Punjab government and a Turk company have on Thursday agreed to cooperate in power generation projects from solid waste in Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Gujranwala and Rawalpindi. The agreement was reached during a meeting between Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif and a delegation of a Turk power generation company, disclosed an official.
Sesly Holdings Chairman Hazim and Her Energy Company of Turkey Chief Executive Officer Ersin and Muhibbi Kartal of Ozkartalar Solid Waste Management were part of the delegation. On the occasion, provincial Minister for Energy Sher Ali Khan, Special Assistant Arshad Jutt, Advisor Azmul Haq, Khawaja Ahmad Hasaan, Chairman Planning and Development and experts were present in the meeting.
While addressing the meeting, the Chief Minister said energy crisis had become a big problem of Pakistan and Pakistan Muslim League-N government was making all out efforts for resolving that issue. He also said the government was determined to rid the people of loadshedding and maximum resources were being utilised for that purpose. "Negotiations are being held with local and international companies associated with energy generation sector," he added.
According to him, Turk energy companies can invest in the projects of power generation from coal, solar, hydro power and solid waste. The Turk company should consider launching of power generation projects from solid waste in five big cities of Punjab and submit final recommendations regarding practicable projects. He assured that Punjab government would provide all out Cupertino for this purpose.
He said various Turk companies made investment of US $500 million during the previous tenure of PML-N government in solid waste management, transport and other sectors, adding that investment by Turk companies in energy sector would be welcomed.
He said friendship between Pakistan and Turkey was exemplary and bilateral relations and economic ties between the two countries could be further promoted through investment by Turk companies in energy sector. "The government wants to launch power generation projects with the help of Turk companies expeditiously and in a transparent manner," he added.
Sesly Holdings Chairman Hazim said Turkey had also faced energy crisis but the Turk nation overcame that problem with commitment and hard work. He expressed the hope that Pakistan would also be able to resolve the problem of shortage of energy under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif. "Turk companies are working on various projects of power generation from solid waste in Turkey as well as other countries of the world," he added.
He also expressed the desire to launch power generation projects in Punjab with the Cupertino of provincial government, and said people of Turkey had deep love and affiliation with the Pakistani people and wanted to cooperate in resolving energy crisis in Pakistan.