LAHORE: The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry has urged the government to utilize maximum resources to correct energy mix through coal-fired and solar power projects.
In a statement issued here Friday, the LCCI President Ijaz A. Mumtaz said that government would have to spend sufficient amount of energy and resources for the promotion alternate energy resources.
He said that Punjab government should restructure the mining sector as lack of modern technology is coming in the way of fully exploitation of coal mining. He urged the private sector to come forward and invest in mining sector that would be a great service to the country.
He said that to equip mineral sector with up-to-date technology should be one of the top priorities of the government. He said that modern technology would help full utilization of domestic coal reserves which have addition quantity of sulphur and ash.
Ijaz A. Mumtaz said that energy conservation is also need of the hour therefore business community should supplement the government efforts in this regard.
He said that Pakistan is currently facing energy crisis. The impact of this crisis is seriously hampering our economic growth. It is high time that all the possible solutions are explored and most viable options are put into operation.
Ijaz A. Mumtaz said that some three decades ago, Pakistan used to generate electricity from hydel and non hydel resources with a proportion of 70:30. Now the situation has totally reversed. It means that we have to rely too much on gas, oil and other sources to generate electricity. It has resulted in costlier electricity which has wiped out our competitive edge in international market.
LCCI President said that presently almost 40 percent electricity is generated through coal all over the world. In case of Pakistan, less than 1 percent electricity is being generated from coal. He said that countries like South Africa, Australia, China, Russia, Poland and Czech Republic generate 80,000 megawatts of electricity through underground coal gasification.
Ijaz A. Mumtaz said that we in fact require such technology which is not only cost effective but also easy to be installed. China is still producing more than 75 percent electricity from coal. We can acquire all sort of technical and technological assistance from China as they have developed environment friendly technology.
The LCCI President said that we have to promote alternate energy resources as reliance on conventional resources like thermal is one of the biggest reasons of energy crisis.
He said that bio energy is a versatile source that can be used to overcome electricity challenge besides making a considerable contribution to climate change phenomenon. He said that biomass energy has the potential convert a wide variety of wastes into clean energy besides being substitution for diminishing global oil supplies.
