Editorial
Crippling power cuts
Keep people informed on action plans
IT seems that we will not be able to get out the problem of power shortage in the short-term. In some parts of the capital last Friday, the residents had to suffer power outages as many as four times lasting several hours, without the people being told what was to befall them, in advance. We have never had enough of electricity, and, in spite of the fact that the problem is recurring year in and year out, the government seems not to take timely measures to offset the impact.
We grant that this government is not responsible for the present state of power generation in the country. And we grant too that the problem cannot be redressed in a year or two. But certainly, knowing well that this is the crunch period of the year, with the onset of summer and the new cropping season, necessary anticipatory work could have been done to ameliorate the burden that the crisis puts on every sector of the economy and on the people in general.
We feel that the government must let the public in on the actual state of the power sector. We must know what we are in for now and the near future. The daily shortfall must be made public as well as the mechanism the government would be employing to distribute with fairness and on the basis of priority, the available electricity. The public must be prepared in advance to meet the crisis.
As we see the matter, the two priority action the government should take are, first, to make serviceable those units that are in a state of disrepair, and secondly, there are power generation units, lying idle for lack of energy, while in some, gas pressure is not enough to run the generators. This is something that we fail to understand. The government must ensure full and uninterrupted supply of the primary source of running these units, coal or gas.
Much of the woe in this sector has to do with mismanagement, corruption and lack of advance planning. There also appears to be a lack of coordination between the energy and finance ministries that is proving to be an impediment to the production of electricity.
We suggest that the government chalk out a plan on both short and long term basis to address the crisis keeping in mind that the problem is linked to several other important factors like the exploration and supply of gas from newer fields including the offshore ones.
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