President Asif Ali Zardari Saturday sought Chinese assistance in hydel, thermal and solar power generation to overcome power crisis and invited Chinese firms to carry out feasibility study in the country. After a presentation on small and medium sized dams, water conservation and irrigation by Zhejiang Design Institute of Water Conservancy and Hydroelectric Power, the President said Pakistan was peculiarly an energy deficient country.
"We need solar power for individual housing units and I want the Chinese to carry out study in Pakistan," the President remarked after the presentation. President Zardari said Pakistan was ready to provide Chinese companies every assistance they needed to set up power units that were not only cheap but also feasible for housing as well as commercial units.
Earlier, Li Yueming, the president of the institute said they had carried out studies of a couple of medium sized dams in Azad Kashmir and constructed over 100 such dams around the world, specially in Africa, South America and Turkey. He said the projects initiated by his institute were cost effective and environment friendly. "China never seizes to surprise me," President Asif Ali Zardari remarked after the presentation.
Later, Wapda Chairman, Shakeel Durrani said Chinese companies were already working on a number of hydel projects in Pakistan including Neelum Jhelum, Gomal Zam and Mangla raising. He said the institute would be invited to bid for the construction of 12 small dams, which were ready for construction.
In a meeting with President Zardari, President Zhejiang Zhengtai Solar Energy Science and Technology Company, Yang Liyou said his company was ready to carry out solar power generation in Pakistan as the country had plenty of sunlight available throughout the year.
President Zardari said he would like his company to come to Pakistan and start small and medium sized solar power generating units as they were not only cheap but less costly to maintain. He said Pakistan offered great investment opportunities and the companies from China would be given every facility to set up their projects. Later, Yang Liyou told APP that his company specialises in small solar power units for homes and industries and bigger generating units which were up to 20 megawatts.
He said his company had already set up solar power units in far off Chinese villages where they catered to the needs of small farming communities. "We use state of the art technology and our units have minimal maintenance cost. We would be glad to help Pakistan to overcome their power shortage by setting up solar power projects there," he said. Pakistan, he added, had plenty of sunlight available and these solar units were best suited to the environment.
He said his company was also ready to collaborate with Pakistan both in public and private sectors. In his meeting with President Zhejiang Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Chen Jianping, President Zardari said, "To provide grain to a burgeoning population in the country, there is a need for better agri-practices which not only give high yield but also uses less irrigation water."
President Zardari said, "Pakistan, which has very fertile soil, could exploit its potential in a better way if it uses hybrid varieties of seeds." He said China had progressed tremendously in the field of agriculture and Pakistan would like to benefit fully from its experience. After the meeting, Jianping told APP that the academy would collaborate with Pakistani agricultural institutes and scientists to guide them to better agriculture practices. He said the institute was over 100 years old and is the main centre in China for research in agri sciences.