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For the first time ever, a public park in Karachi is being run on alternate energy.
Visitors will be able to enter the park for free even after sunset since the place, in the coming months, will be brightly lit up with bulbs thriving totally on clean energy.
Situated at the Shaheed Lalak Jan Green Belt, near Hyderi in North Nazimabad, the Alternate Energy Education Model Park is already running a wind turbine, a solar unit and a hydel installation, generating a total of 1250 watts.
“It’s something unprecedented. It is also a live laboratory for school children who can learn about alternative energy, its sources and conservation, which is something beyond the theories they read in books,” said Musaddiq Ali Baig, project director of the park and an expert on alternate energy.
“It’s the first concrete exhibit of how alternate sources of energy work in the real world.”
He said that the world is moving towards energy conservation and finding ways to acquire clean sources of fuel. “The park would work as a living example of how these cheap and pollution-free methods can be utilised to produce energy,” said Baig.
According to the stipulated plan, the park will provide schoolchildren with an opportunity to sow saplings in its greenbelt and educate them about the importance of conservation, which according to Baig, “is crucial for our energy-starved nation”.
However, despite the rosy picture being drawn by those involved in the project, the environmental park draws its share of criticism from cynics. They say that using a greenbelt at the centre of one of Karachi’s prominent arteries cannot be devoid of commercial incentives.
“Tampering with a greenbelt to make something environment-friendly does not make sense,” said Amber Alibhai, the executive director of Shehri, a civic rights advocacy group. “The ‘energy corner’ could have been established anywhere, you don’t have to chose the centre of a busy thoroughfare for that.”
She suspects the place will eventually be used for giant billboards, providing advertisement space for those helping to build the park “which precisely translates into the commercial use of public space.”
The builders of the park do not disagree. “Installing clean energy units are an expensive business. We are not taking a dime from the national coiffeur but seeking private companies to make it a part of their corporate social responsibility,” said Rehan Hashmi, the man who envisioned the project. “This is the way such initiatives work globally. It’s a transparent and 100 percent legal way to generate finances for such non-for-profit projects.”
Hashmi is a member of the National Assembly from the area and belongs to the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM).
He believed that people had a hard time understanding the idea behind the park. “But what is unfortunate is that they don’t shy away from passing premature judgement about it,” he said.
According to Hashmi, the “so-called” greenbelt had been languishing for years with no maintenance whatsoever. “The place was infested with drug addicts. The greenbelt had nothing ‘green’ about it and was a barren piece of land which was at best a repository for public’s trash.”
He believed that land in an urban metropolis like Karachi should be used creatively.
“I know critics fear that the space will be used for commercial purposes, but as an elected representative of the area I can tell you it won’t be. It’s totally not-for-profit,” claimed Hashmi.
“The idea was to give my constituency a landmark which was distinct in its features. We have taken all the relevant authorities onboard so there is nothing illegal about it. We are taking the greenbelt to the next level.”
Sharing his long-term vision for his constituency, the MNA said that if the government can involve more private companies to help construct self-generating energy sources for public places such as parks and bus stops, the amount paid by district municipal corporations to K-Electric in terms of bills can be utilised for other projects. “There is so such potential in public-private partnership,” he said.
But for now, notwithstanding reservations raised by cynics, work at the Alternate Energy Education Model Park is going on at full swing. After the landscaping is completed, it will be open for public – and people of Karachi would be in a position to gauge as to what changed at the Shaheed Lalak Jan Green Belt in North Nazimabad.
Pakistan’s first alternative energy park begins producing 1,250W - thenews.com.pk
For the first time ever, a public park in Karachi is being run on alternate energy.
Visitors will be able to enter the park for free even after sunset since the place, in the coming months, will be brightly lit up with bulbs thriving totally on clean energy.
Situated at the Shaheed Lalak Jan Green Belt, near Hyderi in North Nazimabad, the Alternate Energy Education Model Park is already running a wind turbine, a solar unit and a hydel installation, generating a total of 1250 watts.
“It’s something unprecedented. It is also a live laboratory for school children who can learn about alternative energy, its sources and conservation, which is something beyond the theories they read in books,” said Musaddiq Ali Baig, project director of the park and an expert on alternate energy.
“It’s the first concrete exhibit of how alternate sources of energy work in the real world.”
He said that the world is moving towards energy conservation and finding ways to acquire clean sources of fuel. “The park would work as a living example of how these cheap and pollution-free methods can be utilised to produce energy,” said Baig.
According to the stipulated plan, the park will provide schoolchildren with an opportunity to sow saplings in its greenbelt and educate them about the importance of conservation, which according to Baig, “is crucial for our energy-starved nation”.
However, despite the rosy picture being drawn by those involved in the project, the environmental park draws its share of criticism from cynics. They say that using a greenbelt at the centre of one of Karachi’s prominent arteries cannot be devoid of commercial incentives.
“Tampering with a greenbelt to make something environment-friendly does not make sense,” said Amber Alibhai, the executive director of Shehri, a civic rights advocacy group. “The ‘energy corner’ could have been established anywhere, you don’t have to chose the centre of a busy thoroughfare for that.”
She suspects the place will eventually be used for giant billboards, providing advertisement space for those helping to build the park “which precisely translates into the commercial use of public space.”
The builders of the park do not disagree. “Installing clean energy units are an expensive business. We are not taking a dime from the national coiffeur but seeking private companies to make it a part of their corporate social responsibility,” said Rehan Hashmi, the man who envisioned the project. “This is the way such initiatives work globally. It’s a transparent and 100 percent legal way to generate finances for such non-for-profit projects.”
Hashmi is a member of the National Assembly from the area and belongs to the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM).
He believed that people had a hard time understanding the idea behind the park. “But what is unfortunate is that they don’t shy away from passing premature judgement about it,” he said.
According to Hashmi, the “so-called” greenbelt had been languishing for years with no maintenance whatsoever. “The place was infested with drug addicts. The greenbelt had nothing ‘green’ about it and was a barren piece of land which was at best a repository for public’s trash.”
He believed that land in an urban metropolis like Karachi should be used creatively.
“I know critics fear that the space will be used for commercial purposes, but as an elected representative of the area I can tell you it won’t be. It’s totally not-for-profit,” claimed Hashmi.
“The idea was to give my constituency a landmark which was distinct in its features. We have taken all the relevant authorities onboard so there is nothing illegal about it. We are taking the greenbelt to the next level.”
Sharing his long-term vision for his constituency, the MNA said that if the government can involve more private companies to help construct self-generating energy sources for public places such as parks and bus stops, the amount paid by district municipal corporations to K-Electric in terms of bills can be utilised for other projects. “There is so such potential in public-private partnership,” he said.
But for now, notwithstanding reservations raised by cynics, work at the Alternate Energy Education Model Park is going on at full swing. After the landscaping is completed, it will be open for public – and people of Karachi would be in a position to gauge as to what changed at the Shaheed Lalak Jan Green Belt in North Nazimabad.
Pakistan’s first alternative energy park begins producing 1,250W - thenews.com.pk
