ISLAMABAD, July 21: Federal Minister for Environment Tahir Iqbal here on Thursday said hydro-power, including micro hydro, could meet the ever-growing energy demands of the country in future. He was speaking at a seminar on “Environmental Aspects of Energy, Technologies and Hydro-Power”. The event was organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in collaboration with the Ministry of Water and Power.

Mr Iqbal said keeping in view the burgeoning population of the country and their growing energy demands, Pakistan had to exploit and judiciously utilise all its resources available for producing energy.

He said the government was well aware of the future energy situation and that was why it was trying to produce hydro-power.

Mr Iqbal emphasised the need for development of large and small dams so that the water resources could be harnessed and precious water saved from being wasted into the sea.

Inappropriate harness of the water resources was causing the level of water to fall 10 feet every year, he said. To control pollution from the burning of fossil fuels, he said the country needed to have hydro-power plants for generation of sustainable energy.