Resourceful forums and platforms in Pakistan have enabled the energy experts, leaders, regulators, investors and other stakeholders to assemble regularly, for discussing the challenges, opportunities and ways to an energy-abundant future. One exemplary conference held consistently over the past nine years, is the annual Pakistan Energy Forum. The enthusiastic participation of learned professionals and speakers at this conference has demonstrated their commitment to ensure faster progress. Leading experts, speakers and institutions participate in this forum every year, to discuss powerful ideas that can help Pakistan realign its strategy to meet the ever-increasing demand for energy.
It is unfortunate to see that, Pakistan's economic growth has been severely restrained in the past due to the prolonged energy crisis. The situation continued to deteriorate on a massive scale, because not many significant measures were taken over the past decades, to proactively forecast and meet the growing energy demand in the country. Regardless of the factors behind this dilemma, the bottom-line is that; the common people are the main victims of this apathy towards the energy sector.
Our industrial and domestic sectors have been suffering gravely, as the manufacturing sector also came on the verge of non-competitiveness in the international markets, due to the frequent power-failures, disruptions and additional cost of electrification in Pakistan. The Energy sector in the country has been evidently facing problems, in fulfilling its role to facilitate productivity and provide better quality of life for the common man. Due to this dilemma, Pakistan's Export-performance has also been under severe pressure, reducing the foreign exchange earnings and worsening the trade-deficit of the country.
Energy woes in Pakistan have been compounded, as the successive governments had failed to plan and create new projects to build a prolific energy sector for the nation. Over the same period, the demand for energy has multiplied, due to a rapid rise in population and increased use of machinery, appliances and devices to improve the living standards. The industrial and infrastructural development also calls for more supply of power, fuel and energy besides the transportation and communication needs of the people. As a developing country Pakistan must manage such issues with proactive planning, collective efforts and good-governance.
It is heartening to note that the 9th Annual Pakistan Energy Forum is being held in Islamabad on 23rd of February 2017, where the honourable Minister for Petroleum & Natural Resources will also deliver an insightful speech to a large audience of discerning stakeholders. The scope and potential of Trans-national ventures like the 'China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), TAPI Gas Pipeline, IP Gas Pipeline, etc will come under discussion, along with numerous other Mega projects and development programmes for Power-Generation and Energy Resources. The theme of this forum is: "Approaching new frontiers in Energy-sufficiency" in Pakistan.
Fortunately, the energy sector and the government of Pakistan have evidently become aware of this crucial need. Development of many new projects has already been initiated. The industry stalwarts have also expressed their belief that; there is an urgent need to create more balance in the Energy-Mix of the country. We must reduce our primary reliance on imported and expensive fuels like petroleum, to adopt more economical and indigenous resources like: Hydel, coal, gas, nuclear or renewable sources of energy. Over the recent years, the Solar, Wind and Bio-Mass technologies have become the most viable, safe and sustainable options, promising infinite energy on a global scale, without any environmental pollution, health hazards or disaster threats.
As the energy sector is encouraging the use of innovative technologies to produce energy more efficiently, Pakistan is now on its way to build a sustainable energy infrastructure. All these efforts reflect the commitment of the Government and private energy sector, to resolve the energy crisis. It is hoped that the experts at the Pakistan Energy Forum 2017 will be able to devise a robust plan to ensure uninterrupted energy supply for the whole nation and accelerate economic progress and prosperity in the country.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017