Is it people's fate to bear energy crisis?

LAHORE-At a time when country is facing serious energy crisis, the Punjab Assembly was on Monday told that six hydropower projects in Punjab initiated by the previous government, have been shelved, as they could not be executed under the amended power generation policy of 2006.
The Mondays assembly session proved to be an eye opener for many when parliamentarians came to know through Irrigation Minister Raja Riaz that six small power projects with potential to generate 28 MW of electricity could not be made operational, firstly because of the procedural delays and then due to amendments made in the power policy.
The Punjab government had allocated Rs 625.35 million during 2007-08 for construction of these projects on various canals, but despite passage of two years, none of these projects could be started. Three of them were to be constructed on Upper Chenab canal at three different locations and the rest were to be set up on Lower Baridoab Canal, Pakpattan Canal and Gujrat Canal.
PPP legislator, Tall at Yahoo had raised this issue of public importance on assembly floor to shake governments conscience on the prevailing energy crisis in the country.
Giving reasons for delay in putting these projects in place, Raja Riaz put the entire blame on finance department and strict rules and regulations of WAPDA, which he said, have to be followed by the government. He also said that these projects could not be executed due to amendments made in the power generation policy. Oppositions Mohsin Leghari pointed out that no such permission from WAPDA was needed to generate up to 50 MW of electricity, but the minister insisted that it was the case. Raja told the House during assembly question hour that finance department did not agree with the agreements and their terms and conditions signed with construction companies of repute in accordance with the recommendations of official consultants. The said department also directed that separate tenders should be called in newspapers for civil, electrical and mechanical works in accordance with prescribed rules of the Punjab government. Raja further told that irrigation department acted as directed but only one firm submitted its tender, which was rejected for technical reasons. The tender was re-advertised, but again one tender was submitted from the sole firm, Heavy Mechanical Complex, and the finance department rejected it again with directions that competitive international bids be called on Turn key basis as per recommendations of the consultants. This time, he added, the finance department directed that besides the civil work, electrical and mechanical works should also be executed by one firm unlike its previous directions that separate tenders be called for civil, electrical and mechanical works.
The irrigation minister revealed further that present laws of Punjab Government dont allow signing of Turn Key agreements with any firm on the basis of international competitive bids as directed by the finance department.
So the government has decided to handover all hydropower projects in the public sector to the private sector under Punjab Power Generation Policy for their timely completion, Raja concluded.
The present Punjab government plans to set up various hydropower projects on its irrigation system and expects to generate 50 to 100 MW of electricity out of these. But serious questions have been raised about the fate of new projects given the track record of the concerned departments in implementing the now abandoned projects. Sheikh Alauddin of PML-Q (forward bloc) was right when he sought fixing of responsibility for the escalation cost of abandoned projects.
Currently, Pakistan is facing a power deficit of over 4,500 MW and there is a dire need for construction of small dams on emergency basis in the interest of the agriculture and industrial sectors. But given the bureaucratic red-tap, inconsistency in government policies and lack of political will to initiate new power projects on war-footings, it seems that people would have to bear the brunt of energy shortage for years to come.