Severe power shortage hits three South Asian
nations
HONGKONG, Apr 22, 2009 -- Xinhua
Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan are facing serious electricity shortage which
has severely disrupted their public life and worsened their economic crisis.
As the summer is approaching to its peak with temperature hovers around 37
to 40 Celsius degree, the power crisis amid heat wave makes public life
harder in the countries.
In Bangladesh, there is a big gap between escalating demand and generation
capacity of around 1,500 megawatts.
Frequent disruption of power, 15-16 times a day, also impedes smooth supply
of water and gas for household work. Most people were seen on streets with
hand fans as electricity goes off at night.
Schools, colleges, hospitals, clinics, private offices, apartment buildings,
small mills and factories are also experiencing the same plight of the power
shortage.
Power deficit is not a new problem in Bangladesh. Dhaka Electric Supply
Company limited Managing Director Saleh Admed said on Tuesday that there is
no alternate option but to augment generation to resolve nagging power
crisis.
Meanwhile, Nepal is also afflicting with power blackouts and rationing.
Normally, there is daily 16-hour load-shedding in the country.
The Nepali residents will have to continue to live in dark for many more
years to come, as the country failed in the past to construct power projects
in accordance with the increasing demand for power supply across the
country.
Power consumption increases by 10 percent or around 60 megawatts every year
but as attention was not given to the increasing demand, there is a deficit
of around 70 to 170 megawatts power in the country.
Another factor for the power shortage is the unusual low water levels in the
reservoirs that feed the country's hydroelectric plants, said officials with
the Nepal Electrical Authority.
Nepal normally produces about half of its own electricity needs and imports
the rest from India. But the low reservoir levels mean that even importing
more hydro power will not make up the shortfall, officials said.
The Nepali Ministry of Water Resources has proposed that the government
itself should be actively involved in hydropower generation from the coming
fiscal year so as to tackle the ever- worsening power shortage in the
country.
Pakistan is battling power shortages too. Power cuts currently range from
two to 12 hours daily across the country.
Pakistan is switching to daylight saving time to help reduce the effects of
a power shortage. On April 15, Pakistan government decided to move the clock
forward by one hour aimed at saving around 250 megawatts of electricity per
day.
The country is facing a massive shortfall of 4,000 megawatts of power,
forcing the government to practice load-shedding around the country.
Critics have accused the previous administration of failing to add any
capacity to generate electricity while demand soared.
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