Without putting forth an instant solution to resolve the power crisis, PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif chaired a meeting on Saturday that reviewed various energy projects in the province in detail.
The meeting, held at the CM Secretariat, took several decisions for energy projects, but none has the potential of being launched anytime soon, as all can only be launched in the next financial year at a cost of Rs 9 billion. During the meeting, Punjab Energy Department Chairman Nadeem Babar gave a detailed briefing on the energy projects and the targets set for the province. Addressing the meeting, Nawaz said the energy projects would have to be implemented expeditiously for running the industry and ridding the people of load shedding. He urged the private sector to invest in the energy sector and called for an independent and autonomous board consisting of professionals associated with the private sector for efficiently executing the energy projects.
Nawaz said there was a vast scope for generating energy through solid waste, therefore, attention should be paid to materialise the idea. He said the energy projects should be implemented in a coordinated manner and the provincial government should also develop capacity for electricity distribution. Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif said the country was facing serious energy crisis, which was not only casting negative impacts on the industrial and trade sectors, but also depriving labourers and workers of means of livelihood.
He said the Punjab government was working on various projects of power generation and Rs 9 billion had been allocated for the energy projects in the next financial year. Shahbaz said the power to generate electricity had been given to the provinces in the meeting of Council of Common Interests and the Punjab government has chalked out a plan accordingly. He said a plan was being worked on to generate power through sugarcane waste and solid waste and an agreement of cooperation with the Istanbul Municipality had also been signed in this regard.
The chief minister said the Punjab government had set up a separate department for completing the energy projects speedily. He said an amount of Rs 1.36 billion had been allocated for installing tube wells run on solar energy for lessening the effects of energy crisis on the rural economy. Earlier, Energy Department Chairman Nadeem Babar said projects could be started at 400 to 600 places on canals for generating energy through hydel power.
He said work was underway for generating energy through coal, hydel, trash of cane, wind and solar energy and it would soon be possible to generate energy through these projects.
