National

Dawood Group eyes tube-well project

July 15, 2015

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KARACHI: The government is to come up with a mechanism to put its budget scheme of disbursing interest-free loans among small farmers into action, something that would be used to fund solar powered tube-wells, according to a top industry official.

The scheme, which was announced by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in his budget speech for fiscal year 2015-16, foresees conversion and installation of 30,000 solar tube-wells over a period of three years.

“We are still waiting for clarity on this matter. As per our discussions with government officials, we have been told that Ministry of Science and Technology will spearhead this project,” said Inamur Rahman, the CEO of Reon Energy Solutions.

“Personally, I am not sure what this particular ministry has to do with all this. We are also being told that provinces will contribute equivalent funds for the scheme. So these issues need to be sorted out.”

According to Dar, replacing diesel- and electricity-run tube-wells with solar panels will help farmers save Rs1,660 and Rs466 a day, respectively, assuming they use them to fetch water for five hours, sources claimed.

The government plans to arrange total loans of estimated Rs30 billion in the next three years considering the cost of solar equipment for each tube-well at Rs1.1 million and initial deposit of Rs100,000, which farmer have to arrange, reportedly.