Power supply outcry

One is at a loss to comprehend the power generation policy of the government and if indeed there is one at all. If there is one we fail to see the results, and the only assumption is that there has been no serious effort by the government to keep pace with the yearly and long term requirement of electricity in the country. And in meeting the demands of some so-called priority areas, the rural area has been neglected giving rise to a discriminatory situation, demonstrating, in the essence, lack of governmental ability to manage a vital utility service.

It would not be remiss on our part if we were to ask what has the government to show in the four and half years of its rule by way of any addition to electricity output. One recalls the criticism by the coalition government, after assuming office, of its predecessor's effort in this sector and the promise it made to the nation to add substantially to power output. In fact the projection is that, by the end of its five-year tenure, the government will have at best added very little to the current output and only half of what is required to be produced yearly to meet the serious gap between demand and supply by the end of the next decade.

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One is therefore not surprised that the government has fallen back on the plans formulated by the previous government, something it had discarded, to tide over the current shortages.

We feel that more than stopgap measures are required to get over the current power deficit and to meet the long-term requirement in the sector. Urgent action, not bound by ulterior partisan motives, is what is required of the ruling coalition.