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Published in Balochistan Express, April 24, 2015
Before being devastated by heavy floods in Dasht River in 2010, Sui was a flourishing village of district Gwadar. Most of the families have migrated since then. Remaining ones have been shifted to a higher and safer place but there they have new and even more serious challenges; scarcity of clean drinking water and fodder and abundance of mosquitoes have made their lives even harder. But the elder of the village Dosthain Gazabeg, despite of being paralyzed did not leave his village. Though his children insisted a lot and forced him to move to Gwadar. He undoubtedly was the most contented person when Sui was electrified by solar panels with the help of US Aid. “I am happy and contented” he said talking to the correspondent. “When everyone was moving to Gwadar and other towns, I also started to feel sorry about my decision to stay in Sui, but now we all are pleased and satisfied.
Sub Tehsil Suntsar is far off place of district Gwadar lacking almost all the basic amenities for life. It is situated in the south western parts of Balochistan at the border of Islamic Republic of Iran. The livelihood of the people depends on cultivation of the land irrigated by floods in Dasht Rivers. But after building of Mirani dam upstream the river in district Kech in 2007 the flow of river was disrupted forcing the villagers in Suntsar look for alternate sources of livelihood. Some prosperous families use generators to illuminate their homes at while the rest use LCD lights with the help of dry battery cells. “Each family spends a thousand to fifteen hundred rupees on battery cells in a month; which is quite an expense for the poor cultivators”, explained Mr. Dosthain. He further explained that ponds or small dams are the sources of drinking water them and their cattle. In summer the open ponds provide excellent breeding grounds for the mosquitoes and other microbes causing malaria and other water born diseases.
For the unavailability of electricity night are spent in open thus everyone is equally vulnerable to the diseases”, said Haji Abdul Rehman of Puthan. That’s why when he and Mir Mosa, elder of neighboring village Metaing heard of the project during the initial survey of Rural Community Development Council (RCDC) Gwadar team, they or an “envoy” of them visited RCDC office at Gwadar every week inquiring of the progress of the green energy project for Suntsar.
Now they are at ease because their villages are among the first five villages in Suntsar to be illuminated with solar power with the financial assistance of US government and people under small grant and ambassador funds program. Lal Mohmmmad Bazar Zahran, Dad Mohammad Bazar Zahran, Puthan, Metaing and Sui are the fortunate villages where solar units have installed for every household. But still more than a dozen of villages in the area are deprievd of this basic facility. Newly elected chairman of district council Gwadar Mr. Babo Gulab views the solar energy as the most economic and sustainable mean of electrification for the remote villages of the district. Addressing the closing ceremony of the green energy project at Syed Hashmi auditorium in Gwadar, he said that provision of electricity to three hundred forty nine in five villages in twenty million rupees demonstrates importance of renewable energy in coping with the current energy crisis in the country. For Balochistan it is even more important because the scattered population in Balochistan has always been considered as an obstacle for allocation of development budget in different areas. He thanked the US government and people for such a gift for the most deprived areas of the district and said that in most of the NGOs project least of the funds are used for the real benefit of the beneficiaries. But this project is a rare example of benefiting at the grass root level. He congratulated the village folk of Suntsar for having an electricity free of hectic of load shedding and billing.
The Makran grid of Quetta Electric Supply Company (QESCO) is powered from Iran. However the far off villages of Makran still deprived of electricity. In 2010, National Rural Support Program (NRSP) introduced renewable energy as a source for electric supply to Kallag Kulanch area in district Gwadar. Inspired by the success of the Kallag project the Rural Community Development Council (RCDC) Gwadar decided to replicate it sub tehsil Suntsar. US AID Ambassador’s grant program approved the proposal for funding in 2013 and in February 2014 the project was launched.
According to Mr. Abdul Wahab the project manager of the green energy for Suntsar project because of limitation in availability of funds we choosed only five villages which we did on the basis of the village’s distance from the Makran coastal highway (MCH) because it is probable that any future intervention regarding the electrification in this area would take place at either sides of MCH. He further said, “Provision and installation of solar home solution units in 342 housings and seven primary health and education units of five villages was the prime target of the project which was completed in January 2015 with a cost of Rs.22 million. This assistance is a part of the fund which has been gifted by the people and government of USA for social uplift of people of Pakistan”. The communities have also contributed in the project, he informed. “ 5% of the total cost of the unit has been deposited by each household, which would be used for electrics, fans and energy savers and a small part of which will pooled for any maintenance needs may occur after the project completion”. A committee comprising of a member each from five villages has been constituted to oversee the maintenance cases and use the pooled money accordingly. RCDC Gwadar also has representation in the committee.
The installation of solar home solution units in Suntsar has changed the daily routine of women folk a lot. Now they can sew clothes and make mats and other accessories with dwarf palm leaves late in nights too. They may be real beneficiary of the solar units. That’s why they are very watchful towards the cleanliness and maintenance of the systems. “These systems have added an extra item into the list of our home chores; but a happy one.” Said Mahthap, a fifty plus house wife of Sui. We keep the systems clean and safe in the line of instruction of the lady from Gwadar who used to visit us with the project team, she said. When asked about the changes in their lives after the installation of solar energy system, she preferred health of her children to the economic benefits. “Children are happy and safe from the mosquitoes; though we are saving much more than previous but health and happiness has no comparison with Same was the important aspect of solar home solution units for Akbar Kauda Bahot, a young resident of Chawar Sui. He told the correspondent that taking a patient on a bike or finding a vehicle to shift the patient to the village where the medical practitioner resides itself is a trouble. “Some time you reach the village and find that the medic was not in the village and you got to wait for hours for his return”. The diseases cast us a lot directly as well as indirectly, he concluded. Akbar is father of three children and hopeful for a healthier environment for his children and better learning because of availability of light in village.
A local team of technicians led by Mr. Abdul Shakoor was hired and trained by Nizam energy firm of Karachi to install the solar home solution units in Suntsar. After completion of the installation the team is still engage in installation of solar units in villages of Suntsar and other union councils. “We learned a lot and gained quite a good experience from this opportunity.
Now we are premier in solar solutions and having a good business because people from other villages are also opting for solar energy after observing the results in Zahran, Metaing and other villages”, Shakoor told. He also explained that five persons each from a village have also been trained in maintenance of the solar systems during the project. The minor maintenance issues are solved in village and major ones are referred to Gwadar.
The recently elected vice chairman of sub tehsil Suntsar Nehmathullah Hoth belongs to the same sub tehsil. He is thankful to the project but urged that the number of villages benefited by the project was low. He said that the has establishment of a separate department for green energy by the provincial government has given us hope that the government will also focus on using renewable sources of energy to provide electricity to the remote villages like ours. “It is cost efficient as well as sustainable”, he argued.
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