Paralysed without electricity
Press reports have also been carrying messages from official IT experts saying Pakistan will soon be among the ten IT states in the world. The first headline in effect contradicts the second. Without adequate power, Pakistan cannot become an IT centre in real terms. And yet unconcerned with the power situation, the former chief minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif talks of converting the chief minister’s chamber in Lahore into an I.T centre. The shortage resulting in the prolonged load shedding may take at least a year or two to run its course.
The load shedding is not scheduled and it may occur any time. Sometimes it is brief, often it is very long. The breakdowns in the system are frequent. Promises of repairing and rehabilitating of the old and ill-maintained system have not materialised. Privatisation of the KESC has made the system worse and the utility’s financial crisis is deepening. .
Many persons who use ‘uninterrupted power supply’ (UPS) find they have run out of options as the UPS can provide relief only for about two hours or so. And after that it is darkness again.
Those who bring generators find they have to invest heavily both on the rising cost of generators and on the high-priced oil. Generators have become too expensive to maintain and can run out of oil late at night. Efforts are being made to develop the Alternate Energy System but the approach is not very scientific and systematic. The companies which want to set up the wind power in Sindh cannot get the land and have run into endless hassles. Instead of facilitating, the government machinery makes things more difficult..
How does one become an IT centre without enough power? Serious thought is not given to this problem and earnest and sustained efforts are not being made. This is the age of call centres for export. Some developing countries like India have made major headway in this area but Pakistan suffers from a handicap for want of power.
How do we attract enough foreign investment without power? Every foreign investor who may need large amount of energy, may not be willing to make huge additional investment on energy in a period of rising oil price. The investor depends on the government for power instead of making additional investment to reduce profits. Self-employment is a means of solving joblessness but how can it be promoted without energy?
The former industries minister, Jehangir Tareen wanted to follow the Thai model and develop one industry in one village and made some headway but couldn’t achieve much for want of adequate power in the rural areas. Does that mean that each village should invest on its own power plant? No model of development can be a success without adequate power. Lack of smooth power hurts the women who work in their homes. They stitch clothes of various kinds and earn a living. In Bangladesh, the women are a major work force. They work in their homes and have helped the Bangladesh exports in a big way.
The women are behind the success of the Bangladesh garment industry and the Grameen Bank. Self-employment can be promoted only if there is enough power to run women enterprises.
How do the children study without enough light? In the good old days, some of the successful students studied under street lights but now many street lights are not on or they are bright enough. Children ,of course, cannot study sitting on noisy and traffic congested thoroughfares.
One hears plenty about power from coal, particularly from Thar, and about wind power, but with very little progress. One cannot become an IT country by having an IT minister or minister for state but by having the right policy and a consistent approach to pursue it.
When there is no power, there is no water at home to drink, to bathe, to cook or to wash clothes. The children’s education also suffers due to these sudden power outages. Electricity breakdowns have led to a shortage of clean drinking water and bottle water cannot be trusted for its purity and many a times is found to be adulterated.