Energy crisis haunts KP, hinders Pakistan’s economic, industrial growth
PESHAWAR :Pakistan, like other developing countries, is confronting the major challenge of the energy crisis that not only is affecting the common men adversely but also hindering the economic and industrial growth in the country.
The energy crisis is an old phenomenon for Pakistan, but it deepened in recent years, thanks to the previous government that delayed the completion of several ongoing and new dam projects. Another factor responsible for the crises is power pilferage by domestic and industrial consumers.
In addition to lacunae in the existing laws, the rise in global oil prices due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and the devaluation of the rupee had further aggravated the energy crisis in Pakistan.
That’s the reason, power outage in the name of load shedding has become a new normal in the country. Like other provinces, Khyber Pakthunkhwa was also facing the brunt of load shedding where power stealing continued mostly in periphery areas of Peshawar, DI Khan, Nowshera, Charadda, Bannu, Karak, and Khyber districts. As a result, the power distribution system gets overloaded and then trips down.
An official of the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) told APP on Monday that the power shortfall in KP has swelled to 1138 megawatts.
“Currently, KP’s total energy demand is 2,916MW and supply is 1,778MW, thus facing a shortfall of 1,138MW,” he said, adding that due to this shortfall, “the company carries out 16 hours of load shedding on feeders to improve power voltage and ensure smooth supply of electricity to consumers.”
Spokesman of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), KP Ikhtiar Wali Khan, holds the PTI government responsible for the electricity shortfall. Had the past rulers completed Mohmand and Bhasha dams timely, the present energy crisis would not have surfaced today, he said while talking to APP.
He claimed that over 100 mini micro hydel power stations constructed by the PTI government with the help of NGOs in northern KP were either destroyed or damaged by the recent floods due to ill planning and the wrong selection of sites.
As a result of poor planning and policies of the past rulers, he added, the energy import bill has swelled to $27 billion which has negative effects on the country’s economy.
Unlike PTI, which did not take any concrete measures to address the power shortfall, PML-N had always been taking a proactive approach to end the energy crisis.
The construction work on a high voltage direct current (HVDC) convertor station was underway at tehsil Azakhel Bala in Nowshera district under the CASA-1000 Project for transmission of 1300 MW inexpensive, clean, and environment-friendly electricity from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan via Afghanistan to Pakistan, he said, adding that the foundation stone of a 500kV HVAC grid station has been laid at Nowshera.
Terming CASA-1000 Project as a great example of mutual cooperation between the governments of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, he said the project was aimed at harnessing clean energy trade and building a shared regional electricity market, fighting climate change, and increasing standard of living for their populations.
He informed that the HVDC converter station Nowshera would be linked by an HVDC transmission line to efficiently transmit electricity from hydropower-rich Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan via Afghanistan and onward to Pakistan via Torkhum.
Ikhtiar Wali further said about 80% of work on the multi-faceted Kurram Tangi dam Project’s Stage-I, being constructed in North Waziristan tribal district has been completed and the remaining work would hopefully be completed by June this year. On March 3, 2017, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif laid the foundation stone of Kurram Tangi dam in North Waziristan, he added.
He said Kurram Tangi dam project was implemented in two stages by Wapda and construction work at the weir (dam) has been completed while Spira Ragha and Sphira Tala canals were almost built under stage-I.
The spokesman said on completion, Kurram Tangi dam has a total capacity of 83. 4 MW, which would help control floodwater and irrigate barren 35,000-acre land making the province self-sufficient in agricultural production besides 1.2MAF water storage capacity.
Work on the Mohmand dam, costing Rs 309.6 billion, has been restarted after this year’s flood devastations and would be completed by 2026, he said, adding that over 300 million gallons of water per day would be provided to Peshawar from Mohmand dam for drinking purposes with Rs957 million benefits.
As many as 2.86 billion units of environmentally-friendly electricity would be provided to the national grid every year with an estimated Rs 45.76 billion annual revenue of Mohmand dam with a power generation capacity of 800 MW and storage of 1.2MAF water for agriculture consumption, he added.
Ikhtair Wali said the project would supplement 160,000 acres of existing land while about 18,237 acres of new land would be irrigated with its annual benefits of about Rs 2.23 billion. He said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had recently visited Mohmand dam site and reviewed the pace of work on it.
He added that the project would help protect Peshawar, Charsadda, and Nowshera from floods with annual Rs 45.76 billion revenue in terms of flood mitigation with overall benefits standing at Rs 51 billion.
Besides the demand and supply gap that results in prolonged load shedding, power pilferage in KP is another point of concern for PESCO.
According to the PESCO official, power theft cases through direct hocks continued in Peshawar and Charasadda districts and remote areas of DI Khan, Tank, Bannu, Lakki Marwat, and Khyber, resulting in power tripping and fluctuation.
He said electricity theft, non-payment of bills culture, security issues, road blockages by defaulters viz a viz hook users and political interference due to voters’ pressure are encouraging power stealing in KP.
To discourage illegal electricity connections, Akhtiar Wali said Aerial Bundled Cable (ABC) project has been approved for high-line loss feeders of Peshawar, Bannu and Khyber districts where work has already been started.(APP)
