LAHORE - Speaking in the context of external and internal conspiracies and pressures which were and are blocking the way of the country’s development, former minister and economist Sartaj Aziz has disclosed that the Americans in 1966 were not in  favour of Tarbela Dam.
“An American delegation on June 1966 at London had proposed not to build Tarbela instead they had advised the Pakistani delegation to set up tube-wells in the country,” he said while presiding over “National Energy Conference” at Hameed Nizami Press Institute of Pakistan (HNPIP) here on Saturday. Mr Aziz was the member of Planning Commission of Pakistan in 1966.
But then, he added, the Commission members had decided not to further consult the United States on the matter and generated about half billion rupees from other countries to build the largest dam of the country.
The HNPIP organised the conference in collaboration with The Development Times and Engineers’ Study Forum. TheNation Editor Salim Bokhari, analysts Mian Fazal Ahmed, Taseer Mustafa and Salman Abid were the speakers while HNPIP Director Absar Abdul Ali was the moderator on the occasion.
Sartaj said that the present government has no solution to cope with energy problems and bring the people from out of crises.
“In 1991, when the Nawaz Sharif was the prime minister, all the provinces agreed on historic Water Accord and during the ending months of 1992, the PML-N government was close to develop a consensus among all the stakeholders to build Kalabagh Dam but Ghulam Ishaq Khan ousted the government,” he regretted.
The PPP government’s policy in 1994 to establish IPPs was totally wrong like Zardari’s government decision to import costly RPPs, he held. He said that his party would end the electricity crisis within months after coming into power by controlling the line losses and electricity theft. According to him, the loadshedding can ould be controlled with the existing resources by operating the power plants in full capacity. He said that thousands of megawatt electricity could be produced from Tharcoal reservoirs and by building hydle resources. “We have potential but bad governance is the actual problem,” he said.
Salim Bokhari thinks the American and Indian conspiracies are the real hurdles in the way of the country’s development. “You have to know that billions of rupees are being distributed among the politicians of Sindh and Khyber Pk to oppose the construction of Kalabagh Dam,” he held. Those who called the KBD project had been politicised and could not be constructed were the enemies of the country, he declared. He asked the people not to remain silent over the conspiracies against the country. Mr Bokhari regretted the non-seriousness and lack of commitment of all the political leadership on national issues. Speaking in the context of former Indus Water Commissioner Jammat Ali Shah, the, whose name had been put on ECL, he said how misfortunate nation we were that the person sold himself whom Pakistanis chose to plead the country’s case at international level. He said that every citizen of Pakistan could use the forum of Nawa-i-Waqt Group to raise his/her voice on national issues.
Mian Fazal said that gap between energy demand and supply could be bridged through better management. He highlighted that the electricity theft and line losses were the reasons of loadshedding. He advocated using solar energy to mitigate the energy shortages.
Taseer Mustafa said every individual should play his due role to save the energy. He said that policies should be made with consensus. Political will as well as unity among the people was the need of the hour to solve the issues confronting the country, he added.
Salman Abid highlighted the need of building national policies with the consensus of all political parties. The policies should be continuous and change should come from upper level, he held. According to him, non-payment of electricity bills, electricity theft and other issues were also the reasons behind the energy problems.
Speakers recommended making the Council of Common Interests active, building the KBD, controlling the electricity theft and line losses and establishing the energy efficient buildings in the country.