ISLAMABAD, April 30: The government is considering to introduce biogas technology in the rural areas through the production of bio-fertilizer and bio-fuel. The project will cost Rs22 million.

An official expert told Dawn that under the proposed project, non-conventional resources in the country would be exploited to cope with the energy deficiency through the recycling of animal faeces.

“This step would help reduce dependence on conventional fuels like kerosene oil, liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and the wood,” he said.

About 1,200 plants will be established, out of which 96 would be installed in the federal areas, 540 in Punjab, 240 in NWFP, 264 in Sindh and 60 in Baluchistan.

The experts, however, believe that Pakistan has sufficient potential of non-conventional sources of energy such as biomass (animal dung and agro residues) hydro power and wind energy which needs to be exploited in order to bridge the gap between energy demand and supplies.

The experts also believe that the technology would also contribute towards achieving the objective of environment protection.

They say in neighbouring countries like China and India, similar technologies are being practised to meet domestic energy needs.

They hoped that the project would help improve the lifestyle of rural masses.

Tracing the history, they said in the past, the directorate general of new and renewable energy resources (DGNRER) was engaged in dissemination of biogas technology in the country under the PSDP project which completed in 1980.

“But, due to lack of proper expertise, the biogas plants, then installed, had failed to work and consequently caused a great setback to the project,” they said.