Hyropower: no money for dams

THE financial constraints facing Wapda are likely to hit another hydropower project Gomal Zam dam.

The contractor, the Frontier Works Organisation, has put the authority on notice for immediate clearance of its dues of Rs4bn.

In case Wapda fails to do so, the work on the dam will be stopped. It means the commissioning of the project, which was scheduled to be completed five years ago, will be further delayed. The nearly completed dam will produce 17.5MW electricity and irrigate 191,000 acres of land in Tank and D.L Khan.

Gomal Zam is not the first hydropower project hit by the paucity of funds. There are many others, like Neelum-Jhelum, while the work on the 4,500MW Diamer-Bhasha dam is yet to start because of unavailability of financing.

Several factors security conditions, fund shortage and no political consensus can be cited as responsible for the failure to develop Pakistan`s hydropower potential. Indeed, the scarcity of funds for new projects remains on top of the list. Hydropower generation is crucial for Pakistan not only to ensure its energy and water securi-ty but also to change the existing generation mix for providing affordable electricity to consumers.

Currently, we have an installed hydel generation capacity of just 6,500MW 13 per cent of the country`s estimated hydropower potential of over 50,000MW. India too has developed just 15 per cent of its hydropower potential, but is making fast progress on several projects to change the hydel-thermal power mix to 40:60. We, on the other hand, are doing little to exploit this natural source of affordable power at the expense of economic development.

No significant project has been undertaken since the completion of the Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Project with a capacity of 1,400MW almost a decade ago. That project came decades after Tarbela. Wapda claims that it could add 6,000MW of hydel power to the system in five years and another 15,000 by 2020 provided it receives uninterrupted funding. It is time that the government spared some funds for hydel generation to prevent further damage to the economy due to power shortages and high energy prices