Professionals, not politicians, to handle energy sector: PTI

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) on Sunday announced it will delegate decision-making authority from politicians to professionals in the energy sector to tackle the prevailing crisis.

The party, while describing the incumbent government as incapable of handling the energy crisis, laid out its five-year strategy to overcome the problem at a seminar it hosted on the subject.

“The current government has neither the ability nor the political will to make the sector financially viable by reducing losses and leakages in the system and cutting the cost of energy generation,” PTI chief Imran Khan said.

Earlier this week, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) held a conference over the same issue where the PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif identified energy crisis as the biggest challenge for any new government.

“Business as usual” is not the solution for the problem, Imran said while addressing PTI’s first energy related seminar.

He underlined the need for preventing political interference in institutional matters.

“The elimination of terrorism and bringing good governance are short-term targets. Tackling the energy crisis, however, is a long-term goal,” Imran added.

Indigenous resources such as domestic gas and Thar Coal have been ignored. Ever-increasing dependence on imported furnace oil has amplified the total oil import bill from $3 billion to $12 billion in the last decade, said a statement issued by the party.

PTI warned that if immediate actions are not taken, Pakistan’s power shortages will rise from the current 5,500 megawatts to over 11,000 megawatts in the next five years, resulting in longer hours of load shedding.

The natural gas deficit will rise from 1,600 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) to 3,500 mmcfd and the energy import bill will rise from $12 billion to $60-120 billion by 2025, depending on oil prices and drastic increases in tariffs.

Jahangir Khan Tareen, in his comprehensive presentation on energy crisis in the country, also unveiled PTI’s short and medium term plans to overcome the problem.

The short-term plan that has been designed for two years will attempt to minimise impact of power and gas shortages in the country besides reducing burden of ever increasing tariffs on poor.

In the medium-term plan of five years, PTI will aim to resolve the circular debt crisis and encourage influx of capital flows, plug gas deficit by increasing supply by 3,500 mmcfd, eliminate load shedding by improving efficiency of power plants, and bringing existing offline capacity online.

He said we will liberate public sector enterprises from government interference and appoint independent boards with real powers, including selection of Chief Executive Officers.