The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) here on Friday stressed the need for spending sufficient funds on promotion of biotechnology that is the best substitute of conventional energy resources.
The LCCI President Ijaz A Mumtaz said that there is no doubt about the enormous potential of biotechnology in Pakistan. It is rightly said that 21st Century belongs to biotechnology. There are a number of fields derived from biotechnology like agriculture biotechnology, environmental biotechnology, health biotechnology, industrial biotechnology and nano biotechnology, he mentioned.
He said that renewable and sustainable energy resources are the best substitute to the conventional fuels and energy sources as the business community understands that biofuels would reduce our dependence on petroleum to some degree and enhance energy security. Likewise it will also contribute in rural economic development, he added.
The LCCI president said the countries like USA, Brazil and China are leading consumers of ethanol. Many countries world over have gradually introduced Flexible-Fuel Vehicles (FFV) which engines are designed to run on more than one fuel. In Brazil, for instance, 70 percent of all new cars sold now are FFV. Their sources of deriving ethanol are corn, sugarcane, soybeans and palm oil. Europe has also progressed remarkably in this connection by utilising grain starch, sugar beets and rapeseeds etc. Further research and development has made it possible to use different kinds of wastes and herbs for biofuel production, he maintained.
It is really unfortunate that no significant work has been done in Pakistan in this field. There is abundant availability of cultivable area in the shape of barren and waste land in our country. He said that government should encourage to utilise this land for growing Jatropha plant at a wider scale. We can extract non edible oil from this herb to produce biodiesel. This can be used in vehicles by way of mixing up to 10 percent with diesel.
Mumtaz said that it will certainly help to a great deal in bringing down the import of oil but also serve as an environment friendly source of energy. He stressed the need for highlighting the importance of biofuel at national level and also project this area as a profitable sector for national and foreign investors.
He said that it is high time that public and private sector must come up and join hands in order to utilise the untapped potential of biofuel and especially government of Punjab should take initiative to utilise barren and waste land for biofuel production.
He urged the government to provide biogas plants to the rural community at subsidised rates to promote alternate energy resources. He said that since more than 60 percent of country's exports belong to agriculture therefore biotechnology is of prime importance. The recent electricity shortage has badly affected the Agriculture and the industrial sectors and it is very unfortunate that the country is getting no benefit of its biofuel potential while by reportedly next year neighbouring India would be fulfilling 20 percent of its total energy needs through biofuels.
He urged the government to take measures on war footing to promote biofuels that would not only help government to overcome the energy crisis but would also reduce the oil import bill.
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