Trying maize for energy

While Pakistan is in the midst of an energy crisis it is good to note that the government has been looking at various alternative energy sources, including the environment-friendly biofuel, ethanol, from maize. The prevailing conditions, though, have dampened hopes of an early start.
A Recorder Report disclosed the other day that a Swiss company, also interested in large-scale oil and gas sector projects, had undertaken to set up a $100 million project for maize based ethanol fuel generation near Port Qasim. The company was on track, following advice to work with the Board of Investment and the Planning Commission for the removal of legal and financial hitches, and later with the Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB) for initiating feasibility study of the project.
AEDB had also announced the setting up of another $110 million ethanol plant. Both projects are now said to be in doldrums, the former on account of the poor law and order situation as well as political uncertainty, and the latter because of the usual bureaucratic dawdling.
So far as the Swiss company's reservations are concerned, it needs to be noted that the company expressed its intent to invest in the project only six months ago, when the law and order situation was bad yet tolerable. It has since worsened.
The sad reality is that even though the government has been trying its best to attract foreign investments through various policy incentives, like complete repatriation of profits, no significant investments have come in during the recent years.
Which goes on to prove, if at any such proof was needed, that a pro-investment policy alone is not good enough; political certainty along with a reasonable security situation is also a necessary condition. Hopefully, the elections and the ensuing transfer of power process will soon change things for the better. AEDB must use the time to complete its feasibility reports on the two ethanol plant proposals. The Swiss company has to be wooed back to resurrect its project.
Meanwhile, it is also imperative to look at ethanol production within the larger context, including questions such as the overall potential of maize as a source of bio-fuel for us, cost of production, and socio-economic consequences. Indeed, we have the example of Brazil, which for long has been a major producer and consumer of ethanol it makes from sugarcane.
More recently, the US has jumped into the field in a big way, having decided - to reduce both dependence on Middle Eastern oil and the emission of greenhouse gases - to fulfil 25 percent of its energy requirements from maize by 2025. It would make sense for a predominantly agricultural country like Pakistan to look at the maize crop from this angle.
But any such view must take into account the current controversies surrounding ethanol production. Sugarcane being a too heavy water consumer is out of the question in our situation. Maize is also under criticism, in particular for the impact its use as fuel is feared to cast on the issue of food security. Still, just like sugarcane is an affordable biofuel for Brazil, maize may be the answer for a significant part of our energy requirements.