Energy crisis in pakistan

Eassay Outline

1. Introduction
2. Indigenous energy crisis
3. Effects of energy crisis
4. Solution
5. Non-seriousness of government
6. Conclusion

Energy is assuming greater importance due to the rapid economic growth all over the world, pushing energy demand to unprecedented heights. Unfortunately, Pakistan is facing major energy crisis nowadays. The energy crisis is affecting all walks of life in the country. The situation further deteriorated because of the stoppage of the supply to industrial units by Sui Gas Company. The company was already going through a system of load- shedding itself due to excessive use of gas by CNG users. Many electricity generation units were shut off due to non-availability of the gas. The demand of energy is increasing and production is declining due to ageing of the plants. And no feasible solution is in sight.

The delay of construction of large dams is the basic reason for the shortage of power. The construction of big dams will take at least 10 years and we cannot wait that long. Today, both businesses and households are spending huge sums on the import of power generators and their fuel.

The shortage along with global financial crisis, war on terror and floods has pushed back the economy into low growth path. The energy crisis is going to further aggravate in the coming years due to an increase in the demand and a rather slow improvement in the supply. The power shortage, during the current year is likely to hit 5000 MW during the peak hours.

The issue of energy shortage is not going to go away in a short span of time because of the non-seriousness of the government on the construction of big dams. Currently, we are adopting various short-term solutions but this is not the answer to the issue. Apparently, there is no serious effort in evidence to solve this issue on the long-term basis. We have to keep our production running otherwise unemployment will rise which will also increase street violence. This is the time to restructure our energy policy. The objective should be to utilize diversified energy resources. An environment should be created here the investments are made in energy sector.

Recent government is advocating a policy of promoting the investment in private sector. Although the response is favorable but the outcome is very slow. Now government has to make a huge investment in energy sector. And the investment has to be in direct purchase of power plants, manufacturing main and auxiliary units.

The government should also explore indigenous local resources. For example, furnace oil plants are best suited in Karachi where the port and refinery facilities are available. Gas plants to be installed in Baluchistan, Sindh and KPK near to existing gas fields. Sindh must use its coal reserves.

The efforts should be made to implement Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project on urgent basis.