DURING the last days of President Ayub Khan, it was proposed that another nuclear power plant be constructed after the successful working of KANUPP to produce electricity.

It was decided that the new plant would be a multi-purpose power plant that would produce 1,000MW of electricity and several million gallons of potable water for Karachi and certain chemicals as its bye-products. I do not remember the exact amount of water or the names of those chemicals.

According to the latest news, the federal government has decided to construct three nuclear power plants near Karachi and the capacity of each plant would be 1100 MW of electricity.

Considering the recent shortage of water in Karachi, it would be appropriate that all these three plants are converted into the multi-purpose power plants that would also provide potable water and chemicals in addition to the electricity. This would reduce the cost of water and electricity both, and provide a third source of potable water for Karachi after Kalri lake and the Hub dam.

Mirza Shahid Barlas

New York, USA

Published in Dawn, July 1st, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play