ISLAMABAD - The government policies are once again contradictory to its statements that Pakistan needs cheaper energy to resolve energy crisis as now it is all set to buy costlier energy from India that again is not feasible solution to the power crisis in the country.
Few days back, the government claimed that it was all set to explore cheaper energy generation resources as the solution lies in that and not in the thermal or costlier energy.
It is pertinent to mention here that the government took 4 years to realise that real issue was the high cost of energy the economy was suffering from. Now again it has forgot the main issue and going to buy electricity at a price of Rs 15 per unit from India that will definitely increase with the passage of time. The government is not in position to provide subsidy on power tariff nor are the consumers in a position to afford that burden.
As per experts of power sector, Pakistan only needs 215 million dollars to overhaul its public sector thermal power plants those can help improving generation capacity up to 2000 megawatt and extension of Guddu power plant will add another 747 MW in the system. So, in the given circumstances, spending 300-400 million dollars on the transmission lines to be laid to import electricity from India cannot be called a wise decision at all.
The experts said that the government should primarily focus on the local available resources and should not waste money on other projects. They also informed that public sector thermal units will generate electricity at a cost which will be much lower than imported Indian electricity.
Even wind power projects are more feasible than import as those would be installed on Pakistan’s land and an important thing is that after several years their tariff will decrease instead of increasing as per the agreement. Whereas in case of import of electricity the tariff would just increase and will never come down.
The government recently had announced Rs 14 per unit upfront tariff for wind power projects and it should focus on that area as after ten years the tariff will significantly decrease on the recovery of initial cost amount spent by the companies.