First a fact based article on Power:
Quote
Power minister
Dr Farrukh Saleem
Sunday, June 23, 2013
From Print Edition
Capital suggestion
Sir, there are 12 government-run registered companies that collectively lose Rs400 billion a year. They are: Lesco, Gepco, Iesco, Fesco, Mepco, Hesco, Qesco, Pesco, Jamshoro Power, Central Power, Northern Power and Lakhra Power. Sir, if you are the de facto appointing authority of the chief executive officers of the dirty dozen, then the Rs400 billion burden is on your shoulders.
Sir, your experts are telling you three things: our fuel mix is not right; we will convert furnace oil-boilers to coal and that we need to jack up the tariff by a wholesome 70 percent. This is all hogwash; pies in the sky.
To begin with, developing huge coalmines require billions of dollars – billions that we don’t have. Second, conversion kits will cost a couple of billion dollars – billions that we don’t have. Third, no one will finance the burning of coal. Fourth, the supply-chain infrastructure will cost billions of dollars – billions that we don’t have. Finally, the PPP doubled the tariff with no end to circular debt (higher tariff means more theft). Sir, none of that is ever going to happen to any significant degree to make much of a difference.
Sir, a single 500 MW plant needs 3,337,000 kg of coal a day. Consider this: we will need 100,000 tons of coal a day and our current production is 8,000 tons a day. We need billions of dollars to set up a complete supply-chain of thousands of coal-carrying trucks and thousands of rail freight bogies connecting the port and the power plants. Can China help? We may be able to convert a few hundred megawatts, but please don’t hold out for pies in the sky.
Dear Minister, some 200 so-called state-owned enterprises (SOEs) lose Rs500 billion a year. Of the 200 SOEs, a total of 12 manage to lose Rs400 billion a year; 80 percent of the entire loss. Sir, take care of the dirty dozen and you would have taken care of 80 percent of the *****. Of the Rs400 billion, 50 percent is theft and the other 50 percent is owed by various governments, federal and provincial.
Sir, the federal government, its attached departments, autonomous and semi-autonomous bodies, joint staff headquarters, military dairy farms, the President’s House, the PM’s Secretariat, the residence of chairman senate, residences of federal ministers, the Election Commission, the Supreme Court, the Federal Police, the Intelligence Bureau and the FIA all owe billions.
Dear Minister, Sindh owes Rs61 billion, Punjab Rs9 billion, AJK Rs20 billion and the KESC Rs50 billion. Of the Rs400 billion loss, one-half is theft (and inefficiencies); electricity theft, transformer theft, cable theft and furnace oil theft (the other half is owed by the government and the private sector).
Sir, the good news is that you will be able to find strategic partners/operators for the Gencos. Sir, the good news is that there is market appetite for the distribution companies. There is just no way that you – or your ministry – can restructure the Discos; they must be privatised straight away. Start with the best – Fesco, Gepco, Lesco and Iesco – where bill-collection losses are 1.5 percent, 1.5 percent, 4 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively. Next, professionalise Nepra.
Dear Khawaja Sahib, coal is baloney and ‘baloney is the lie laid on so thick you ought to hate it and blarney is flattery laid on so thin most ministers love it’.
The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad. Email:
farrukh15@hotmail.com
Twitter: @
Saleemfarrukh
Power minister - Dr Farrukh Saleem
Unquote.
Unlike other journalists, Dr Farrukh Saleem articles are based on solid facts. It so happens that I know a little bit about energy too.
I concur with Dr F. Saleem's assertion that conversion of existing plants to coal would be too expensive and waste of money and therefore not to be considered. No one who has info about coal & oil prices can deny that even imported coal or imported delayed petroleum coke is a cheaper fuel than imported furnace oil. My disagreement is the assumption that all the coal needs to be transported by trucks to upcountry locations and that he dismisses use of coal altogether.
We can start by setting up new coal fired power plants at Karachi and at Port Qassim; this would save us coal transportation costs to upcountry locations. Power thus generated used for consumption for Karachi & Sind. Additionally work on Thar coal mining should start right away and power plant set up next to the coal mine. Billion required for this venture is an investment for the future of Pakistan and not a waste.
Finally should provincial gov’t insist on have power generation located in Punjab (say); imported coal can be transported by rail network and delivered at the plant location. No need to transport in thousands of trucks.
Therefore In my humble opinion “Coal is not a baloney” and all new power plants should be based on coal, whether imported or indigenous.
