KARACHI, Sept 13: In view of the existing electricity problems, the University of Karachi has decided to have its own power generation system.

The university campus houses over 55 teaching departments, about a dozen research institutes, residential blocks (some 300 houses) for teachers and other employees and a few hostels as well, making a power plant necessary.

Payments to the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation on a commercial tariff is another factor that has made the university consider having its own power generation system.

Different committees were constituted by the university syndicate and the Sindh governor as ex-officio vice-chancellor to negotiate with the KESC for introduction of a concessional power tariff, but nothing appears to have materialized.

At present, the university gets a bulk supply of four to five mega watts through six feeders of the KESC, which is distributed and maintained internally by the KU staff.

The average expenditure on account of electricity figures at Rs43 million to Rs44 million per year, which, it is said, can be reduced by 50 per cent by setting up a power plant for the campus, with the KESC supply remaining as an alternate source.

The university has prepared a plan for setting up five to six gas-fired generators of different capacities at a cost of Rs105 million, which should start paying back after five years of their installation.

The power plant is included in a list of other projects that the university has chosen to place before the federal government for financing under the academic reconstruction through infrastructural development programme, as outlined in the 10th five-year national plan.

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The final round for the national chemistry talent contest- 2004 aimed at stimulating young students to achieve excellence in chemistry concluded at the KU's HEJ Research Institute of Chemistry the other day. As many as 40 students of high schools and colleges from 10 different cities participated in the contest.

Those who were awarded for securing top three positions are as follows: Written examination - Tauseef Ahmad (Lahore), Salman Gul (Rawalpindi) and Amna Malik (Islamabad).

Quiz - Usama Bin Zubair (Rawalpindi), Mubassirullah (Peshawar) and Uzair Khan (Rawalpindi).

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The vice-chancellor of Karachi University, Dr Pirzada Qasim, conferred BDS degrees on 43 graduates of the Fatima Jinnah Dental College at a convocation last week. The best graduate shield was presented to Ashi Hafeez Adamjee.

In the meantime, the chairperson and teachers of the KU's applied chemistry department called on the vice-chancellor and explained technical problems in conducting the four-year chemical technology degree programme. The vice-chancellor assured them that funds would be made available for chemical technology programme.

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The Dow University of Health Sciences plans to hold its first annual symposium with the theme of 'Care for community - marching towards excellence' from Dec 16 to 18. According to the symposium organizing committee chairman, Dr Saeed Qureshi, around 1,400 consultants, postgraduate and senior undergraduate students are likely to attend the multi- disciplinary programme where foreign and national experts would make research presentations.