Experts during a discussion at Sustainable Development Policy
Institute (SDPI) expressed concerns over the increasing inequality and energy
crisis, saying bad governance is threatening the stability and security of the
country. They were of the view that social justice system and pro poor policies
are must for a progressive prosperous Pakistan. 

The experts
were speaking at a panel discussion on "Energy Governance in Pakistan"
organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here on Monday. 

Mr. Shahid Sattar, member (Energy)
of the Planning Commission said that
energy sector is the manifestation of the lack of governance in Pakistan.
“Unfortunately, Pakistan has followed a wrong model of extending gas reserves
to specific sector of Pakistan. The high subsidies on gas bills was a loss of
national wealth and caused disparity and injustice to the deprived sections of
the society”, he lamented. 

While
suggesting the adoption of alternative models for the equitable use of national
resources like gas, he said it is time to create a transparent marketing system
and put an end to nepotisms. He said that Ministry for Water and Power needed
to be put aside and National Electric Power Regulatory
Authority (Nepra) should be made responsible for the
management of power sector. He was of the view that country needed an
integrated energy policy. He agreed to the observation that the fragmentation
of policy-level institutions was a major impediment in resolving the energy
crisis in the country. “Circular debt
cannot be controlled by privatizing the power sector” further he added.

Senior
analyst Mukhtar Ahmed said that a broader governance reform is required to
improve energy security along-with a proper planning and an independent energy
regularity authority. Replying to a question, he said that government should
try to control the electricity pilferage at all levels. He said that the
government should also focus on coal and LNG products to reduce energy
shortage. Mukhtar Ahmed also stressed the need for eradicating corruption from
the energy sector and opposed the idea of privatization. 

Dr. Shaukat Hameed
Khan, Vice Chancellor (Designated) Sir Syed, CASE demanded technical training
of engineers and staff of the power sector. 

Furthermore,
Dr. Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Director, SDPI launched the Sustainable
Policy Economic Bulletin Vol. 04. He said that the real problem of Pakistan
depends on three E’s i.e. energy, economy and extremism. Furthermore he
said the government should introduce tariff rationalization plan and
meaningful energy governance reform. 

Tahir Dhindsa, Editor Sustainable Policy Economic Bulletin,
said that Pakistan generates 92 billion units of electricity every year. The
only short term solution to the power crisis is ‘improvement in governance’. The
fiscal solution has again proved inappropriate here, which is often good for
improving production capacity of profitmaking businesses.