PAKISTANIS have a knack for coming up with unique solutions every time they are faced with difficulties. During the sit-in in Islamabad I saw a person ironing clothes using LPG gas as the heating media.

An entrepreneur in Hyderabad uses a bicycle to drive a pump to pull out water from the underground tank when power fails.

A mechanic in Shershah, Karachi, produces power using a cut-away steel drum installed in a sewerage channel.When he saw his steel floating tank abrading against the brick wall, he quickly fitted the tank with three plastic castor wheels on the sides to align it. He realised that his tank top was quite light, so he added clay bricks on its rooftop to give it stability.

My new hero is Mian Ishaque of Shahbazpur village, Sadigabad tehsil, Rahimyar Khan, as he has done something very unique. He has spent Rs1.2m on a project comprising a full biogas plant, a gas purification plant, a gas compression unit, 30KVA generator and 25HP deep-well turbine pump.

His unit converts one ton of buffalo dung a day into useful biogas which he purifies through a water-wash column and a wire mesh-filled tower. He says this makes his gas pure. However, he says he needs to do more to improve it.

To increase the biogas pressure, he bought a 225 bar pressure pump and made vertical cylinders to store his high pressure gas. His compressed biogas runs a car for 90km against CNG which goes up to 120km.

With this gas he runs his 25HP deep well turbine pump for four hours a day easily. If he cuts off the gas being supplied to houses, he says he can run the pump for six hours.

The fertiliser that is produced as a byproductisusedin his Helds andhisland does not need DAP, phosphorus or potash though it needs a bit of urea.

With little help from knowledgable others, his system can be improved and multiplied all across Pakistan.

SNIR Karachi