Tessori for at least four more power companies in Karachi

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’ organised by Energy Update. The Governor House hosted the event.

The governor told the audience at the seminar that the sooner the monopoly of the KE 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 also said that more power companies should get the chance to serve the people of the city like the reforms adopted over two decades ago in the telecommunication sector allowing many cellular phone companies to serve the customers with offers of best service and lowest call rates.

Tessori mentioned that since assuming the office of provincial governor, he had remained vocal in criticising the performance of the KE while making demands that the federal government should not renew its licence.

He informed the audience that after meeting the KE’s top officials, he had realised that the 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 the KE 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 also said the residents of Karachi, considered the City of Lights and the economic capital of Pakistan, should not face water and electricity issues owing to the inefficiency on the part of the rulers.

He added that it was a highly miserable situation that Karachiites had to suffer frequent power failures during summers. The governor said he had always favoured the idea of forming public-private partnerships for resolving the pressing energy woes of the people of the country.

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 the energy issues in Pakistan.

Amir Iqbal, CEO of the 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 45 to 48 per cent of Pakistan’s peak power demand of 25,000 to 26,000 MW was met through imported fuels. He added that India was capable of fulfilling up to 80 per cent of its energy needs through indigenous energy sources.

He also said that Indian industries were the main beneficiaries of this situation owing to the supply of cheap electricity. He called for providing a 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 the Thar coal reserves for their 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 1,835 MW 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 instal solar systems on the roofs 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 the government, and 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.