Wapda’s somersault

IN a major reversal of its position, the Water and Power Development Authority has sought the government’s permission to let independent power producers (IPPs) set up two thermal power stations of 600mw each at Multan and Faisalabad. The proposal contradicts the government’s power policy and flies in the face of Wapda’s own position on the matter so far. For eight years, governments past and present have virulently criticized the Benazir government’s policy, under which IPPs were allowed to set up thermal power stations. The cumulative effect of this propaganda has been to shake the foreign investors’ confidence in Pakistan as an investment-friendly country.

While criticizing the IPP policy, policy-makers seemed to forget the enormous damage done to the power sector by Wapda’s inactivity in the area of hydel power generation. Because of this inactivity, power breakdowns and loadshedding have become endemic, causing production losses worth billions of rupees daily. Surprisingly, no one was made accountable for this catastrophic neglect of hydel power. The governments failed to realize that there was no other way the energy crisis could be overcome — except by setting up more thermal power plants. As for the corruption part of the deals with the IPPs, the allegation has not been proved in a court of law. Now Wapda sees a situation as grim in the future as it was in the early nineties. “The shortfall in power supply during (the) winter of next year,” it said in a communication to the ministry of water and power, “is anticipated to range between 300 and 600mw...” There was, therefore, it said “immediate need” for planning additional thermal power generation.

The situation of the nineties now seems to have started repeating itself. Loadshedding and power outages have become more frequent. The reason for this crisis is simple: Wapda did not profitably use the respite provided by the IPPs, for it failed to add additional hydel power to the national grid. Instead, Wapda merely politicized itself by lashing out at a political government and accused it of creating an excess generation capacity and thus burdening the economy. Now suddenly, it has staged a somersault by saying there is urgent need for producing 1,200mw of additional electricity.

Thermal power is generated by using fossil fuel — oil, gas or coal. While Pakistan is short of oil and gas, it has plenty of coal, although it is of a slightly inferior quality. Nevertheless, there are ample coal deposits, but nobody seems keen to exploit them. In fact, it appears, Wapda does not intend to use the coal deposits, because its proposals visualize setting up power plants away from Sindh where coal is found. This neglect of coal is in sharp contrast to the practice in many countries where coal is a major source of power generation. In the US, for instance, coal accounted for 57 per cent of power produced in 1999. This ratio is 65 per cent in India, 80 per cent in China and 44 per cent in the UK.

One does not know where the money is going to come from for the new thermal power projects Wapda has in mind. The foreign investors have once burnt their fingers; they are not going to enter Pakistan’s power sector again. Clearly, a lot of harm has been done to the energy sector by governments looking at power projects politically instead of examining them from a purely economic point of view.

Wheat growers’ grievances

SURPLUS wheat stocks and the growers’ difficulties in selling their produce highlight the inadequacies in the marketing and export of the grain and ensuring a fair price to the farmers. Like last year, storing wheat is a big problem. Passco, which has been asked to purchase one million tonnes, also lacks storage capacity. Indications are that the procurement of the rabi crop at the official price will not only add to surplus stocks but it may end up in the destruction of a huge portion of the commodity.The country is already faced with a huge carry forward of about four million tonnes, when the new produce is about to hit the market. There are thus fears that if the total wheat procurement target is met, the market prices will collapse.

An additional concern is that no private party would dare to take the risk of lifting a substantial share of the crop for export owing to the risks involved. As such the real market price for wheat in the open market would not go beyond Rs 260 to Rs 270 per 100 kilograms. Competition from India and Australia and the reported refusal of Iran and Iraq to import Pakistani wheat have further exacerbated the problem. Last year, due to the glut and lack of buyers willing to procure wheat at the support price of Rs 300 per 40 kilograms, the growers had to sell their wheat at throw-away prices. Paying back input-related dues on time and meeting transport expenses were other compulsions for the distress sales which ultimately affected the primary needs of an agrarian economy.

It is time the government took a larger view of the picture and sorted out farmers’ difficulties at the earliest. The farmers’ exploitation by the middlemen must be eliminated to provide a fair return to them. Last year, the loss to growers on account of this factor was estimated at 20 to 25 per cent. The problem needs to be tackled forcefully in view of the reports that commission agents and mill-owners purchase wheat and paddy surreptitiously in case there is a bumper crop, causing heavy losses to the farmers. Stepped-up efforts are required to overcome marketing and storage constraints to help meet procurement targets.

Guilty — both

THE police baton charge on journalists during Sunday’s referendum rally in Faisalabad was a deplorable incident. The row was sparked off by derogatory remarks against the media and journalists by Punjab Governor Khalid Maqbool. The governor’s outburst can only raise disturbing questions about whether the government has decided to harden its attitude towards criticism in the build-up to the referendum. The journalists were incensed by the governor’s blistering criticism of their coverage of referendum rallies and his instigation of the crowd to jeer them for their alleged misreporting. When the journalists decided to stage a walkout, they were set upon by baton-wielding policemen. This left 23 newsmen injured. The entire episode was as unfortunate as it was avoidable. It has served merely to sour government-media relations, which have so far been fairly cordial.

The present dispensation, despite being a military government, has not put undue curbs on the press and has generally been tolerant of dissenting opinion. While not condoning in any way the senseless attack on the media men, we would like to point out that the journalists’ decision to stage a walkout was professionally incorrect and questionable. It is the job of journalists to faithfully report events to readers and not to black them out, whatever the provocation. Newsmen cannot boycott the news. Their genuine grievances on this occasion could have been aired at the appropriate forums and through other means of legitimate protest. The government must urgently take to task those responsible for the unprovoked attack on journalists and also rein in those in positions of power from making irresponsible and inflammatory statements against the press. It must also move swiftly to allay fears that President Musharraf’s referendum campaign and its aftermath are going to herald a change for the worse in the government’s media policy.