Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Friday that 310MW wind power projects would reduce country's dependence on imported fuel, help deal with the threat of global warming and bring down the cost of electricity in the country.

Speaking after the signing ceremony of Super-Six 310MW wind power projects, he said that he is happy for the country as these projects would provide cheap electricity at less than US 5 cents. He added the addition of electricity in the basket would reduce overall cost of electricity, while these projects would provide clean electricity and thereby help the country fight against the challenge of global warming.

The premier said that global warming poses a serious challenge to the country and impacts the country, and the production of wind energy would be a help against global warming. Another benefit of these projects is that the country's dependence on imported fuel would be lesser.

He also cited the example of Chinese secret of success and stated that unlike Pakistan Chinese success was due to long-term planning whereas governments in Pakistan preferred short-term planning for a period of five years for political expediency for next elections.

The Prime Minister described the expensive electricity as the biggest problem and termed it the outcome of short-term planning because the governments in the past instead of exploiting potential of hydropower preferred to set up fuel-based power plants and consequently the country is producing expensive electricity which makes the country's production expensive compared to other countries.

The Prime Minister acknowledged the support of the World Bank (WB) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) for six wind projects and stated that the country has moved on stabilization after a difficult time period of one year. He said that first year was very difficult because of $20 billion current account deficit and added that economy has started to stabilize, rupee is gaining value against dollar, stock market is showing positive signs and the country is on the right direction. He also appreciated the efforts to deal with the power sector thefts, saying these led to improvement in recoveries by Rs 120 billion during the last one year.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019