He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister, work is continuing round the clock for the development of country and removal of deprivations. He said that past rulers ruined the country and the nation and country's resources were looted ruthlessly. He said that past rulers did not do anything for the nation and we will work for its prosperity.
He said that destiny of Pakistan is linked to energy projects and he will motivate the engineers for rapid development of energy projects for the nation. He said that federal and provincial governments are being set up 3600 megawatt gas power plants from their own resources at Baloke, Haveli Bahadur Shah and Bhikki and these 3 projects will be completed within a short period of 27 months whereas in past, such projects were not completed even in 60 months. He said that it will be record in the 70 years history of Pakistan that a project will be completed within the stipulated period without any additional expenditure.
Shehbaz Sharif said that precious time of the nation was wasted due to sit-ins and lockdown but despite it we continued forwarding power projects, he added that at the end of current year, darkness will be removed with the completion of energy projects and there will be illumination everywhere and load-shedding will be eliminated. He said that the burden of a number of decades of the past will become history. He said that surplus electricity will be available for agriculture, industries, education, health and other sectors. In addition to these, energy projects are being executed under CPEC and work is being carried out speedily on 1320-megawatt Sahiwal Coal Power Project which will be completed in June 2017 in spite of December 25, 2017.
The Chief Minister said that all out steps will be taken for rapid completion of energy projects as his every step is only for the nation and the country. He said that under the leadership of Prime Minister, Rs 112 billion have been saved in gas based projects which is unprecedented in the history of the country as a saving of only Rs 40 billion has been made in Baloke project.
He said that Chinese company Harbin International and American Company General Electric have installed Guddu power plant at the rate of $8, 34,000 per megawatt and these companies are setting Baloke gas power project at the rate of $4, 69,000 per megawatt which is a proof of the fact that these companies and investors have complete confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister.
The Chief Minister said that more than 3000 engineers and workers are working at the power plant. He said that 2 hours less load-shedding will be done in summer when the power plant will become operational. The Chief Minister also congratulated Chief Executive Officer of the project Rashid Mahmood Langrial, EPC Contractor Chinese Company and Consultant.
Replying to a question, the Chief Minister said that Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif had once decided to construct Kala Bagh dam, although this is a non-practicable project but its usefulness cannot be denied. He said that it is against the solidarity of Pakistan to start work on this project unless the entire nation is united and the 4 brothers agreed. He said that the provinces have differences on Kala Bagh project and it is also a gift of dictatorship. He said that consensus of all the four provinces is necessary for Kala Bagh project.
Chief Executive Officer of the project Rashid Mahmood Langrial apprised the Chief Minister about the progress of the project and gave a briefing in this regard. Provincial Minister for Industries Sheikh Alauddin, Members Assembly and concerned officials were also present on the occasion.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017