MIRPUR: (Parliament Times) A delegation of Command and Staff College, Quetta visited WAPDA House on Monday and attended a briefing on the water and power sectors during their study tour. The delegation was led by senior instructor Col Hussain. Member Power Badr-ul-Munir Murtiza and senior officers of WAPDA and PEPCO were also present on the occasion.
Additional Chief Engineer (Dams), WAPDA Shahid Hamid gave comprehensive briefing regarding water and hydropower sectors. He stressed that the present situation of water and power in the country calls for development of new water and hydro power projects to cope with the ever increasing demand of water and energy. He further stated that per capita water availability in the country has decreased due to rapid growth in population and depleting water storage capacity of the reservoirs because of the natural phenomenon of sedimentation.
He said that Pakistan can store only 10 percent of its annual rivers flow against the world average of 40 percent. He said that WAPDA is committed to optimum development of water and hydropower resources in the country and working on a comprehensive strategy. He emphasized that Indus Cascade is Pakistan’s most precious asset which will help to add a big quantum of cheap hydel generation and storages of water. He also added that an additional area of 20 MAF land can be brought under irrigation owing to construction of new reservoirs. He briefed the delegation that 2485 MW hydel electricity will be added to the National Grid with completion of three under-construction hydropower projects from end 2017 to mid 2018 to help eliminate electricity loadshedding from the country as per the Federal Government’s resolve. These projects include the 969 MW-Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project, the 1410 MW-Tarbela 4thExtension Project and the 106 MW-Golen Gol Hydropower Project.
The delegation was also briefed about impact of climate change on water resources, water management challenges, water conservation and hydropower potential of the country.
In another briefing, PEPCO General Manager (Revenue and Commercial Operation) Muhammad Saleem informed the delegation about power sector reforms, electricity load shedding, energy mix, distribution and transmission losses, billing and percentage of recovery and receivables. The delegation was also apprised of the Government’s efforts to overcome the electricity shortages in the country. They were also informed about new initiatives regarding generation expansion plan, system improvement, meter reading through mobile phones, automatic metering infrastructure and net metering etc.The briefing was followed by Question-Answer session. Later, Member (Power) WAPDA and delegation head exchanged the souvenirs.
