Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) Chairman Tariq Hamid has said Pakistan needs a quantum jump in the power generation and this is possible only through construction of more than one mega dams catering to the increasing needs of the water shortages.
He was briefing the participants at the 87th National Management Course of National School of Public Policy in Lahore on Wednesday about the population growth and sedimentation of water reservoirs reducing the per capita availability of water in Pakistan to an alarming level.
"On the other hand, the consumption of electricity had been surging by about 10 percent per annum because of high economic growth. Only a series of mega projects could improve the situation vis-à-vis availability of water and generation of electricity. If the storage capacity is not enhanced considerably, Pakistan would become, God forbid, a drought-ridden country like Chad and Ethiopia," he said.
He said Wapda had undertaken feasibility studies of 10 new hydropower projects-Bunji, Oasu and Kohala with a generation capacity of more than 11,000 MW. These studies, including preparation of detailed engineering design and tender documents, would be ready by the year 2008-09, thus helping the government have several options to start generating low-cost hydropower electricity, he added.
He said at present, feasibility reports of the projects with generation capacity of 10,000 MW were in hand and the construction work could start when the federal government approved it.
Pakistan, by the kindness of nature, has the potential of generating 50,000 MW of hydropower. However, the existing capacity stands at only 6,463 MW, he added. The Chairman told the delegation that his government had spent Rs 21.23 billion to up-grade the power transmission system in 2004-07 to bring the line losses down by 3.3 percent from 24.8 to 21.5 percent. Various projects to improve and augment the transmission system, costing Rs 36.68 billion, are in progress and expected to be completed by 2009-10, he added.
He said that Rs 176.34 billion were paid to Independent Power Producers (IPPs) for purchase of electricity during the fiscal year 2006-07. He added that providing electricity on affordable rates to the customers was only possible with the induction of more generation of electricity through water resources. Earlier, the Chairman made a detailed deliberation on various development projects being executed by Wapda in the water and power sectors.
The delegation led by NSPP Rector/Dean Javed Hassan, included faculty member and participating officers. Members of Wapda Muhammad Mushtaq Chaudhry (Water), Fazal Ahmad Khan (Power) and Chaudhry Abdul Qadeer (Finance) and other senior Wapda officials were also present on the occasion.
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