A special meeting of the provincial cabinet was held, here today, under the chairmanship of the Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif. In the meeting, tributes were paid to the Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif for sending the electricity crisis in the country.
Provincial Minister for Law Rana Sana Ullah presented the resolution of gratitude in appreciation of the sincere efforts made by the prime minister as well as the chief minister to end the energy crisis; all the members of the cabinet approved the resolution.
The resolution of gratitude stated that the meeting of the Punjab cabinet pays tributes to the vision and leadership qualities of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif.
The projects initiated by the government to end energy crisis in the country include important Bhikki Power Project, Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power Project, Sahiwal Coal Power Project, Haweli Bahadur Shah Power Project, Balloki Power Project and Zonergy Solar Power Project. As a result of these projects, 5000MW electricity will be added to the national grid by December 2017; while around 9000MW electricity will be available by March 2018.
While addressing the attendees of the meeting, the chief minister said that a dream has been materialised, today. The inaugural day of 1320MW Sahiwal Coal Power Project is a historic occasion in the history of Pakistan, he added.
The CM said that China has also expressed its utmost confidence over the leadership of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif for ending the energy crisis from Pakistan. He said that the Sahiwal Coal Power Project has been made entirely by Chinese investment.
The chief minister said that hard work of engineers and workers involved in this project is praise-worthy. He said that another plant of 660 megawatts will also start producing electricity from this month taking the potential of the entire project to 1320 megawatt.
The chief minister said that the people had not witnessed such scenes before; and added that the expeditious completion of the projects maintained the required transparency.
The completion of the Sahiwal Coal Power Project, in a record period of time, is a great success for Pakistan.
The meeting also agreed on giving a special reward to engineers and workers working on the Sahiwal Coal Power Project.
The attendees of the meeting congratulated Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and the people Pakistan on the completion of the project.
ACS Energy gave a detailed briefing on the efforts and development made on energy projects from 2013 to 2017; and informed at the meeting that the country was facing electricity shortfall of around 45 per cent of what it was in 2013; and today, many of the energy projects have been completed, while many others are near completion. Different projects of 3000 megawatts have been made operational by the government and work on other projects of 14000 megawatts is in progress. These projects amount to 30 billion dollars, he added and said that such a large investment in the energy sector has never ever been made in the history of Pakistan.
Provincial ministers, advisors, special assistants, chief secretary, high officials and secretaries of concerned departments, attended the meeting.