Governor Punjab, Lieutenant General Khalid Maqbool (Retd) has said that construction of Kalabagh dam is a must for the progress of the country and prosperity of its people. Addressing the inauguration ceremony of the 500-KV grid station which completed with the cost of Rs 3 billion, 140-km away from Lahore at Arifwala on Tuesday.
The governor said that Pakistan basically is an agriculture country and water and electricity are pre-requisite for the progress of agro-based economy.
He said government focused its attention on the agriculture sector and water reservoirs, which were entirely ignored by the past rulers. In the past, rulers had politicised the construction of new water reservoirs which caused an irreparable loss to the country's economy but the Musharraf's government for the first time in the country's history paid full heed towards it, which was the solid proof that he intended to strengthen the economy of the country.
He further said that Punjab government was spending Rs 23 billion for remodelling of the canals and barrages throughout the province. These canals and barrages were badly damaged due to poor maintenance, he added.
Chairman Wapda, Tariq Hameed said, that electricity played vital role in the social, economic and industrial progress of the country. Therefore, well connected and up graded generation and distribution system of the electricity was inevitable for the development of the country however, Wapda has determined to provide all possible facilities to its consumers and using all the available resources in this regard.
Tariq said Wapda was paying special attention to ensure smooth power supply. Therefore, construction of 500-KV grid station is proof of Wapda's commitment in this regard, he added. He further said that Sahiwal grid station has been completed before the stipulated period. This project was completed with Wapda's self-generated fund; neither the federal nor the provincial governments had provided any financial support for this project.
With the completion of this grid station, latest, powerful and well connected distributory and despatch system of electricity has been ensured in the area which would also increase the power generation capability. Now the voltage profile performance would be better in the lower and middle areas of the Punjab, load on Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan grid station would also decrease, which would help check the distribution losses, he said.
After the completion of this project, Wapda would be able to save 184 million units worth Rs 736 million per year, he said, adding due to tremendous progress in the field of social and economic sectors of the country, use of electronics appliances in the country had increased manifold. Wapda has spent around Rs 14.5 billion on the up-gradation of the dispatch and distribution system during the last financial year.
During the next two years, Rs 35 billion would be spent on the up-gradation of the distribution system, he added. He said that Rs 3 billion would be spent by the Power Distribution Companies on the up-gradation of system, he concluded.