KARACHI: Rehabilitation of power plants in the country can increase its power generation capacity by 100% without any additional cost, said Mian Zahid Hussain, President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF) In a press statement issued on Monday, he appreciated government decision to construct series of power plants in the country, however, suggested the equal attention must be paid towards proper maintenance of those already functional.
Proper attention must also be paid towards the older ones as their proper maintenance is not very costly, he said. Mian Zahid Hussain said equal attention was also needed to increase water storage capacities across the country and hydel projects must be initiated without any further delay.
He said the unnecessary delay in construction of dams has increased dependence on imported oil rendering country open to oil price shocks and compulsion to procure foreign loans against harsh conditions.
PBIF president said experts, all the way back in 1959, had proposed construction of Chiniot dam with a capacity to generate 60 mega-watt of electricity with a net profit of Rs. five billion per annum.
The proposed dam would also had enabled us to counter floods causing severe loss to the rural economy, he said mentioning the proposal was neither formally accepted nor rejected.
