Saddam Hussain
“Upon asking for the reason of wiping his paltry footwear with an expansive cloak; a man explained analytically that the shoes are his own property while the cloak is inherited”.
A local anecdote is better interpreting the reckless behavior of the nation toward comped assets. The most important among bestowed assets are natural resources, which our nation has either failed to explore or mismanaged greatly.
Natural resources comprise of land, water, air, solar radiations, minerals, flora and fauna. The factors which determine the quality and quantity of these resources are geographic location, geologic formation and topographic conditions of a locality. Pakistan is located in a region blessed with rich natural resources like water, land, minerals, labor, forestry, fishery, seasons, flora and fauna. Water resources of Pakistan include ground water resources (tube wells and springs), surface water resources (lakes, rivers, streams, glaciers and ice caps) and precipitation (rainfall, snowfall and hail).
Groundwater is a major source of irrigation in Pakistan, with estimated annual potential of 66 MAF. Currently, over 2.5 million farmers are relying on tube wells for irrigating their fields. The permeable aquifers of Indus Plain made it convenient to extract, utilize and store large quantities of water.
Due to the rapid growing population and absence of proper management, the rate of groundwater discharge is increasing dangerously, which is not only resulting in unsustainable depletion of the groundwater resources but also secondary salinisation. In order to cope with the depleting water table, effective irrigation systems should be installed and crops with high water requirements should be replaced by the crops with low water requirements. Moreover, recharge to the groundwater should be enhanced by adopting practices like rainwater harvesting, canal diversions and check dams.
Surface water resources of Pakistan mainly consist of Indus river system, the waters from which are greatly misused. Recalling to one of my articles published in “The Nation”, the responsible factors for this abuse are; insufficient storage capacity, transboundry water sharing issues, climate change, seepage from watercourses, conventional irrigation and underpricing of water. According to that article, “the country needs one major dam during each 10 years. Unfortunately, no major dam has been constructed since 1970s, when Tarbela dam was completed in 1976. Kalabagh dam, which is the need of the hour, still lies in controversy. The current annual flow through the country is 169 MAF, for which the installed capacity of major reservoirs is mere 18.5 MAF (11.1 MAF of Tarbela and 7.4 MAF of Mangla)”.
Apart from irrigating over 18 million hectares of cultivated land, Indus and its tributaries have a monstrous capacity of hydel power generation. The current hydel production under WAPDA stands approximately at 7000MW which is almost double as the estimated production of the single Kalabagh. Not only the capacity, but the generation rate of Rs 2 per unit against the existing average rate of Rs 11.5 per unit is something very much in favour of the country’s economy. The other benefits associated with hydel production are: improved climate, to which the country is currently allocating 8 percent of its total expenditures; minimum circular debt; and reduced petroleum import bills, as a major portion of petroleum is used for power generation.
Rainfall is one of the most-wasted water resources in Pakistan. It has been found that about 75 percent of the annual rainwater in Pakistan is lost to floods during the three months of monsoon rains. There are none to very less structures in our country to store this water.
The alarming wastage of water has resulted in a considerable fall in water availability. This condition of exasperating water scarcity has interfered mainly with the country’s agriculture. In the years ahead, if the situation prevails, the monster will drastically hit the other sectors including power and industry. On agriculture side, the aggravated conditions have eclipsed the bestowed highly fertile land and diversified range of seasons. The total cropped area of the country is above 23 million hectares which contributes 7 percent (US$21 billion) to the country’s nominal GDP of US$304 billion. Surprisingly, the mentioned area accounts for 29 percent of the country’s total area. Among the major problems that suppress the production are; unoptimized water utilization, energy crisis, salinity, water logging, soil erosion, absence of quality seed, imbalanced fertilization, poor mechanization, poverty-stricken communication network, inappropriate plant pesticides and unpredictable commodity prices. The last-mentioned factor greatly affects the pattern of cropping, as the farmers hesitate to grow crops that are prone to frequent market fluctuations. Yesterday, while watching a video, the person very ably articulated the point by comparing Pakistan’s agriculture with that of India. He pointed that India has specified Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for 26 crops while our country has a single one, and that’s for wheat. He further extended that; after the partition, Indian Punjab (13 districts during partition) is feeding a population of 1200 million while Pakistani Punjab (17 districts during partition) has failed to feed a mere population of 200 million.
After land and water, the third most important natural resource of Pakistan is minerals. Currently, around 52 minerals are excavated in the country. Pakistan has the world’s second largest coal reserves of 185 billion tons. A major portion (about 175 billion tons) of these reserves is located in Thar, Sindh Province. The mentioned reserves are equivalent to about 900 billion barrels of petroleum which is more than the combined oil reserves of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and UAE. The existing coal of the country, if optimized, can provide uninterrupted power to Pakistan for a period of 100 years.
According to a recent research, the quality of indigenous coal ranges from lignite to sub-bituminous which is suitable for gasification and electric power generation. Moreover, due to the low amount of ash and sulfur, its combustion is considered safe for environmental concerns. Apart from combustion, coal can be converted into a range of useful byproducts like; natural gas, ammonia, phenol, liquid nitrogen, carbon dioxide, tar and urea.
Pakistan has the world’s second largest salt mines and fifth largest copper and gold reserves. Khewra salt mine, which has the estimated deposits of 220 million tons, is currently yielding 330,000 tons of salt per year. The gold and copper reserves of Reko Diq, Balochistan, which contain 18 million tons of copper and 32 million ounces of gold, remain largely unexplored. Pakistan has over 400 million barrels of oil and 30 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves. These reserves are not explored and utilized to the extant which befit them.
Due to the prolonged poor governance, flawed policies and political instability, an inborn affluent country is primarily relying on foreign aid for its subsistence.
No one is ready to show a genuine passion towards the exploration of these bestowed riches. In the years ahead, when the policies are shifting so frequently, the need for exploring natural resources will intensify. This intensification will once compel the ruling elite to pay some degrees of attention to these assets as the last and genuine resort of the country’s survival.
