As we
all know the renewable resources are getting depleted due to its uncontrolled
use and this has become a major problem of the energy crisis and almost all the
countries of the world are facing such problem. South-Asia has to provide water,
food and energy to almost a billion of people in different cities throughout
the day and not proper attention is given to such problem and sustainable
management of such resources should be done. Policies on saving these resources
should be applied so to avoid such resources from getting depleted, for
example, the European Union’s policy on energy is based on sustainability,
efficiency and security on the energy supply. South Asia is facing various
crises along with insecurities in price hikes and fluctuations of the energy
resource which in turns paralyzing the energy capacity of those regions.
This
problem are very common in South Asia and due to this India experienced two
heavy breakdown and almost at the same time, the annual energy demand is
increasing by 4% and some official figures proved shortage of the same at the
peak time by 10% and this is not bounded till India but its neighbouring
countries like Pakistan who is facing energy crises from 2007 and the estimated
demand will reach up to 50,000 MW by 2030. Bangladesh is even in worst
condition because only 30% household in rural areas is getting proper
electricity while Nepal is facing power outage for almost 20 hours a day during
the dry season.
The
only concern is how to produce enough amount of food so as to serve billions of
people with the same amount of land (sometimes less), a limited amount of water
and with the increased price of energy. However these regions are not devoid of
other energy resources such as oil, gas, wind, coal, solar energy, etc which
allows them to exchange resources with other regions and stabilize the
resources need in their own region.
Oil
resources in India are almost about 5,500 million tons followed by Pakistan
which has 3,600 million tons and 0.96 million tons for Nepal. Afghanistan being
the major producer of gas with 120 billion cubic meters while Pakistan produces
around 7,900 billion cubic meters. India is the topmost producer of coal.
Though India and Pakistan are more independent when it comes to such resources
Bangladesh is more dependent on this countries for such resources.
There are some projects that have been
undertaken to meet this energy requirement by various regions and are as
follows:
1. Central Asia and South Asia (CASA) 1,000
Electricity Transmission Project: This project will provide hydropower to
Kyrgyz and Tajikistan in Central Asia while Afghanistan and Pakistan in South
Asia and the trade will be of merely 1,300 megawatts in the summertime and thus
generate revenues to both of this two Central Asian countries.
2. India Mizoram Road: This project is
developed basically to open transportation services between India and Mizoram
as it is the only source of transportation facility available there which will
reduce the cost of travelling for the people living in neighbouring states like
Bangladesh and Myanmar.
3. Nepal-India transport project and regional
trade: It is also one of the important projects and help to remove trading and
transportation constraints along the Kolkata-Kathmandu boundary.
Thus
such projects between the small countries and big countries will eventually
help to solve the energy crises by some good amount and help to build good
relations with other countries.