Senate Standing Committee on Cabinets Establishment and Management Services has underlined the need for encouraging use of CNG in the country to control rising prices of petroleum products.
This observation was made by the Senate Standing Committee in its meeting held here on Saturday in the Parliament House with Senator Mrs Tanveer Khalid in the chair while having a detailed briefing on the role and performance of Alternative Energy Development Board (AEDB).
Mrs Tanveer Khalid, Chairperson of the Committee said that documentation process for the installation of CNG filling stations should be simplified so that more people could invest in this sector.
She appreciated government decision to allow industrial units to produce more gas to cope with shortage of fuel in the country.
Chairman AEDB, Air Marshal Shahid Hamid (Retd) briefed the committee about different alternative energy sources available in the country.
He said that Pakistan has abundant sources of alternative energy like solar energy, wind and hydel power and steps were underway to benefit from these sources.
He said that prime focus is on the remote areas where people do not have any other sources of energy available. He apprised the committee that AEDB was trying to meet the increasing demand of electricity, besides taking steps for reducing pollution and creating job opportunities. The government has increased funds to find out new avenues of alternative energy from Rs 28 million to Rs 42 million.
He informed the committee that through Khushal Bank's Micro Credit schemes people are being facilitated to adopt different kinds of technologies in villages for producing electricity to meet their requirements. The member of the committee, while expressing satisfaction over the working and performance of the AEDB recommended that the interest rates on the loans provided by the bank should be lowered to make it more affordable for the common man.