Pakistan may produce 54,500 megawatts of power from water reservoirs: Seminar told

Pakistan could produce approximately 54,500 Mega Watts (MW) of electricity from water reservoirs by proper planning and management. This was stated by Wajid Nawaz Khan, Director Planning and Facilitation Sarhad Hydel Development Organisation (SHYDO) Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa while speaking at seminar titled "Water Governance in Federal Systems: Facing the Challenges of Climate Change" here on Monday.
The event was arranged by the Centre for Civic Education and Forum of Federations in collaboration with German Foreign Office. He said that hydel power generation potential of the country is about 54,500MW, but at present the total installed capacity of hydropower stations is about 6696MW. Presently, he said 63 percent electricity was produced from thermal Oil and Gas and suggested that hydel potential should be explored.
Other speakers, including Kaiser Bengali, George Anderson and Professor Dr Shafqur Rahman said that Pakistan needs to focus on managing the available water reservoirs efficiently instead of constructing more dams. They said that for the last more than 60 years, the government invested billion of rupees in building water reservoirs, but still the country is facing actuate water shortage, adding that proper management both by the government and consumers required to deal with the issue. They said that without availability of water construction of dams is of no use.
Dr Kaiser Bengali said that after 18th Amendment, the federation transferred most of the responsibilities to provinces, now provinces have to manage water efficiently; otherwise the power will go back automatically to federal government. He said that there are water disputes among the federating units and they have to decide it properly. The water crises are too high and challenges are great, he maintained.
Dr Bengali further said there is an urgent need to check and monitor the climate change, which may result untimely rains and floods. Strong Flood Management Cell is need of the hour keeping in view current and last year flood across the country, which badly damaged national infrastructure apart from human losses. There are issues of small dams, hydro power generation, coastal and other water related issues.
George Anderson President Emeritus of Forum of Federations explained that the demand and supply of water could not match properly in most of the countries and they are confronting water problem including Pakistan and India. He further said that water disputes among the federating units are common and the federal governments have to address the issues, adding that there are conflicts among regional countries like India and Pakistan, but they never fight on water and try to manage it through other means.
Professor Dr Shafqur Rahman Department of Environmental Sciences University of Peshawar said that climate change has serious implication on Pakistan and stressed the need for proper arrangements. The scientific study need of the hour to address the important issue, he added.
He informed the participants that about 85 percent rainwater passes from April to September and it required construction of big reservoirs so that water might be stored and utilised for irrigation and also for power generation. Mohammad Tahir Qureshi IUCN-Pakistan briefed the participants that there are about 1000 km coastal areas in Sindh and Balochistan. He said 90 million tons is the world wide fish catch per annum of which about 0.665 million tons is Pakistan's share. Shipping line in Northern Arabian Sea is considered to be among the busiest in the world. Over 150,000 people use about 36,000 tons of mangroves as fire wood per month along Pakistani coast.
He suggested several measures for water management and conservation and stressed for National Water Policy developed through consultative process and inculcating awareness among the stakeholders. Dr Ishaq Balouch Vice President of National Party said that there are 30,000 tube wells in Balochistan for irrigation purposes. The government is providing power subsidy on these tube wells, which also boost agriculture in the province but its disadvantage is loss of under ground water. He suggested proper management of tube wells waters in Balochistan.