How to reduce resource wastage

LAHORE: Contrary to the popular opinion, Pakistan is not a resource-starved country. However, it certainly is one of those countries that use their resources inefficiently, creating undue shortages due to corruption and mismanagement.

Pakistan’s resource crunch has been exacerbated by its unwarranted wastages, including electricity transmission losses, gas losses due to inefficient appliances, water losses in the absence of conservation methods, and post-harvest losses in agriculture.

Pakistan could improve its growth rate without any foreign assistance if the above losses are brought down to reasonable levels. Improvements in many of these cases would not necessarily require cash but only prudent, effective and transparent regulators. Where investment is required, the amount is likely to be many times lower than adding further capacities.

There is an acute shortage of natural gas in the country, particularly during winter when domestic consumption almost doubles. Gas distributors and regulators are fully aware that most domestic gas appliances have only 25 per cent efficiency, which means that 75 per cent of the gas used is wasted. If these appliances, especially gas room heaters and geysers, are standardized by regulators there would be no need for gas load shedding during winter.

Industrial production will also not suffer if industries install efficient gas generators that could produce two times more power than the currently installed generators. This would increase exports and there would be no requirement of government funds. The need to import expensive gas would appreciably decline.

Efficient water conservation techniques would not require even one-tenth of the amount needed to build a mega dam. This does not mean that new dams are not needed. We can plan new dams to stop the waste of an average of 32 MAF of water and start these projects when resources are available.

However, water availability would increase by at least 30 per cent if all irrigation canals are lined.

There would be 30 per cent less use of water in farms if fields are levelled with laser levellers for which few billion would be needed. This could help the country increase its cultivation area by 20-30 per cent and increase agricultural productivity.

Average distribution and transmission losses in federally controlled grids are over 25 percent mainly due to power theft and the poor management of transmission systems. If system losses are brought down to the internationally accepted level of 8.0 per cent, cash flow would increase by 12 per cent, reducing the regular increase in circular debt.

Post-harvest losses in Pakistan account for at least 30 per cent of wastage in vegetables and fruit, and 7-8 per cent in food grains like rice and wheat. Most post-harvest losses are due to faulty storage and packaging. Farmers lose billions in post-harvest losses and the nation risks its food security because of these losses, which could easily be controlled through prudent regulations.

For instance, agricultural experts have recommended that instead of stuffing 100-125kg potatoes and onions in jute bags, regulations should be enacted to pack them in 50kg arable plastic net bags to reduce losses. Similarly, farmers should be provided with small tin silos of 1500-2000kg to store grains, a practice that has been promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization in many developing countries.

Experts say prevention of these losses could increase productivity, efficiency and foreign exchange savings to the tune of over $6 billion annually and boost the economy without any foreign assistance.