KARACHI, June 15: The ongoing power crisis will grow worse next year before improving in 2009 and 2010, said the adviser to the prime minister on energy, Engineer Mukhtar Ahmad.

He was speaking at an international symposium on “Looming power crisis in Pakistan” organised by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Pakistan on Friday, says a press release.

He further said the present crisis, which had started in 2006, was already proving to be a hindrance in achieving the nation’s economic goals.The adviser added that even though Pakistan had the second largest coal reserves in the world after America, the country had not been able to produce energy effectively and solve the crisis.

He described technical losses due to power theft as another cause of the energy crisis and blamed corrupt officials for letting such activities take place.

Mr Ahmed predicted that renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy would constitute 10 per cent of Pakistan’s future power requirements. He said that the gas pipeline project with Iran was in its final stages and that the government was also exploring possibility of obtaining gas from Muscat and Turkmenistan.