July 21, 2003	Monday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 20, 1424

The 33 percent relief package (as announced by Wapda) in electricity rates for tube wells in Punjab, Sindh and NWFP during the Kharif season, effective from May 1 to October 31, 2003 is expected to enhance produce and bring prosperity to farmers. This facility already exists in Balochistan and Wapda has started charging the tube well tariff giving the 33 per cent rebate facility to the farming community.

Wapda’s has taken following steps in development of the agriculture sector:

* Not only Wapda is picking up one-third of the current 33 per cent subsidy in the electricity tariff for the farming community but it also had borne nearly Rs4.2 billion impact of the relief package which helped achieve bumper wheat and cotton crops in year 2000. The relief package involved appreciable reduction in tariff in March 1998, April, July and December 1999, payment of farmer’s bills deferred to maturity/lifting from fields of wheat crop, energization of 3,000 tube wells, making 10.5 million acre feet additional water available for crops.

* Initiation of fast track projects to make more water available and bring more land under plough as part of its Vision: 2025 (National Water Resource and Hydropower Development Programme). The plan envisages making 26 million acre feet of water available to bring 22 million acres of more land under plough over the 25 years period of time.

* Extension of electricity facility to far-off areas like Kaghan, Naran, Kalam in NWFP and Panjgoor and fertile Tabina Plateau in Balochistan, besides electrification of more villages to the benefit of agriculture sector. The number of electrified villages at end May 2003 crossed the 73,610 mark.

* AS many as 2,047 villages have been provided power supply up to May during the eleven months of the current financial year. These include 1,533 in Punjab, 277 in Sindh, 126 in NWFP and 111 in Balochistan under Khushhal Pakistan Programme and other schemes. In all, 5,316 villages have been electrified from July 2000 to May 2003 period which account for nearly 17 per cent increase over the total number of electrified villages in 1998-99.

* Wapda has provided 3,859 new connections for tube wells during the 11 months up to May of the current financial year 2002-03. These include 2,970 in Punjab, 254 in NWFP, 274 in Sindh and 361 in Balochistan. Last year 2,361 agriculture tubewell connections were provided. This indicates that more than double the new connections for agriculture tube wells would be provided during the current fiscal year compared with the last year 2001-02.

The agriculture sector also consumed more power this year at 12.71 per cent of the total power consumption. The consumption pattern is on the increase for the last four years of the present management being 11.03 per cent in FY 1999-2000.

The successful wet test and smooth rolling operation of the 290 MW first unit of multi-billion Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Project is a matter of satisfaction, as the project is advancing as per schedule and rest of the four units, each having 290 MW capacity, of the 1450 MW hydropower is expected to go into operation by June next year.

Meanwhile, the fast track projects taken up under the Vision 2025 are progressing as per schedule, besides those in the pipeline as well as the salinity control and reclamation projects (SCARPS). The on-going projects aimed at increasing water availability to bring more land under plough and grow more include Gomal Zam Dam, Mirani Dam, Greater Thal Canal, Rainee Canal, Kachhi Canal, Mangla Dam Raising, Satpara dam besides Allai, Duber and Khan Khwar hydropower projects.

The implementation of Systematic Augmentation Plan has been geared up in order to augment, upgrade and thereby stabilize the power system and thus attain a further reduction in the line losses which have already been brought down from 42 per cent to 25 per cent.

The total length of high and low tension lines in the system has crossed 3,37,000 km mark whereas the number of distribution transformers in the system stands at over 3,02,300 but it is another reality to be borne in mind that most of the rehabilitation and extension work of the existing power system is focused on in the urban as well as the rural areas.