Reports appearing in newspapers of the last couple of days suggest our leading international financial donor, the World Bank, has declined to provide more funds to Pakistan for undertaking development projects in power sector. The observations made and apprehensions expressed in this regard by the World Bank are alarming, an eye-opener for policymakers and planners of this country if they have eyes to see. The Bank is reported to have observed that funds allocated for power sector are being wasted and loadshedding is increasing instead of registering a discernable decline. The bitter fact that funds allocated to boost power generation capacity have been squandered is shameful and the culprits must be identified to be given exemplary punishment for bartering away so vital of our national interests. The apprehensions of this all-important international donor have to be addressed and removed if we are to raise funds to undertake power generation at a scale that satisfies our growing demand for energy. That is the crucial most prerequisite for reviving industrial production and putting the crippled national economy back on the rails. The larger chunk of demand would have to be met through exploration and utilization of national and international resources to which the WB can contribute significantly. We also have to develop our vast coal reserves in Thar of Sindh which can be exploited to set up any number of coal-fired power plants to generate enough additional power generation capacity. Nuclear power generation is another source through which hundreds of megawatts of power capacity can be added, a prospect that is being examined at both our existing nuclear facilities at Karachi and Khushab. All these projects need financial backing of international market-movers like the World Bank and Pakistan government must allay apprehensions of the experts at World Bank if we are to secure the sorely-needed funds for mega power projects. -BILAL NASIR HANIF, Islamabad, September 14.