It is reported that the Pakistan Economy Watch lauded the government’s decision to run three inefficient thermal power plants on coal. It also lauded Asian Development Bank which has agreed to finance the conversion project.

Dr Murtaza Mughal President PEW said initially, the move will not only enhance power production of Jamshoro and Guddu thermal power plants by 700 MW but also reduce production cost by INR 7 per unit. He said that government, blamed for aggravating the energy crisis, should plan to covert more power plants to coal to reduce reliance on furnace oil, reduce production cost and shrink oil import bill.

However, Dr Murtaza Mughal said that government should try best to run the power plants on local coal to improve the energy mix of the country. He said that energy shortages usually exceed 5,000MW which has not only made life difficult for people but also reduced GDP growth rate by 3% to 4%.

The inefficiencies of power sector have emerged as a grave threat to the economy, he added. Energy sector is inflicting loss of over one billion rupees daily to the government while loses of private sector are more than that.

He said that converting power plants to coal can reduce the demand and supply gap to some extent but some bold steps would be needed to overcome power shortages to ensure proper growth. Instead of relying on IPPs and RPPs etc. the authorities need to focus on completion of IP gas pipeline which is the only viable and cheapest option. Efforts to bring gas from Central Asian states seem futile as pipelines would cross lawless Afghanistan making is highly undependable energy resource.

Source - Pakobserver

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