Karachi needs at least four more power distribution companies like the existing K-Electric to serve the city’s power consumers in the best possible manner with maximum efficiency of service and the lowest rates of electricity.
Sindh Governor, Kamran Khan Tessori, gave the suggestion to this effect while speaking as the chief guest at a seminar on Energy Crisis and Way Forward and 17th Anniversary of Energy Update organised by the Energy Update. The Sindh Governor House hosted the event.
The Governor told the audience at the seminar that the earliest the monopoly of K-Electric on the power distribution system of the city ended the better it was both for the city’s electricity consumers and the power utility itself.
He said that it was utterly unwise to keep electrifying a city comprising seven districts and having a population of well over 20 million through a single power company. He said that more power companies should get the chance to serve the people of the city like the reforms adopted over two decades back in the telecommunication sector allowing many cellular phone companies to serve the customers with offers of best service and lowest call rates.
He informed the audience that after meeting the K-Electric top officials he had realised that city’s privatised power utility had been facing genuine issues hampering its ability to serve the consumers efficiently. He said that keeping in view these genuine problems of K-Electric limiting its capacity to serve the consumers in Karachi it was highly advisable that more power companies, preferably on a district-wise basis, should start operating in the city.
He said the residents of Karachi, considered the city of lights and the economic capital of Pakistan, shouldn’t face water and electricity issues owing to the inefficiency on the part of rulers. He said it was a highly miserable situation that Karachiites had to suffer frequent power failures during summers.
The Governor said that he had always favoured the idea of forming public-private partnerships for resolving the pressing energy woes of the countrymen. He said the Governor House would keep on hosting more such events to assemble on one platform the best experts from the government and private sectors for combining their efforts to speedily resolve energy issues in Pakistan.
Amir Iqbal, CEO of Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC), said that the main issue of Pakistan’s energy sector was its excessive reliance on imported sources for electricity production despite having massive potential for power generation both through conventional and renewable means. He said that up to 45 to 48 per cent of Pakistan’s peak power demand of 25,000 MWs to 26,000 MWs was met through imported fuels. He said that India was capable of fulfilling up to 80 per cent of its energy needs through indigenous energy sources. He said that Indian industries were the main beneficiary of this situation owing to the supply of cheap electricity.
He called for providing favourable tariff regime for attracting more investment in the renewable energy sector of Pakistan. The SECMC chief emphasised speeding up the work of establishing a railway link to Thar coal reserves for its maximum utilisation for fulfilling the energy demand of the entire country.
Mahfooz Qazi, who heads the Sindh Solar Energy project, said the Thatta-Jhimpir wind corridor in Sindh had been producing 1835 MWs of clean electricity. He said that out of a total of 35 renewable energy projects in the wind corridor, 22 ventures were of local investors. He also told the audience about the Sindh government’s drive to install solar systems on the rooftops of public sector buildings including hospitals and educational institutions.
Senior energy expert, Zafar Iqbal Sobani, said that Pakistan’s energy sector required massive reforms to safeguard the interests of both investors and consumers.
Naeem Qureshi of Energy Update said that more such seminars would be organised to provide a viable forum to the power sector experts from government, prospective private, and foreign investors, for resolving the energy problems of Pakistan in the shortest possible time.
He also called for maximum utilisation of indigenous renewable energy resources available in the country for improving efficiency in the power sector and remarkably decreasing the cost of electricity production.
Shaaf Mehboob CEO Adaptive Technologies, Mian Fahad Country Head Growatt, Saleem Mughal Media Consultant, Saleem Diwan CEO Diwan International, Head of Admin and Accouts Energy Update Ruqiya Naeem, GM QA Bahria Town Ghulam Dastageer and others also addressed on this occasion.
