Removing power distribution snags

THE Asian Development Bank will provide funding of $150 million to Pakistan for power distribution enhancement project-1, to be implemented by Pepco to enable it to address the capacity shortfalls that currently result in frequent system outages and power supply interruptions. According to a Recorder Report, the three-pronged ADB strategy envisages enhanced circuit and transformer capacity to meet the projected load growth, and revamp the distribution network. The strategy is designed to help remove systemic flaws that have reduced power distribution efficiency in the country. ADB is, meanwhile, also considering a proposal for another $810 million loan for power distribution enhancement facility in the country. The programme will be meant to increase the efficiency of the overall distribution network, and will provide adequate and uninterrupted power supply to a larger number of industrial, commercial and domestic consumers, through funding of investment needs of each of the eight distribution companies (Discos) in the country. According to an ADB report, consultants and firms will be selected and engaged for specific assignments in accordance with the bank’s operating procedures, while procurement will be done in accordance with ADB’s Procurement Guidelines 2007. A study carried out by ADB has determined that the country has a large untapped energy efficiency market. It has also identified several energy efficiency improvement opportunities in gas distribution that can be profitably tapped. However, Pakistan lacks a comprehensive energy efficiency development roadmap and investment programme. Experience has shown that effective implementation and incorporation of energy efficiency into the policy mainstream requires concerted, long-term action and commitment, which we have failed to ensure. In its report, ADB has emphasised the need for reform in energy pricing, utility rate-setting and maintenance of equipment standards. It says that certification, testing regime alternative and renewable energy programme, easy access to energy efficiency information, financing as well as products and services by all categories and levels of energy market players and the end users should be ensured. Pakistan’s domestic sector currently uses some 45 percent of the power supply. The ADB update has suggested that introduction of 15 million high-quality compact fluorescent lamps into Pakistan’s domestic market would save the consumers $78 million over the lifetime of those bulbs. The money thus saved could be more productively used in the economy. The ADB report has further suggested that the cost of additional new generation capacity would be some $1.15 billion.
Our present inefficient power distribution network is an outcome of consistent delays in completion of transmission facilities. The length of transmission lines and the load carried at relatively low voltage levels too have contributed to a considerable extent, to the high system losses in the country, while overloading of the system often results in frequent breakdowns. It will be recalled that implementation of transmission schemes has suffered from the very beginning. For instance, during the 1947-55 period, the First Five-Year Plan had noted: “Very little progress was made on schemes for the transmission and distribution of supplies. These were estimated to cost Rs 60 million, of which only Rs 21 million were spent by March 1955.” The progress of transmission system during the First (1955-60) and the Second (1960-65) plan periods remained satisfactory in as much as the transmission facilities more or less matched the expansion in the installed capacity.





Everybody’s problem

NATO eyes are firmly fixed on Ottawa with good reason, since the Afghanistan-specific argument there has the potential to make or break the alliance’s efforts in the war torn country. Canada’s defence minister is right in urging parliament to keep the 2,500 strong contingent in Afghanistan beyond the scheduled Feb ’09 pull-out date for fear of a “domino affect” on other members understandably worried by the strong Taleban resurgence. However, the argument still seems lost on the alliance that merely maintaining numbers is not going to ensure better fortunes, or even holding present stations for that matter. The Committee on Armed Services in Washington should not blame concerned quarters for handing them the ‘we told you so’ treatment after National Intelligence director Mike McConnell explained to them how the Taleban have regained effective control of 10 per cent of the country while the government’s writ is recognised in only 30 per cent, the rest being under tribal control. That the last year has again outdone the one before it in terms of inflicting casualties on the occupying forces is yet another indicator of the growing force of the insurgency. For years, forces more familiar with the region’s dynamics have urged the coalition to alter course, but Washington chose to have Nato press ahead with use of force to quell whatever little skirmish erupted following the fall of the Taleban in the fall of ’01. Now, with the Karzai government tried and thoroughly discredited in terms of winning over domestic sentiment in any meaningful manner, and locals thronging in record numbers on the side of forces bent upon expelling the occupiers and all things associated with them, Washington’s dilemma is not solved by troop increases alone.
Also not helping matters is the unhelpful attitude Kabul and Nato have reserved for Islamabad, undoubtedly the most giving member of the war-on-terror coalition. The spot-on-target missile that gutted a residential complex and killed a good dozen people in Pakistan’s unsettled area of Waziristan bore unmistakable Nato fingerprints, providing further proof of the silliness of the Afghan strategy. With all manner of force-use yielding loss of control and reputation in Afghanistan, the occupying forces are urged to give formal negotiations with all parties involved in the conflict at least one chance. Failing that there is a good chance that cracks appearing in Nato will split it right through the centre as one member after another ditches its last stand as an alliance and the rag tag Afghan fighters bolster their legendary reputation as superpower busters. Surely hindsight will have present day decision-makers in Washington rue the day they decided to avoid little loss of face involved in initiating negotiations and instead chose to continue with bombs and bullets. The Canadians are right in identifying Afghanistan as “everybody’s problem”. Perhaps it’s time everybody pressures Washington to initiate dialogue.

—Khaleej Times