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Friday March 29, 2024

‘Water availability decreasing in Pakistan’

By our correspondents
October 07, 2017

LAHORE :A delegation of National Security Workshop, National Defence University (NDU), Islamabad, on Friday visited Wapda House to have briefings on the water and power sectors of Pakistan. 

The delegation, headed by NDU Chief Instructor Rear Admiral Zain Zulfiqar, included senators, MNAs, MPAs, senior bureaucrates, technocrats, ambassadors, senior military officers and representatives of civil society.

Wapda Member, Power, Muhammad Arshad Chaudhry, Member, Water, Syed Riaz Ali Shah and Wapda Secretary Amer Ahmad were also present on the occasion. Wapda  Adviser Dr Izhar-ul-Haq and Pepco General Manager, Revenue and Commercial Operation, Engineer Muhammad Saleem briefed the delegation on the water and power sectors, respectively.

During the briefing on water sector, the delegation was informed that Pakistan could store only 10 percent of its annual flows, sufficient for use of only 30 days. The per capita water availability in the country went down to 908 cubic meter in 2017 from 5,260 cubic metre in 1951, rapid increase in population being the major contributing factor behind the phenomenon. About 29 million acre feet (MAF) of water escapes below Kotri Barrage every year on the average.

The delegation was briefed that the country needs to construct more dams to enhance its water storage capacity to cope with the water requirements. As many as 20 million acres of additional land can be brought under irrigated agriculture if water is made available by constructing more dams.

The delegates were briefed that Wapda was constructing six hydropower projects with cumulative generation capacity of about 4800 MW, of which, three projects with generation capacity of about 2,500 MW would be completed from early 2018 to mid 2018 in a phased manner.

The projects are; Golen Gol, Neelum Jhelum and Tarbela fouth Extension hydropower projects. Seven other projects with gross water storage capacity of more than 10 MAF and power generation capacity of more than 16, 000 MW are ready for construction. They include Diamer Basha Dam, Mohmand Dam, Dasu Stage II, Tarbela fifth Extension and Bunji. In another briefing on the power sector, the delegation was informed about power sector reforms, existing power generation capabilities, generation mix, consumption patterns, line losses, receivables and circular debt. The delegation was also apprised of the government’s efforts to improve the situation and overcome the electricity shortage in the country. The delegation was informed of the load forecast, generation additions and long-term transmission expansion plan to evacuate electricity from the power houses to the distribution companies. 

The briefing was followed by question and answer session. The delegates asked questions on different aspects of water and power sectors. Later, the Wapda member, power and the delegation head exchanged the souvenirs.