28 October 2009
Clinton Announces Projects to Improve Pakistan’s Energy Sector
Washington — On her first visit to Pakistan as secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that the United States is providing $125 million to fund the first phase of a program to repair and upgrade Pakistan’s energy infrastructure, saying America wants to help Pakistani efforts to spur economic growth.
Appearing with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on October 28 in Islamabad, the secretary outlined six projects designed in close cooperation with Pakistani officials that will “help repair facilities, improve local energy providers, and promote energy efficiency.”
Key power stations are currently operating well below their full capacity, and the resulting energy shortfalls pose “serious challenges to your economy and to the lives of individual people and businesses,” Clinton said.
“For months, families have endured sweltering heat and evenings spent in the dark without appliances or televisions or computers,” she said. Blackouts have been linked with increases in crime, and the power shortages have forced some factories and small businesses to shut down, undermining the country’s economic growth.
“We will help you install new and better equipment at the Tarbela Dam power station on the Indus River. And we will help you repair or replace more than 10,000 tube well pumps nationwide, which will both save energy and increase agricultural productivity,” Clinton said, adding that this first phase “is only the beginning of our new emphasis on assisting Pakistan in its energy sector.”
The secretary said the United States wants to “turn the page to a new partnership” with both the government and “the people of a democratic Pakistan” by going beyond the traditional bilateral engagement on security cooperation and the shared struggle against violent extremism.
“In this time of economic challenge … we want to help you with jobs and economic development and the infrastructure that will create investments — access to education, providing more support in health care, and in particular, improving the energy supply,” Clinton said.
According to an October 28 State Department media note, the six projects being funded in the first phase of the “Pakistan Signature Energy Program” are designed for “increasing electricity output and conserving wasted energy and money.”
The media note said almost one-third of electricity purchased by Pakistan’s electric power distribution companies is lost, with some companies losing 50 percent or more. “These losses are due to weak management, nonpayment by government and consumers for electricity consumed, and high technical losses from worn-out equipment,” the note said.
In addition to the Tarbela Dam project and the replacement or repair of agricultural irrigation pumps, the $125 million will be used to rehabilitate and upgrade components of the Jamshoro, Muzaffargarh, and Guddu thermal power stations.
The media note added that over the next three years, the United States will work with four of Pakistan’s nine public electricity-distribution companies to reduce their electricity losses to levels comparable to well-run distribution companies in developed countries.
“Every one percent of system-wide loss reduction represents $97 million in savings to Pakistani consumers and additional power for economic development,” the media note said.
The full text of the media note is available on America.gov.
