Pakistan: A dark future

PAKISTAN’S chronic power shortage is now assuming critical proportions. And what is worse than the unending electricity breakdowns is the lack of any planning to correct the situation.

Not all that long ago, there were many discussions about selling surplus electricity to India. Already, that moment seems an eternity away. With relentless population growth and economic expansion, there is a growing and entirely predictable shortfall between the supply and demand of energy.


The consequences of this crisis is available in the shape of the recent riots in Karachi, when suffering citizens finally lost their temper and took to the streets to protest the unending power cuts. But apart from discomfort and lost tempers, there is a direct economic cost of this growing gap. According to economist Shahid Javed Burki, the projected shortfall will result in a lower GDP per capita rise. The reduction in earning per head directly attributable to power availability will be $225 by 2020.

In his paper called ‘The Weight of History: Pakistan’s Energy Problems’, Burki gives an overview of our past and present performance in the energy sector, and discusses what needs to be done. Published in “Fuelling the Future”, a compilation of papers published by the Woodrow Wilson International Centre, Burki’s article focuses on the failure of political will to undertake the policies necessary to meet our energy requirements…

Khaleej Times