The country has been in grip of severe energy crisis for the last over three decades, but the successive governments in the office have failed to find real time solution to the problem. As a result, the large-scale manufacturing sector could not be expanded according to its potentials and the entire country is still facing the pinch of load shedding. The Kalabagh Dam and Diamir Basha Dam projects are virtually dead and the Nandipur Power Project is reportedly incapacitated to add any unit to the national grid. Pakistan is very suitable country to avail the benefits of solar energy, but a negative path is followed to get positive results. Instead of developing solar technology at home, preference has been given to import solar panels and voltaic cells, not only depriving the nation of the benefits of solar technology, but also precious foreign exchange. A technological blind country always remains in the darkness without any hope for a bright future.
The only ray of hope for the nation is the economic corridor linking Kashgar in China to the port of Gwadar on the shore of Arabian Sea and the project has the potential to boost trade and investment in the coming years. Economists expect a slightly higher inflation rate during the current fiscal year as oil prices are likely to recover. They also expect that inflationary pressures raise food prices due to possible short supply during the year. As the World Bank president has said the government will have to scale up investment in its people and should specifically focus on the youth as the country has the largest young population in the world. The government will have to ensure that the youth population learns, grows and fully participates in the digital economy of the country. According to the World Bank chief, going digital is critical for the youth to update them about changes in the international labour market and enable them to take advantages of the global connectivity and digital economy.
This is the era of economic development and it is up to the government to take advantage of the endless opportunities which the world is offering in business, trade and investment. It is good omen that trade delegations from all over the world are coming to Pakistan and there is a need to materialize business to business contacts with other countries. However, electricity is the basic requirement of the industry and the government should fully concentrate on this sector and it should try to revive the projects like Kalabagh Dam and Bhasha Dam. The economic corridor cannot pull all the economic weight of the nation.
