and Distribution network... Power-Gen and this should go side by side otherwise we may have lots of power but not enough infrastructure to distribute it...
last not least, no cheap electricity by 2018... PML-N shall be thrown out of the door for good...
What happened, done or not done is water under the bridge... lets not waste time talking about that
as of now, govt of punjab and federal govt is wasting time in solar and wind kind of projects which cannot cater the existing and upcoming demand of power in general and cheap electricity in particular. So Pakistan need Coal based power projects, nuclear power plants... along with hydel.... we all know that hydel takes time so let it go on the back burner, what about coal based power projects, how many in pipelines and how many being installed???? same about nuclear power plants... these two along with dams and hydel energy and can not only carter the electricity demand but would also provide cheap electricity...
moreover, so far what is the status of upgrading of National Transmission and Distribution network... Power-Gen and this should go side by side otherwise we may have lots of power but not enough infrastructure to distribute it...
last not least, no cheap electricity by 2018... PML-N shall be thrown out of the door for good...
Trans/Dist definitely needs parallel up gradation but this also requires billions of dollars as in 40 years, no spending in this area resulting line losses of of about 40% in some feeders/discos. Solar/Wind is not a solution but only for those remote areas where Trans/Dist. setting up cost surpasses wind/solar tariff.Coal plants at Sahiwal(1320MW), Thar by Engro (660MW) , Port Qasim (1320MW) will be in national grid by early 2018 plus 3 LNG based plants(3600MW) . PM going to Moscow on 9-July to sign deal of $2bn for laying LNG Pipeline from KHI-LHR (1100 km)
I'm saw some comments under the article saying how they don't like PTI for focusing too much on Punjab. Well for starters, PTI gained momentum and support there because fortunately Punjab is not consumed by dictative doctrine like:
*Karachi me aana he tou Altaf Bhai ko kuch nahi kehna....bla bla bla
Sindh me aana he tou Bhutto ke khilaaaaf kuch nahi kehna....bla bla bla *
Punjab has always been a hub of political competition and hotbed for new ideas. There is no crippling fear and prejudiced mistrust of 'outsiders' there.