April 07, 2007	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 18, 1428

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LAHORE, April 6: The power situation deteriorated on Friday as demand increased to 12,390 megawatts and the generation hovered near 11,000MW, leaving a demand-production gap of 1,300MW.

Wapda officials blamed the low quantum of water releases from Tarbella and Mangla dams for the current crisis.

They said that both dams were contributing only 2,500MW against their total production capacity of more than 3,600MW.

Irrigation officials, however, remained adamant and maintained that the provinces considered releasing water now to meet Wapda’s requirements to be a waste.

An official of Wapda’s power wing on Friday accepted that the current deficit of 11 per cent power shortage was translating into a three- to four-hour-long loadshedding.

He said the situation worsened during peak hours (6pm-10pm), and most of the loadshedding was concentrated, especially in urban areas, during these four hours.

When asked what would happen when temperature soared to mid-forties and power demand soared to beyond 17,000MW, he said that the loadshedding duration could increase and snow melt and additional water in dams might provide some additional power, but it would not solve the problem.

Total hydel generation is around 3,750MW, which is half of total hydel generation capacity, he said and added: “This is what is bedeviling the power supply in the country. It is not to claim that the increase in water releases would permanently solve the problem, but only to underscore that water releases are causing the current crisis.”

However, an official of the Punjab Irrigation Department said: “The provinces have increased water indent only to accommodate request from Wapda.”

The authority had demanded release of 32,000 cusec from the Mangla Dam in an Irsa (Indus River System Authority) meeting on April 4. The current water release from the dam is 35,000 cusec. Similarly, water release from Tarbella Dam had also gone up from 18,000 cusecs to 30,000 cusec.

He said: “All this water is being wasted downstream Koti Barrage. The current water requirements of Punjab are being met by inflows from River Chenab, so it does not need water from the dams. The requirements of Sindh are being met by inflows of River Kabul and other small rivers. So, technically speaking, both provinces do not need water from the dams. Water from dams is only released to accommodate Wapda, he said and added: Provinces would not need water before April 15, when new harvesting season begins.”