Energy and Road Transport in Pakistan:

Situation, Issues and Options

Position Paper 2008
Abdul Shakoor Sindhu

Energy and Road Transport in Pakistan:

Situation, Issues and Options
Transport is an important sector of Pakistans economy as it contributes about 10% to the Gross Domestic Product and over 17 percent to the Gross Capital Formation. It is estimated that about 2.3 million people (6% of the total employed labor force of Pakistan) earn their livelihoods from this sector. Transport consumes 35% of the total commercial energy annually and receives 20-25% of the annual federal public sector development funds. The road sector has been the main recipient of these funds consuming about 69% of the PSDP allocation for Transport and Communication sector. The road related revenue collection is about 32.5 billion rupees per year (52% coming from surcharge on POL products). The total public expenditure on roads is over Rupees 30 billion per year, with 65% on national highways1. Pakistans economy has been growing at an average rate of 6-7% in last few years. The growth in the economy, increase in the population, expanding urban boundaries and markets for goods and services, and rising incomes of the middle class both in urban and rural areas; have contributed to an unprecedented increase in the road transport. The transport sector in Pakistan is dominated by the road transport as it carries 90% of the national passenger traffic and 96% of the freight movement. Over the past 10 years road transport has grown much faster than the countrys economic growth. In 1990, the total number of registered vehicles in
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Pakistan was 27,12,837. In 2006, this figure was recorded to be 62,10,7692- an increase of 129%. According to National Transport Research Centre (NTRC), in 1991-92, the total number of vehicles on road was 20,95,500 and by 2006-07 the number had reached to 80,63,6000. This means a 285% increase in the number of vehicles during last 16 years compared to 52% increase in the road length during the same period. Oil and gas are two energy sources for transport. Pakistans total oil consumption in 2006-07 was recorded to be 12,114,000 tons. Transport sector is the biggest consumer of oil in Pakistan as half of the total consumption is made by it. However during the last 10 years there is a decline of more than 20% in the consumption of oil by the transport sector. This trend is consistent with the overall reduction in the share of oil in the commercial energy mix of Pakistan. The share of oil has reduced from 40% to 30% in the energy mix from 2000 to 2007. Pakistan spent 5.23 billion $ in 2006-07 on the oil import. The use of gas especially in the form of CNG in the road transport sector is witnessing a steady increase. Though currently the road transport has a 4.4 % share in the total gas consumption in the country, during last ten years (1996-97 to 2006-07) there is more than 11000 % increase in the consumption of gas by this sector. There are 1.7 million vehicles operating on CNG and 2063
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Planning Commission of Pakistan, Mid Term Development Framework 2005-2010

Ministry of Finance, Economic Survey of Pakistan 2006-07

CNG stations3 are working in more than 80 cities across Pakistan. The growth in the CNG sector is impressive and Pakistan has become the leading user of CNG in Asia and third largest in the world after Argentina and Brazil. Every month 29,167 vehicles are converted to CNG in the country4. The investment in the CNG sector is also increasing steadily. In 2006-07, during July-March, some 60 billion rupees were invested in the sector compared to 20 billion Rupees invested till end March 2006, registering a growth of 200% in the investment. The sector has created 60,000 new jobs throughout the country5. The use of LPG is also increasing in the transport sector especially in areas where CNG is not available. However no reliable segregated data is available to assess its use in the transport sector.

vehicles fleet. The strategy of the government for the road development has been to invest in expansion without setting aside sufficient resources for maintenance. The road maintenance expenditures over the years have been only 2030% of the requirement. According to the World Banks estimates, the inadequate and inefficient transport system is imposing a cost to the economy in excess of Rupees 220 billion annually or 8.5% of the GDP constraining economic growth, access to services and export competitiveness. The poor quality of roads and non-tuned engines, contribute to high consumption of energy. The ENERCON has estimated that 20% energy conservation in the transport sector can be achieved by just properly tuning the engines. Pakistan lacks a Comprehensive Transport Sector Development and Management Policy having cross sectoral linkages especially with energy and land use planning. The existing draft Transport Policy lacks strategies for sustainable rural and urban transport. Further the policy has not been made public to invite their input. The growth of CNG sector in Pakistan is impressive as it has relieved the country from dependence on the imported energy sources (currently Pakistan is meeting more than 70% of it energy supplies from domestic sources). However Pakistans increasing dependence on natural gas for various sectors (Gas accounts for half of the primary energy supply in

Major Issues:
Pakistan has a total road length of 260,000 km out of which 60% is paved (high type roads) while rest is unpaved (low type roads). Out of the total road length, 9000 km or 4% of the length is comprised of national highways and motorways but these roads carry 90% of the total traffic in the country. The road density in Pakistan is 0.32km/square-km compared to more than 3 km/sq-km in Japan and 1 km/sq-km in India. The performance of the transport system in Pakistan is not satisfactory largely owing to congestion, poor quality roads and ageing freight

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Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan Ministry of Finance, Economic Survey 2006-07 5 Ministry of Finance, Economic Survey, 200607.

Pakistan substituting mainly oil) is alarming. Pakistan has to eagerly look for options to import the gas from Iran and Turkmenistan to fulfill its rising energy/gas demand. Estimates by Planning Commission, Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan and independent sources suggest that known domestic gas reserves will last for next 25-30 years. Further the increasing share of transport in the gas consumption has made it a competitor for the domestic/household sector. The questions like either to provide gas for running vehicles of the rich on cheaper fuel or for cooking food for poor on expansive fuel6 are increasingly becoming prominent. The shortage of gas especially during the winter last year can also be seen in this context as there was visibly more shortage of gas in areas where CNG stations are installed than where they are not. Hundreds of CNG stations have been installed in congested residential areas without giving any heed to planning or land use byelaws. At number of places, the lure for earning attractive profits by investing in the CNG sector has resulted in undue competition and concentration of CNG station in already overcrowded urban areas. On one hand these stations are causing traffic congestion, they are also posing public safety risks. CNG being a cleaner fuel holds great potential for reducing urban air

pollution by replacing diesel-run intra city public transport. However the available technology for converting diesel engines on CNG is costly and suffers from a number of technical problems. The available diesel vehicle stock especially buses thus can not be replaced with CNG ones on cost effective basis under existing affordability and technological regimes. Pakistans public transport has been intentionally made overly biased towards road transport by unnecessarily neglecting other low cost, lesser-energy consuming and cleaner means like intra and intercity railways. All the relevant government policies in general and transport and human settlement development/management policies in particular discriminate the zero-energy transport options like bicycles and animal drawn vehicles which fulfill the transport and livelihood needs of millions of poor in urban and rural areas alike. The neglect and discrimination is evident from non availability of data on these means, non provision of separate lanes for slow moving vehicles and bicycles on urban roads and highways. There is no visible effort by the government and its policy makers to encourage the production of or promotion of less energy consuming or low powered vehicles especially for intra city travels as is being done especially in Europe and neighboring countries like India to reduce congestion (also meaning lesser energy use) and to conserve energy.

The rising demand for gas and increasing number of competitors of the commodity, have resulted in steady increase in the price of gas for the domestic consumers.

In Pakistan the clear-cut and stricter energy and emission standards for vehicle manufacturers and importers have not been made available resulting in higher energy consumption and pollution. In Pakistan the land-use planning and management in general and transport engineering and planning in particular are missing at the first place and whatever efforts have so far been made on these fronts, have actually contributed in increasing the need for motorized traveling. For instance all the new suburban development across the country is pro-car and anti pedestrian and anticyclist7. These trends have in turn resulted in greater energy consumption.

by first making it free from corrupt officials and then making available qualified and sufficient staff at competitive salary packages and then enforcing stricter monitoring and accountability regimes. The office of the Vehicle Examiner should be linked with provincial Environment Protection Departments in provincial capitals and EDO environment or Environment Officers at the Districts and Tehsil levels. A separate but comprehensive and integrated policy for road transport covering both rural and urban transport should be made available. The proposed policy should incorporate input from social sector like education, health and women development; energy and environment, housing, urban and rural development sectors to name a few. The investment friendly CNG policy of Government of Pakistan has no doubt resulted in an unprecedented growth of the CNG infrastructure and vehicles. However some complimentary policies are needed immediately which could address issues like; Some 85% households in the country are still dependant on some form of biomass fuel (wood, cow dung and crop residue) for cooking and heating using traditional stoves. Various studies point out that these households pay much higher price for the cooking fuel than their counterpart having access to piped natural gas. The indoor air pollution caused by these

Strategies to address the issues:

The share for maintenance of existing roads should be increased in pubic sector transport development funds. The rural roads, roads in smaller towns and roads in older parts of larger cities need special attention. Low cost construction or pavement materials and technologies should be introduced as they are easily available locally. The road construction and maintenance is also the issue of governance as each year billion of rupees go to corruption in public works. The institution of Vehicle Examiner needs to be strengthened

The longer distances from the city centers and non availability of shorter paths for pedestrian and cyclists etc are the common feature of this development.

traditional fuels creates many diseases (including cancer, tuberculosis, pneumonia/Acute low respiratory infection, low birth weight babies, asthma) especially among women and small children. These poor households have an equal right to access the cleaner and cheaper fuels like natural gas as do the wealthy car owners have. Pakistan is slowly but surely going to depend on imported gas for meeting its energy demands. This means that dependence on imported energy is going to stay. The CNG sector needs to be managed properly in terms of issuing licenses in areas where there is an over-concentration of such stations. The older parts of Rawalpindi are obvious examples in this regard. The establishment of CNG stations in purely residential zones should be discouraged.

new bus companies in the private sector should be given licenses while the existing individual bus or public transport operators should be made to evolve cooperative companies so that they could be regulated and monitored. Pakistan railways-the countrys strategic asset holds great potential for revival and providing a cheaper, reliable and comfortable mean of transport for inter and intra city traveling. The freight section of Pakistan Railways in general and passenger section in particular have been made a helpless victim of railway management and private transporters connivance. For instance the timing of passenger trains are intentionally set in a way to make it uncomfortable for the passengers resulting in leaving them with no option but to travel by private buses. A pro-Pakistan and pro-people approach is needed to address railways and its faithful users woes. Pakistan would also need to invest in intra city trains to address the issues of congestion and to discourage private vehicle use. An obvious example in our neighbor is that of world class underground trains in Delhi. Pakistan like rest of the world would ultimately have to return to low or no-energy regimes like human or alternative energy propelled transport modes like bicycles, solar-energy or hydrogen cell fuelled vehicles, and walking etc. However instead of waiting for that time to come (which is of course not a distant reality) some practical steps can be taken immediately. Some of them are:

The feasibility studies prepared by the provincial and city district governments, for instance, to gradually replace the diesel buses with the CNG ones should be brought out for wider stakeholder discussion and decisions in this regard should not be delayed any further. Pakistan is the fastest urbanizing country in South Asia. The urban and suburban population is increasing rapidly and in coming decades Pakistans urban population would be more than rural one. Pakistan thus urgently needs to adopt an across the board mass transit system regime for inter and intra city traveling. It needs a strong political will but public support is there. The

Discourage the use of private vehicles (motor cars, bikes etc) by providing reliable, comfortable, efficient and affordable mass transit solutions like clean fuel buses, trams and trains and also be raising parking fees etc. Encourage the use of bicycles by making available bicycle lanes on existing roads and above all by removing the social stigma of a lesser-being attached with cyclists. The possible strategies can be the high government officials/public representatives patronizing cyclist associations, holding of cycling contests especially in the cities, allowing only bicycles on college or university campuses and encouraging schools and college students to use bicycles for coming to schools in urban areas. Government along with civil society organizations and concerned citizens also need to break the taboo of women riding the bicycles. This will facilitate womens mobility, increasing their self confidence and participation in wider social and economic life.

manufactured by an enthusiast back in 1967 having a handmade body and a second hand scooter engine. The vehicle remained on the road for ten consecutive years. Similar efforts have recently been made by various other individuals and corporate manufacturers. For instance a Karachi based company had introduced 100,000 Rupees car much prior to the much acclaimed Indian TATA Nano. The time is right to encourage such initiatives. Countries around the world are introducing and ensuring stricter energy and emission standards for vehicle engines. European Union is taking the lead on this front. Pakistan also needs to take similar initiatives. Effective energy planning for the transport sector can not bear fruit unless it is linked with land use planning and placement of social and economic services. For instance by placing services closer to the people, their need to travel for longer distances can be reduced considerably. A workable example in this regard is to manage the admission of children to schools by not allowing them to take admission in schools located at far off distances from their residences. However to make this policy effective the availability of quality schools across the various section of society would be needed.

It is not the case that smaller, less fuel consuming vehicle had not been produced in Pakistan. For instance a small 200 cc city car was

The writer is the Principal Coordinator of Rural Development Policy Institute and is ex Focal Person of International Forum for Rural Transport and Development (IFRTD) in Pakistan