Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday said his government came into power with a commitment to turn around country's economy and by 2018 the people would witness major improvement in country's infrastructure, electricity, gas supply and basic facilities. Addressing a large gathering here after inaugurating the 100MW experimental Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power Park, the PM said the project is part of a series of mega projects initiated across the country and vowed to complete these before the end of his government's tenure. He said his government wants to end poverty, illiteracy and the ills that afflict the nation.
He said one of the priorities of his government to generate enough electricity so as to meet its present and future requirements. Another is to root out the menace of extremism and terrorism and make all cities and provinces of Pakistan safe and secure. He further said by end of 2017, loadshedding would end and 10,400MW additional power would be available to help the industry work at its full capacity and generate jobs.
He mentioned the improvements in Pakistan's economy and trade and said the world media too now recognises these successes. Prime Minister Sharif said the project showed the confidence of investors in Pakistan's economy. Prime Minister Sharif recalled the recent visit of the Chinese President and the agreements and Memoranda of Understandings worth around US 46 billion dollars inked during the visit. He said the solar project was part of the Pakistan China Economic Corridor (PCEC) and added that he would personally visit all the projects under the PCEC to ensure their timely completion.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif mentioned the efforts put in by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to further lower the cost of the project by US 20 million dollars less than the lowest bid made for the project and said this achievement ought to be noted by the Transparency International and lauded by all. He also lauded the Chief Minister and his team for timely completion of the project. He said for the first time in the country's history democracy is delivering and the civil servants are working hard and serving the nation, which is a good precedent.
He said the solar project is not only the largest in the country, but also one of the biggest in the world and would energise the ongoing and future industrial projects across the country. The PM said the project area that some time back had nothing but sand dunes, is now glistening with hundreds and thousands of solar panels that would add electricity to the national grid.
He said apart from this project a power generation plant is being set up at Port Qasim, one at Thar Coal, another at Sahiwal, one in Balochistan, besides more units at Azad Kashmir and other places. He said that 3600MW power would be generated through LNG. He said a highway is being built from Kashgar to Karachi including Karachi-Lahore motorway and along with upgradation of Pakistan Railways that would provide fast links for transportation of goods and people. He said a number of other projects are in the pipeline.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said there would be no shortage of electricity and gas in Pakistan and soon the menace of extremism and terrorism would end and lauded the sacrifices of the Pakistan Army of ridding it of this menace. Prime Minister Sharif said his government wanted good ties with Afghanistan and other countries. He said there is a dire need to provide cheap electricity and said his government has lowered the tariffs of electricity by Rs 5.79 and asked the media to also highlight the major price cut. The Prime Minister expressed the confidence that the project would generate thousands of jobs for the talented and deserving people. He said around 3,000 people had worked on this project while 800 would be employed on a permanent basis.
The Prime Minister announced a Rs 20 million reward for the workers for their hard work besides, conferment of Tamgha-i-Khidmat for the deserving officials. The Solar Park, the first-ever grid-connected utility-scale 100MW PV Solar Power Plant will serve as a flagship project to harness solar energy in the country. The ground-breaking of the project was performed by Prime Minister Sharif in May last year.
Quaid-e-Azam Solar Power (Pvt.) Limited is a public-sector entity established by the Punjab government, for setting up of renewable energy projects. The Punjab government has provided 10,000 acres for the project situated at Lal Sohanra in Cholistan, Bahawalpur. Acting Governor Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan, Minister for Water and Power Kh Muhammad Asif, Minister for Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong attended the event, along with a number of federal and provincial ministers.