Solving KE

This refers to the letter, ‘Benign dictator’ (July 23) by Arif Majeed. I had expressed the takeover of K-Electric by Shanghai Electric to be the preferred choice in relation to other options that are being discussed, like nationalizing K-Electric, splitting it into three sections to create competition or even separating power generation from transmission. Now discussing these options one by one, we know that considering the sorry plight of nationalized institutions, nationalizing K-Electric hardly seems sensible. Also, splitting K-Electric into three separate units was supposed to introduce competition. However, with the prevalent cartelization in our country, this could hardly work because, after all, having dozens of sugar mills has not really benefited the country. Also, separating generation from transmission could result in the two blaming each other for the problem.

Most of all, the rehabilitation of the electricity system of Karachi requires huge initial investment which no private sector company seeking immediate and excessive returns on investments would do. However, state-owned Shanghai Electric Company would have the financial resources as well as technical know-how to rehabilitate Karachi's electricity system and could wait for the return in due course. After all, Pakistan is already deeply linked with China through CPEC. The writer has proposed benign dictatorship to be the solution to Pakistan’s problem. However, all the examples that he has quoted are from abroad. Having spent more than half of my working life in Europe and Africa, I can say that the real problem is that Pakistanis demonstrate least responsibility while electing our leaders. And while some vested interest groups stand up, agitate and even die for dubious causes, we fail to protest as a nation – simply because we have failed to develop into a nation.

S R H Hashmi

Karachi