Diamonds in the rough?

Diamonds in the rough?
Pakistanis are perhaps all too familiar with the term power crisis. To us, these are not mere words but a stifling, suffocating reality that manifests itself through lengthy electricity breakdowns and hours of all-enveloping darkness. Whether it is the domestic user sweating away without power in the sweltering summer or the industrialist counting his losses due to the closure of his units, all strata of Pakistani society are affected by the power crisis. Hence whenever there is talk of a possible solution to resolve this crisis, people are all ears. Several solutions have been proposed, including building more dams and tapping nature’s inexhaustible fuel source in the form of renewable energy. Another proposed suggestion to help ease Pakistan’s power woes has been to exploit the hitherto untapped treasure lying under the sprawling sands of the Thar desert: coal.
In Thar Coal: Salvation Paradigm, senior journalist Shamim-ur-Rahman has collected and edited a set of essays focusing on the power crisis in general and discussed the potential use of Thar coal for power generation in great detail. Stakeholders as well as experts in the field have contributed to the analysis.
In Pakistan, the problem appears to be with the fuel mix. There is a shortage of local natural gas (which accounts for 32.4 per cent of the fuel mix as per 2008-09 figures) while oil (35.5 per cent) is not only imported, its price fluctuates quite a bit, posing issues of affordability. The hydel source (30.3 per cent) depends on the vagaries of nature while the share of nuclear power is negligible. Renewable energy barely figures. Hence, there is a need for an affordable and reliable indigenous fuel source. The book argues that Thar coal is that source.
It is stated that the Thar coal reserves amount to 175 billion tons. If compared to oil, this staggering figure is supposedly “more than the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE and Iraq combined”. This, according to Dr Samar Mubarakmand, who authored the chapter “Pakistan’s Energy Scenario”, can generate 50,000 megawatts for 800 years.
In an energy-starved country like Pakistan, these figures are incredibly tantalising. Even if a significant fraction of the above amount is produced, it can go a long way in ending the crippling stranglehold of power shortages.
The government has already initiated projects to explore the potential of tapping Thar coal. However, traditional bureaucratic lethargy seems to be affecting these projects. The short-sightedness and complacency of successive governments has brought us to the precipice at which we stand today. Therefore, there needs to be a thorough debate at the national level about the potential of Thar coal as a dependable fuel source. Once this debate has reached a conclusion, if it is found feasible than all efforts should be made to exploit Thar coal in the shortest possible time.
While Thar Coal: Salvation Paradigm adds valuable insights to the debate, it could have done with tighter editing in some parts. It would also have benefited from greater focus on the environmental impact of producing power from coal, a topic only briefly touched upon. Overall, the book is a timely effort and those in decision-making capacities might want to consult it in order to help evolve a long-term strategy to extricate Pakistan from the clutches of the power crisis.