Former leaders from Ayub Khan, Benazir Bhutto, and General Musharraf tried to address the issue of growing energy consumption and diminishing supplies which is now legitimately deemed a “crisis” in Pakistan. President Zardari had his hand in addressing this crisis last week during the quarterly visit to Beijing where he discussed China’s assistance on energy projects. The result is a signed Memorandum of Understanding between both states for the construction of the Bunji dam in the Astore district of Pakistan. Pakistani Ambassador to China, Masood Khan confirmed this dam is one of 8 slotted for priority construction and will have a capacity of generating 7,000 megawatts of electricity. Additionally, Presdient Zardari visited the ambitious Three Gorges Dam and met with Solar Power companies in China this year and enthusiastically invited them to carry out feasibility studies and expertise:
“We need solar power for individual housing units and I want the Chinese to carry out a study in Pakistan,”
As a result, Chinese owned Solar Energy Science and Technology Company expressed a readiness to construct solar power generation projects. Many dams and solar projects are targeting the northern areas which are relatively underdeveloped and fairly detached from national infrastructure. But despite being underdeveloped, the region is prime location for generating hydro power and NGO’s have in the past introduced small, community based hydro power stations where usage is limited to basic lighting for residences and had little capacity to produce energy required for income generation. Last weeks deal with China on the other hand might be a more viable route to progress. A case study from India in 2001 demonstrates how an entrepreneur in Chitral installed a “one megawatt hydel project that changed the socio-economic conditions of the area by providing electricity to run machinery for the manufacturing and processing of local goods. Locally-generated energy in turn created skilled job opportunities in the power supply system and in workshops for making electric appliances and fixing electric installations.
Applying such construction to the northern areas of Pakistan as per recent deals with China have the potential to spur similar growth. Localized hydel projects with Chinese expertise can bypass a need for more macro transmission and distribution costs involved with creating larger infrastructure. Time and money are saved if large scale distribution channels to transmit power are not needed. And because the energy produced would be confined to the area of consumption more expensive centralized power generation and large scale load issues may be avoided.
Plus, Hydropower is cost effective and solar power has fair potential in Pakistan because of the warm climate. And with Chinese companies already having begun work on various hydel projects, including the Neelum Jhelum, Gomal Zam and Mangla rising constructions, President Zardari said he was:
“personally monitoring all ongoing projects being carried out by Chinese engineers and experts in Pakistan, adding that he was holding regular meetings with Chinese ambassador in Islamabad”
So colorful history aside, President Zardari is one of the few, if not first true businessmen turned leaders of Pakistan and it will be great to see the success of his recent bilateral negotiations with China translate to a lasting alleviation of the energy crisis.
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