ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal complained on Friday to the prime minister about what he called the water and power ministry’s non-cooperative attitude towards finalising a strategy aimed at ensuring water and energy security under Vision 2025.

The minister was stunned on Friday when he learnt that delegates from across the country had reached Islamabad for a review of the plans to be formulated under Vision 2025, but no representative of the two main stakeholders — the water and power ministry and the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) — had turned up to attend the meeting.

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Mr Iqbal called off the meeting and instructed the officials concerned to reconvene it after bringing the matter to the knowledge of the prime minister.

He said the irresponsible attitude of the two key stakeholders towards a matter of national importance was unacceptable.

“Instead of playing a proactive role and leading the nation towards energy and water security, the ministry of water and power and the NTDC are showing negligence and staying away from the national consultative process,” he was quoted as saying by a senior official.

In a statement, the Planning Commission said that Mr Iqbal had “taken a serious notice of the absence of officials of the ministry of water and ... NTDC in the review meeting of the Vision 2025 on Energy, Water and Food Security”.

“He showed annoyance over the absence of officials of the ministry of water and power and the NTDC and directed that the cost of the meeting, including travel cost of those who came from outside Islamabad, should be charged from the two departments,” the statement said.

It added that “letters of displeasure and annoyance” would also be sent to the minister for water and power over the non-cooperative attitude of the ministry officials.

When contacted, a spokesman for the water and power ministry declined to offer any comments.

Energy and Water Security is said to be the fourth pillar of the Vision 2025, approved by the National Economic Council last year. Its first three pillars are development of human resource and social capital; sustained and inclusive growth; and reforms in government and public sector enterprises.

Ensuring uninterrupted access of all people to affordable and clean energy is the major goal of the vision. It aims to eliminate the current gap in supply and demand of electricity by 2018, and cater to the future demand by adding 25,000MW of electricity to the national grid by 2025.

This has to be done through optimising the energy generation mix between oil, gas, hydro, coal, nuclear, solar, wind and biomass and complete at least two major hydropower projects — the Diamer-Bhasha and Dasu dams.

The vision also seeks to utilise the immense potential of Thar coal, complete the Gadani Energy Park with 6,600MW capacity, and tap alternative energy resources.

The plan also seeks to address institutional fragmentation and decay of the power sector and focus on demand management and conservation to ensure prioritisation in allocation, elimination of wasteful use, incentives for use of energy-efficient equipment and appliances and achieve better balance between peak and off-peak hours.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2015

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