Secretary General United Business Group (UBG), Zubair Tufail has said that the government needs to initiate serious efforts on all fronts so that long-delayed Iran gas pipeline project and mega dams could be constructed without further delay. He said national energy mix is heavily inclined towards thermal power which is against the national interests while dams and Iran gas is necessary for energy security. Government should use all possible resources to tame energy crisis lest the GSP plus facility go in vain, he said.
Over reliance on thermal power generation is wasting precious foreign exchange while adding to the pollution while hydel power generation is being ignored which produces electricity on minimal costs, said Zubair Tufail. He said that country is producing 67.74 percent power through imported oil, 28.67 percent electricity through hydel power and 3.17 percent electricity with the help of nuclear energy. The share of rest of modes is in very small.
He said that last year Pakistan spent over 7.5 billion dollar to buy oil for power generation while oil prices were low otherwise the bill could have been double which is not sustainable. He said that Pakistan's future is tied to Iranian gas and dams but many haven't realised it yet which is unfortunate and amounts to digging own grave. Construction of big dams will not hurt any province but delay can help transform Pakistan into a desert as Tarbela dam will complete its life in sixteen years when there would be no natural gas in the country. The storage capacity of the biggest source of hydel power generation in the country has reduced to 6.77 million-acre feet which make it necessary to urgently construct new dams. Dams are not tools of destruction, as considered by many, otherwise China, Iran, India and other countries would have not been constructing hundreds of dams and reservoirs with an amazing pace.