The Turkish ship, the Kaya Bey, has arrived in Karachi bearing a power plant which will generate 232 MW and is welcome. This power will be added to the national grid on November 20 (today) to the Korangi rental power plant, and will help assuage the power crisis that is afflicting Pakistan. It is also evidence of the helping hand extended by the brotherly Muslim country at a time when Pakistan needs quick help, but has been fobbed off with promises by the USA, along with its refusal to let Pakistan have a civilian nuclear agreement which would allow it to help itself meet its growing power needs. Though the arrival of the Turkish power plant helps reduce the power crisis, it does not end it by any means, and does not really point towards ending it. The first question that arises is the price at which the electricity will be supplied. Then there is the question of what will happen when the oil which fuels this thermal plant runs out. Thermal energy is obviously not a solution. It is truly unfortunate that a country which has been showered with so many alternatives to oil as a source of electricity has not used these resources, or is delaying them, as has been done with coal and wind, not to mention solar power, which is abundant all over the country, and not limited like the preceding two to Thar (as is coal) or the Karachi coast (as is wind). However, the real tragedy is the failure to use the abundant hydro-electric power the country has been given. Apart from sheer neglect, has been the politicization of obviously beneficial projects like the Kalabagh Dam, despite being extensively studied, and being badly needed this flood season to regulate the otherwise uncontrolled river flows. The tragedy of the power sector in Pakistan has been the lack of development in the hydel sector, and that has been held up by the opponents of the Kalabagh Dam, who have opposed it to promote their own brands of parochial politics. This has led to Pakistan taking an internal problem worldwide, and accepting solutions even though they might be expensive. The government should concentrate on this sector which is not only directly causing the populace difficulties, but because it has harmed exports, because of higher production costs. This not only means that it must find immediate solutions, but also develop long-term policies that take care of the problem on a long-term basis. Rather than looking to rental power plants, the government should stress hydel, and nothing can prove its seriousness in this than going ahead with the Kalabagh Dam.