BEIJING: China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) power plants we have are the most efficient in Pakistan, noted Minister of State for Petroleum Musadik Masood Malik.
These plants sent an exemplar for Pakistan’s energy scenario, he said during media talks. Again Pakistan’s energy sector is hanging in balance this summer due to inefficiencies, burgeoning circular debt, massive dependence on imported fossil fuels.
The energy crisis in the country inevitably brought a direct impact on economic activity and hit lower-income citizens the hardest.
The minister said that due to CPEC, the efficiency and productivity of the energy sector has increased in Pakistan, and investment has also come to the country, yet more needs to be done. The more efficiently we generate electricity, the more the price of electricity will gradually decrease, he said.
Musadik Masood Malik highlighted that the solution to Pakistan’s problems is to continuously increase Pakistan’s power, gas and petroleum infrastructure. CPEC projects like run-of-river project are very important for our national interest and security, the minister noted.
He pinpointed the significance of hydropower stations in the country as Pakistan has a body of water that flows through the Himalayas and down to the sea. In between there are many places where the government can set up hydroelectric power plants like Karot, he added. As you can see from Mangla Dam Project and Tarbela Dam Project, after running for twenty to twenty-five years, the cost of generating electricity from them is just the cost of operating a turbine. The cost of new power plants, especially the hydropower ones, is very high, but over a period of time it is in our interest to use indigenous resources. –Agencies
