Wrong priorities at right times
By Technology Times at August 13, 2011 | 12:53 pm | PrintA- Reset A+
Most recently a Chinese bus manufacturing company – Foton Motors – and Sindh government have agreed to provide 2000 CNG buses in the province. The company has designed modern buses for Pakistan with design feature to meet specific cultural and demographic needs of the country and with a special focus to power the buses with environment friendly fuel such as CNG, LPG and hybrid diesel and H2. The company is already in a process of making 111 CNG buses for Lahore city. Furthermore, the federal government plans to launch this initiative for other major cities including Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Faisalabad and Multan. This is, no doubt, spelt as a good initiative on the part of China which is a time-tested friend of Pakistan. With the increasing population in the cities, there is an urgent need for upgrading the existing transport network in mega cities which in turn offer great investment opportunities to the national and international investors. However, the ground situation is not as rosy as there are wide disparities between the government’s development planning and management of national resources, which are resulting into the multiple energy crisis in the country. The energy crisis – gas and power – has emerged as a killer to the national economy as it is drastically affecting not only the industrial and economic fabrics of the country but also domestic and transport operations on a wide scale. To cope with the situation, the government has decided to opt for gas rationing system under which the utility would be diverted from CNG stations to industries and power generation companies in Sindh and Punjab as well as industries, especially fertilizer manufacturers. Unarguably, the textile sector is the backbone of the country’s economy. If loadshedding is not avoidable, the government must at least make alternative arrangements to supply electricity for the smooth running of this sector during periods of gas loadshedding. These options can be effective in terms of resources management front, but as far as long-term planning and boosting of national growth potential is concerned, these are just hollow initiatives. The government must rationalize the supply of the gas as per the requirement of different industries. At the same time, the government should focuses on exploring other environment-friendly fuels which are successfully being used in the developed world so that the excessive use of petrol and gas is minimized significantly. Similarly, gas geysers installed for domestic usages are one of the causes of gas consumption in the country. If the same are made efficient with latest technology it would reduce gas consumption.
