"When experts are brought in from outside, they rely solely on those who..." Dr. Basharat Hassan
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00:00I wanted to say that this is a matter of planning.
00:04You are an expert in alternate energy.
00:07We wasted our gas reserves in cars.
00:16We had to build dams.
00:19We had to go towards the dams.
00:21Sometimes Nushehra had to sink.
00:22Sometimes Sindh objected to it.
00:24Kala Bagh didn't build a dam.
00:25We could have used the option provided by Allah in the summer.
00:30It would have given relief to the people.
00:33They have put a lot of pressure on us to buy back this option.
00:39The solar policy of Pakistan,
00:43is it the same in other countries as well?
00:45Does it become a policy for 10, 15, 20 years?
00:48Can it be reviewed after that?
00:50In other countries as well,
00:52the ECC sits down and makes a sign.
00:54Then they say that the policy was for 15 years.
00:58But you are discontinuing it after 2 years.
01:00Please tell us about this.
01:02When you call experts from outside,
01:04like our minister,
01:06it depends on what their advisers tell them.
01:09I will give you an example.
01:11Before the budget came,
01:13their advisers told them that
01:15packaged milk is only for rich people.
01:19They said this on TV.
01:21Packaged milk is only for rich people.
01:23That is why I have put a tax on it.
01:25Every labourer drinks it.
01:31You have put a tax on it for Rs.100 per litre.
01:34It has become Rs.380 per litre.
01:37It is more expensive than France.
01:39It is cheaper than France.
01:41The experts who come from outside,
01:43they know the ground realities.
01:46Now they are saying that
01:48it is only for rich people.
01:50I have put this tax on it
01:52because they know that
01:54only rich people use solar panels.
01:56Go and see.
01:58People use solar panels in workshops.
02:00People use solar panels in workshops.
02:02People use solar panels in workshops.
02:04Even solar panels have UPS.
02:06And solar panels are used in places
02:08where there is no electricity.
02:10So in your opinion,
02:12the government should review this policy.
02:14The middle class has no voice.
02:20You are the voice.
02:22I am the voice.
02:24I am telling you,
02:2685% of the people in your assembly
02:28are high-ranking officials
02:30and industrialists.
02:321% of the people are
02:34engineers and doctors.
02:36You can see the statistics
02:38of the last election.
02:4085% make policies for themselves.
02:42Or they make policies for the poor.
02:44The middle class,
02:46the educated people
02:48who want to improve their education
02:50have been crushed the most
02:52in the last 5-7 years.
02:54They have been crushed the most.
02:56The landlord has also been crushed.
02:58The landlord's situation is so bad.
03:00There is no voice.
03:02My entire garden
03:04is on drip irrigation and solar.
03:06My late wife does it.
03:08But if you look at it,
03:10you have to pay the cost.
03:12Dr. Sharif,
03:14people want to understand
03:16that you are putting
03:184,000 megawatts
03:20in the electricity grid.
03:224,300 megawatts.
03:24When you are putting
03:26cheap electricity in the grid,
03:28instead of taking advantage of it,
03:30you are using expensive
03:32furnace oil or gas.
03:34So,
03:36the technicalities
03:38of the grid
03:40should make us understand
03:42that if electricity is being produced,
03:44people are surviving
03:46during the day.
03:48So, you will have to
03:50run the grid at night.
03:52What is the problem?
03:54The problem is that
03:56they have made
03:5830-year agreements
04:00for 25-30 years.
04:02They have made agreements
04:04with the IPPs
04:06on imported furnace oil,
04:08imported coal,
04:10imported LNG.
04:12Now,
04:14when you have
04:16only 7,000 megawatts
04:18in the winter,
04:20you have put
04:2245,000 megawatts.
04:24So,
04:26the difference is
04:28that they have to pay
04:30billions of rupees.
04:32So,
04:34I told him
04:36that when you are
04:38going for LNG and solar,
04:40he told me that
04:42he has to pay the fuel
04:44and other costs.
04:46So,
04:48he has to pay the fuel
04:50and other costs.
04:52I hope you understood
04:54the issue.
04:56Chaudhary sir,
04:58one final question.
05:00What is the solution?
05:02Please tell us the solution.
05:04The solution is
05:06that
05:08you have to understand
05:10that it is not only
05:12done by rich people.
05:14Our finance minister
05:16has been briefed.
05:18He was given an example
05:20about milk.
05:22He said that only rich people
05:24drink cow's milk.
05:26So, he put a tax on it.
05:28So, he put a tax on it.
05:30So, it is not only done by rich people.
05:32It is not like that.
05:34In villages,
05:36in every house,
05:38in every house,
05:40in every village,
05:42there is solar in the city.
05:44It will not end in Pakistan.
05:46The problem is
05:48that when you give them
05:50the money,
05:52they will use the batteries.
05:54You have made grid lights
05:56very expensive.
05:58The money that you have to pay for the capacity payments, that money also goes to SARIF.
06:07All the expenses that I told you earlier, all of them go to SARIF.
06:11Until you don't finish the theft, you won't bring the circular debt to zero.
06:17The real answer to your question is rapid industrialization.
06:22You had to create 9 special economic zones under CPEC.
06:273 of them are near completion.
06:29You have to create 9 of them as soon as possible.
06:31And the industry is ready to shift from China.
06:33Give it infrastructure, electricity, gas, water, roads.
06:38As soon as they are built, the industry will shift there.
06:41And China has the capacity to shift the industry overnight within a year.
06:49The electricity that will be spent there, the 45,000 that you have invested,
06:53will start being used.
06:55Your capacity payments will be over.
06:57Only then will you be able to return.