Why there is acute shortage of electricity in Pakistan

For the last few years there has been a severe shortage of electricity in Pakistan. For those living in Pakistan this is nothing new, but to the rest of world it is not easy to comprehend this. Living in the 21st century our lives have become so much dependent on electricity that it is not possible to survive without it now. There are a number of reasons why there is acute shortage of electricity in Pakistan.

• No new dams have been built in Pakistan for the last few decades.
• The already built dams have silt accumulated in them and this has further reduced their capacity to store water and hence produce electricity.
• A major portion of electricity being produced in Pakistan is from fossil fuels which is costly as compared to Hydel electricity.
• We as a nation cannot agree to build more dams like Kalabagh or any other dam.
• There is a severe management issue in the country and the amount of money collected by WAPDA should go to the electricity producers which is not happening, thus resulting in shutting down of power houses and consequently reduced electricity.
• WAPDA suffers from losses, both technical as well as power theft.
• There is massive corruption in WAPDA itself from the lowest to highest level. For example a lineman supposed to record meter readings will make a direct connection by bypassing the meter for a few hundred rupees.
• The political government has failed to reach a consensus between the federating units of Pakistan for building a new dam.
• The massive Thar coal deposits have not been touched since their discovery decades back. These are enough to produce Giga watts of electricity at very cheap rates for decades to come.
• Pakistan has failed to invest in alternative sources of energy like Wind and solar power which is available in abundance.
• Because of massive urbanization people have shifted to cities and this has over loaded the already taxed system.
• Because of leasing facilities for the last few years now anyone can buy and install an Air conditioner and hence increase in demand of electricity.
• There is so far no policy on how to tackle this issue.