Pakistan's heatwave and a deadly lack of energy policy

www.guardian.co.uk
From the whitewashed mansions of Clifton, Karachi, to the dusty village shacks in Gujar, Punjab, the two words heard most regularly on the lips of Pakistanis right now? Load-shedding, the political euphemism that is used by everyone – be they state official, liberal intellectual or housemaid – to discuss the country's long, daily blackouts. Power cuts and energy shortage are nothing new for the subcontinent; in six decades of being, Pakistan's infrastructure has never been able to cope with basic rate of growth and demand for energy – let alone been able to provide unlimited, uninterrupted electricity for its people. And yet, the country's current energy crisis is unprecedented: in the last two years it has become nothing short of a national disaster.
Just over a week since I arrived back in London – having spent six days criss-crossing the Punjabi province – and Pakistan is being held hostage to the most punishing heatwave in living memory. Record-breaking temperatures of 53C were recorded across the country last week, the death toll is consequentially rising even faster than the mercury. The heat is brutal, penetrative and unbearable to be caught outside in, but the real killer seems to be Pakistan's energy policy. Or, as it might be more accurately defined, the distinct lack of one.
Up to 12 hours of the day are routinely being endured without electricity across the country. Cities and villages take it in turns to have the lights turned out … to keep them on. Tolerating the current heat without power, without working fans, fridges, air conditioning (for those lucky enough to have afforded installation in the first place) and light, is not just a matter of inconvenience though: heatstroke, food poisoning and dehydration are killing in their hundreds while the death of livestock, paralysis of small and large business and the real threat to livelihoods and families is hurting further. The wealthy will switch on their generators to keep a running supply of power every time the electricity trips; the poor are simply left to swelter and suffer.
Foresight has rarely been a historic strength of Pakistani administrations, the last government failed to add a single megawatt of new power to the national grid under almost a decade of rule. The farcical current regime, led by Asif Ali Zardari, has been forced to scramble for a solution only to land itself between a rock and a nuclear place. An energy programme to tackle the problem long term, facilitated by the actual building of power plants and coal-mining projects (rather than through the financial aid pledged by Obama's administration), has been laid on the table by the Chinese government.
Given that the two countries would be co-operating in a civil nuclear programme to build several new nuclear power plants, the project has been met with the wholesale disapproval of the US government. China has cited the rules under its membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which make it clear that no nuclear trade can be entered into with a country that has not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. This, despite legislation being passed to enable similar nuclear trade between the US and India. Hypocritical twitchiness from the White House is nothing new. In this case, it does the US little favours in terms of its public perception from the region. Any attempt to block an essential power-generation deal between China and Pakistan will only be viewed with the same bitter contempt the public have for the daily US drone attacks to the country's tribal regions.
Pakistan consumed just 0.39% of the world's total electricity consumption last year, but energy providers such as Pepco (a nationalised company) are still unable to cope and meet the 4,000-5,000 megawatt shortfall in electricity needed to keep powering the country. No new dams have been built or planned for, although almost a third of the country's electricity is generated through hydropower. Meanwhile, the Thar coalfield in Sindh (the second largest province in Pakistan) contains an estimated 175 billion tonnes of deposits. If a Chinese-funded coal-mining power project is to go ahead, this could provide decades of cheap (albeit highly polluting) power. The country also has vast reserves of natural gas. And yet, with 65% of the country's supply delivered by thermal power – mostly generated through costly imported oil – no steps have been taken to switch to natural gas power production.
There is little doubt that Pakistan's ruling elite are to blame for short-sightedness, for being too greedily corrupt to install basic, decent utilities for the country's people. Now that moves could be made to correct this can only be a hopeful sign for the future. The Chinese policy, to offer trade and build projects rather than cash aid, is a sound one that further cements the historic relationship between the two countries. Unless the US has firm plans to propose a similar project, its intervention as a "special ally" is not only unwelcome but entirely unnecessary.