Power Shortage ….. where?
By Emaad Qureshi • Aug 10th, 2008 • Category: Politics, Worth A Second Look • 6 Comments“India is facing a power shortage of 70,000 MW” said Lok Sabha, power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, “The potential for hydro power generation in the country was 1.5 lakh MW but merely 20% of it was exploited”, he said.There is a serious misconception prevailing amongst most of people that Pakistan is the only country which is facing Power shortage but if we Google it we will find that, there are also countries that are facing more severe power shortage such as our own shinning India and next super power China.
Especially India is passing through its worst Power crisis. There are cities in India which are facing alarming situation; continuous load shedding in Bangalore has led to diesel shortage as people are using generators. States like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh West Bengal, Haryana are worst hit by this crisis and they are facing electricity shortfall of about 5,000MW, 1,000MW, 2000MW, 1,500MW respectively,. In Maharashtra officials are asking industries to lower their demand by 10% or ready to face forced load shedding. Cities and towns are facing 7 to 13 hours load shedding; one reason is under capacity working of .Dabhol Power plant.
Punjab’s power crisis has been exacerbated because states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, AP, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala, which form the south and western regions of the National Power Grid, are facing shortages themselves and have backed out of an earlier agreement to bank electricity with the PSEB. Far south in Kerala, government has announced 25% power cut for all industrial units. Economic analysts fear that this power breakdown can hit economic growth of the country.
In Assam, a drought like situation leading to poor hydropower generation and a weak distribution network have led to the state facing the worst ever power crises, prompting the state government to approach neighboring states as well as the Himalaya kingdom of Bhutan for power supply.Situation in China which is ready to be next Super power is not so bad but is serious. Chinese officials fear that it can seriously affect Olympic campaign. .According to an official of the State Grid Corporation (SGC) (Beijing).China’s power shortage as of July 15 reached 14 gigawatts.Some analysts are of the view that China is facing at least facing 70 GW electricity shortfall and 13 provinces are mostly affected by this deficit
Experts are saying that the major reason for this power shortage is .forced shut down of smaller power plants that are badly hurt by rising coal prices and low Government controlled electricity rates, as in china mostly electricity is produced by Coal. Coal based generation accounts for 80% of China’s Power generation.
Where is Pakistan????
Compared to India and China, Pakistan is in better position. Pakistan is only facing 3000 to 5000MW electricity shortfall
People criticize Previous Pakistani Government that it failed to add even single Megawatt during their tenure but this is wrong assessment.
In 1999, our installed capacity was merely 15,860 MW. (With Hydel 4826 + Thermal 10,897 + Nuclear 137).In 2005-06, our installed capacity increased to become 20,495 MW. (With Hydel 6499 + Thermal 13,534 + Nuclear 462). The first unit of 290-megawatt of Ghazi Brotha Hydel Project (GBHP) went into operation in June 2003, and contributed around 50mw of electricity to the national grid. Four more units were added every quarter, and by 2004 the GBHP was contributing 1,450 mw.
Three rental power houses would start generating 1,067 megawatts of electricity by end of year 2008, respectively. Agreements had been signed with China to establish power plants at Nandipur and Chichu ki Malian, and tenders had been issued for two 500MW power plants at Dadu and Faisalabad which would be run by gas and furnace oil. An 800MW power plant would be set up at Guddu.
The Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) is investing in a new 220-megawatt power plant that will help control the power shortages in the city. The plant has started generating 192MW by March and the remaining 28MW will start being distributed by December 2008.
The Ongoing Power Projects for which allocations were made in 2007-08 Budget, are Mangla Dam Raising Project (Rs 20 billion), Mirani Dam (Rs 500 million), Sabakzai Dam (Rs 200 million), Kurram Tangi Dam (Rs 2.84 billion), Sadpara Multipurpose Dam Rs (900 million), Gomal Zam Dam (Rs 1.8 billion), the Greater Thal Canal Phase I (Rs 8.5 billion), the Greater Thal Canal Phase II (Rs 2.5 billion), construction of 20 small dams in NWFP (Rs 870 million), Bhasha/ Diamer Dam (Rs 500 million), Khan-Khawar hydro project (Rs 1.3 billion), Dubir Khawar hydro project (Rs 2.1 billion), transmission arrangements for power dispersal of Ghazi Barotha (Rs 1.67 billion) and Neelam-Jhelum hydro project (Rs 10 billion).
So there is no need to fluster, we can easily take control of this crisis if we complete all these projects in time.
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Dear Mr Emaad Qureshi, First of All thanks for sharing this information , what i have seen and observed that you are trying to making your point that PAKISTAN’S condition related to Power Crisis is better than India ….. thats nice comparison you have made which is good and people can see and observe that where Pakistan is standing related to Power Crisis in the world …. let me add one thing , the projects which you have mentioned in your articles in last our those projects which were scheduled earlier related to power crisis quite few years back and in recent past we have not seen any further progress for the power crisis management …. we all know that we have alternative resources by which we can make enough electricity for our country people …. but whose going to take the initiative … i guess no one …… recently i was going through one of the MIT journals in which the research has been made on solar panels which are so light in the weight and specially related to observing energy at room temperature and also that they will be powerful and stable then steam turbines …. and i can see thats the future of next generation power plant ……
Kind Regards,
Being a Pakistani, when I was in Bangalore, i was surprised to see the load shedding and its impact however, rather than people crying and burning busses, they themselves try to help the government by reducing the use of electricity.
Dear Mr. Emmad:
An excellent article highlighting a very important point that all those claims by the politicians that in the last 8 years not a single Mega Watt has been generated are fake and untrue.
In addition to this i would like to say that Mr. Ali has commented rightly. In time of this crisis we really do not need to get out and cause more chaos, we need to sit down and resolve the problems and the issues instead of generating new ones. I am pretty sure that our current political government has already got a full plate with military operations running in two of its provinces.
Mohsin Mahmood.
Ali Says:
“Being a Pakistani, when I was in Bangalore, i was surprised to see the load shedding and its impact however, rather than people crying and burning busses, they themselves try to help the government by reducing the use of electricity.”
Acha gee….Come on. In which area of the Bangalore you visited. Please tell me then I will confirm you the situation and their load shedding timings.
@Saleem Khan, I was staying at Leelas Palace, Airport Road and i travelled a lot to central Bangalore (infentary road) and i witnessed load sheddings all across bangalore in shoppin centres such as Forum, Commercial Road, MG Road and various others ..
NWFP and Sindh are responsible for shortage of electricity and water.
Disease of Provincialism in Politicians of NWFP and Sindh is mainly responsible for power shortage mayhem and the resultant chaos in the society due to tormenting blackouts and long power outrages.
Importance of Electricity Versus Wastage of Water for Feudals.
Why opposition on generation of electricity by Kalabagh Dam in which no water is wasted but provide option of safe storage of water for future use. Electricity is the need of each and every minute and moment of human life, people can not tolerate outage of electricity for one hour while agriculture land can tolerate need of water even many weeks, but why importance to agriculture of few feudals and no importance to electricity which is the need of each and every citizens
• Children weeps in the night due to high temperature and mosquitoes bite due to outage of electricity,
• Students can not study in night due to outage of electricity.
• Industry can not run without electricity.
• Machinery can not run without electricity.
• Surgeons can not operate without electricity.
• A patient on life machine can not survive without electricity.
• Even in agriculture can not use Tubewell without electricity.
• Fertilizer can not be manufactured without electricity.
• Pesticide can not be manufactured without electricity.
• Sugar Mills,Cotton Mills,Flour Mills,Rice Mills can not run without electricity.
Above points clearly indicates that use of water for generation of electricity is 1000 times better than wastage of water on land or in sea for few feudals, because water wasted in land or sea is not recoverable but water use for generation of electricity in Kalabagh Dam will be available for use for agriculture and Industry as it was suitable before generation of electricity and there will be no wastage of water.
From all above points it is clear that NWFP and Sindh who are opposing the generation of electricity and preservation and safe storage of water in Kalabagh dam are criminals of humanity as well as of World.
VICTIMIZATION OF RIVER INDUS BY Govt of SINDH
On one side Sindh is wasting River Indus water in sea but on other side making objection on use of water by other provinces for agriculture (Chasma Jehlum Link Canal) and Kalabagh dams for electricity generation.
On one side Sindh is calcimining that there is rise of sea level and problem of land erosion and other side also advocating wastage of 10 million Acre feet water in sea to further raise the level of sea and will cause more land erosion.
On one side Sindh is saying there is water logging and salinity problem in Thatta and Badin and on other side itself spreading and aggravating these problems with wastage of huge (13 Million Acres feet= 0NE CRORE Thirty Laks Acre Feet Water) Quantity of water for few thousands Acres of land in Thatta and Badin
On one side Sindh is claiming that there is rise of sea level due to global warming and other side also advocating generation of electricity from Thar coal which is the most polluted source of energy and main culprit of global warming and will pollute all land, air and water resources of Pakistan including River Indus.
On one side Sindh is cultivating Rice crop in desert and there is always increase in agriculture out put in the end of year but on other side always crying that there is shortage of water while infact all rivers of Pakistan including Hub River of Balouchistan goes down towards Sindh and their is contineously increase in flow of water year by year.
On one side Sindh always demanding fresh water but itself doing nothing for prevention of pollution and preservation of water. no single treatment plant is there, no desalination plant is there, on the contrary polluting river Indus water with salt mines and sea water and many lakes have been converted into useless lakes due to pollution.
On one side Sindh makes claim on whole water of Indus but on other side victimizing this river by polluting with sea water,factories wastage and fertilizer, infact Indus water near Thatta and Badin is so much polluted and poisioned in Sindh that no one can use that for any purpose.
On one side Sindh show they love river Indus,but on other side by wasting its water in sea and opposing any development project on River Indus, Province of Sindh is converting to River Indus into a Nullah and making this river useless for People of Pakistan and instead of preventing its wastage and diverting towards Karachi and coast of Makran,Sindh is wasting River Indus in the sea.
As Sindh,Balochistan and Pukhtunkhwa are against Kalabagh Dam
because as per Sindh LOGIC Thar Coal is better than Kalabagh as Kalabagh will emmit BLACK SMOKE and Thar Coal will emmit fresh air full of Oxygen.
And as per Balouchistan Vision GAS and coal extracted from Balouchistan are one of the most clean source of energy and Kalabagh will pollute air and land resouces and people will drown in Kalabagh and no one is dying in the coal caves of Balochistan.
And as per Frontier wisdom Royalty of Tarballa is so important that Pakistan can be broken for that but Kalabgh dam is not good looking as it is in Punjab.
All provinces want Provincial autonomy but Punjab should open or close its canals , IRRIGATE ITS LAND AND construct Dams as per desire of other provinces and after asking from
other provinces Because it is necessary for unity and prosperity of Pakistan as when there will be no agriculture,no electricity and no water then Pakistan will be more united and more prosperous.
M.AKRAM NIAZI
akrumniazi@hotmail.com