Pakistan and Sweden can promote co-operation and partnership in industrial and other sectors, he added. The Chief Minister said that Punjab holds a great potential for acquiring energy through waste as we can generate electricity from thousands of ton waste at consistent schedule and can benefit from the technology of Sweden in this regard.
He expressed these views while addressing a seminar on the topic "Smart Cities by Sweden" arranged in collaboration with Swedish Business Council and Sweden Embassy at a local hotel on Thursday. Swedish Ambassador in Pakistan Ms Ingrid Johansson, Provincial Minister for Local government Mansha Ullah Butt, Honorary Consul General of Sweden Syed Babar Ali and a huge number of industrialists and investors of Pakistan and Sweden attended the seminar. The Chief Minister thanked Swedish Ambassador for organising this important seminar in provincial metropolis and introducing the term of Smart Cities.
He said that despite being the small country, Sweden is well-equipped with the latest technology having world best High-Tech industry. He said that there exists economic co-operation between both countries, however it needs extension. Shahbaz said he is Khadim of the people of his province and public service is his pivot.
He said that although Lahore Waste Management Company is working well yet it has to do a lot for coping with future challenges. He said that under the vibrant leadership of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, work is being carried out to steer the country out of energy crisis and added that Punjab is the only province where solar energy project has been installed which is adding 300MW solar energy into national grid.
He said that tariff of 6 cent per unit has been fixed for first hundred megawatt of this project while a tariff of 5.15 cent for 200MW which will benefit consumers in provision of cheap electricity. Likewise, 1180MW Gas Power Plant initially producing 717MW electricity has been completed at Bhikki. He said that this project has been completed in a record period of which is a world record. Furthermore, he said that that projects of Baluki and Bahadar Shah are moving toward completion rapidly and transparently.
He said that cheap electricity will also be provided to the consumers from 3600MW Gas Power Projects and transparency will be ensured in these projects. He said that a huge loss was caused to economy of the country due to energy crisis in the past however, due to the efforts of the Punjab government, energy projects are being completed speedily.
He said that a high-level delegation of Punjab has recently returned to the country after visiting Sweden which has discussed useful talks for promoting co-operation with regard to improvement in traffic system and checking accidents. He expressed the hope that working relationship will be increased between Punjab Government and Sweden in this regard. However, he said that business to business contacts should be increased for promoting business and trade activities.
He said time has come that Sweden and Pakistan should promote trade and business activities. The Chief Minister said that execution of CPEC projects has opened up doors of foreign investment in the country and a large number of friendly courtiers are taking interest in it while several friendly countries are joining CPEC.
He said that effective steps have been taken to provide people with comfortable, standard and economical mass transit facilities as Metro Bus in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Multan is operating effectively. Metro bus system is also being started in Faisalabad as well whereas speed bus service of Lahore is planned to be stretched to other cities of the province, he shared.
The Chief Minister said that we needed to propel collaboration with Sweden to get advantage from their ability and innovation additionally Pak-Sweden can improve participation in transport sector area. Sweden Ambassador in Pakistan, Ingrid Johansson while addressing the seminar said that we will enhance co-operation with Punjab government in different sectors and organisation of seminar is that stepping stool. Honorary Consul General Syed Babar Ali also addressed the seminar.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017