Jamaat e Islami Ameer Sirajul Haq has announced unconditional support to the government in its efforts towards peace and development.
Addressing the Senate Standing Committee for Industry on Friday, he said that the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the biggest economic project of the country after the nuclear bomb but it would be beneficial only if the backward and neglected areas of the country are provided equal opportunities for the development.
Haq termed the energy crisis as the biggest problem confronting the country and called for building dams to produce energy at lower cost. He said the ruling party had in its election manifesto, made tall promises for solving the energy crisis but the government had not given special importance to the issue. “It had ignored major and national energy projects and picked up small and regional ones which had given rise to sense of deprivation in the small provinces.
“We do not oppose energy projects being run on coal or oil but the electricity produced through these would be much costlier and the people would find it hard to pay the bill,” Siraj said. He said the electricity produced from coal would cost Rs 9 to 12 per unit and the electricity produced from oil would cost between Rs 15 to 25 per unit and it would be hard for the common man to pay the electricity bill. On the other hand, the hydro electricity would cost only Rs 2 to 3 per unit,” he added.
The JI chief urged the government to give priority to small dams. He said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had the potential to generate thousands of megawatt electricity but the government is not giving due attention to it which was harmful not only for the province but the entire country. He said that the federal government should begin work on small dams in KP after clearing the arrears of the province.
Haq said that agriculture and industry are the two major fields of national production and both are dependent on energy. “As long as the energy crisis persists, industry and agriculture could not progress and the goal of prosperity could not be achieved,” he said. He said government should take special measures to overcome the energy crisis during its left over period.