Utilising indigenous energy sources

An energy starved country can never be a prosperous country. The availability of affordable energy is a cornerstone of any sustainable industrialisation and economic growth model. One would be hard-pressed to find any economies that were able to escape the low growth and poverty trap without access to affordable energy. Pakistan imports more than $15 billion of energy, making up between one-fourth to one-third of total imports, depending on foreign exchange reserves position. Over the last ten years, there has been an incremental movement to rely on indigenous energy sources rather than imported ones. As of 2024, almost 75 per cent of total electricity generated in the country is through indigenous sources. Almost 55pc of electricity is generated by a mix of hydel and nuclear sources. Although late by a century or so, the extraction of Thar Coal has quietly led to the availability of low-cost electricity, which wasn’t available earlier.