News
Monday, July 18, 2011
‘US helping Pakistan offset energy crisis’
* US envoy says America spending millions of dollars on Tarbela, other dams to increase capacity building
By Afnan Khan
LAHORE: The Coordinator for Non-Military US Assistance to Pakistan, Robin Raphel, has said the United States is playing the role of a catalyst to help Pakistan cope with the ongoing energy crisis.
In an exclusive interview to Daily Times, the US ambassador revealed that the US was contributing an initial amount to kick-start development work on Diamer Bhasha Dam to help Pakistan offset the energy crisis.
Raphel said her country was also spending millions of dollars to aid Pakistan’s capacity building through renovation and repair of Tarbela and other dams that would add over 500MW to the national grid. “There is no short-term solution to end the gap between electricity consumption and generation, which was currently around 5,000MW,” said the US diplomat, adding that things would better during the years to come should Pakistan started work on power generation projects now.
“In the first phase of the series of US-funded benefits, three thermal power plants are being renovated to increase their efficiency. This would take 18 to 24 months and would be would be completed by the mid or end of year 2012.”
She said the US was also assisting Pakistan to build two dams – Gomal Zam Dam and Satpara Dam – in South Waziristan and Gilgit-Baltistan.
“These projects were running out of funding before the US started supporting these. They are well on way now.”
Raphel reiterated that there was no shortcut to increase power generation, and added, “What you really need is to invest in some of these projects on a long-term basis.” “Hydro is really the thing and then its conservation. It may help set the tariff structure and a gradual phasing out of subsidies except those needy ones,” she said, adding it might take years to build a bigger dam like Diamer Bhasha.
Terming the notion that the US was only giving all this assistance to change public perception in Pakistan as little inaccurate, the diplomat said, “The US wants to help Pakistan meet its energy needs. The process of assistance was started years ago on public request. Before that the US had been providing only military assistance to Pakistan.”
She said that late US ambassador to Afghanistan-Pakistan Richard Holbrooke had envisioned that the United States should assist Pakistan in the energy sector because this was one of the key things through which the people could be offered relief and was also vital to put the country back on the path of development. “The US had spent about $2 billion in terms of civilian assistance since October 2009. More money is on the way under the Kerry-Lugar Law.”
Raphel said the US was spending in almost all the major sectors in Pakistan, including energy, economic growth, agriculture, infrastructure development, stabilisation and health.
The key programmes like Benazir Income Support Programme, Watan Cards, agricultural programmes to provide seeds, fertilisers and tools to the flood-hit farmers, infrastructure development in Federally Administrated Tribal Areas, stimulation of the economy, small and medium enterprises and Higher Education Commission, housing compensation to the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for internally displaced peoples are also supported through the same civilian assistance while spending around $1,100 million on these projects.
The US ambassador concluded that a chunk of $560 was spent for flood relief through various United Nations agencies, such as the World Food Programme on emergency grounds and around $400 million were spent on different projects through contracting arrangements.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk