Wapda's claim on per unit cost of hydel power rejected

Wapda's claim on per unit cost of electricity through hydel generation is rejected, as the independent power sector circles said the average per unit cost of hydel generation is Rs 1.18 against Wapda's claim of Rs 1.05. Interestingly, added the sources, the sunk cost of Rs 1.18 per unit is only of those projects funded out of government's PSDP.
It may be noted that Chairman Wapda Shakil Durrani had stated a day earlier that total generation capacity of the Tarbela Hydropower Station would rise to 4828MW after the installation of 1350MW units as part of fourth extension project. A handout released at the end of his visit to the project ended on an important note that hydel is the cheapest source of electricity with an average cost of Rs 1.05 per unit.
The independent power sector circles have termed it "eyewash" on the part of Wapda and said actual cost is Rs 1.18 per unit, which even jumps to Rs 8.56 per unit on the basis of rupee-dollar parity as in 2007. The fourth extension of Tarbela Dam for 1350MW electricity would another Rs 4 to Rs 5 per unit to the cost of electricity as on rupee-dollar parity, they feared.
These independent circles have stressed the point that the Wapda should stop misstating the facts for general public, causing mental distress when compared it with reality on ground. The industry sources, however, differed with the approach and said that hydel generation is still cheaper even if it costs at Rs 8.56 per unit. According to them, the socio-economic cost may be taken as a burden for domestic consumers but focus should be on hydel generation, being a cheap source of electricity generation.
Meanwhile, they also underscored the need of more reliance on coal and gas generation to cut high expense due to thermal generation. They said only out of the box solutions could put the house in order and early import of LNG is another befitting answer to the awkward situation in hand.