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Nawaz pledges ‘rule of power’ in country
* PM says govt will set up dozens of electricity plants to end load shedding * Govt has started ‘reconstruction’ with a renewed vigour to make up for the time lost
GUDDU: Vowing to end the era of darkness soon, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday promised the rule of the light over darkness in the country.
“Soon there would be an era of a bright and shining Pakistan,” the premier said while inaugurated two units of the Guddu Thermal Power Plant in Sindh.
Addressing a large gathering after the inauguration of the two gas turbines of 243MW each, the prime minister said a third unit would be operational in May, increasing the current capacity of Guddu Power Plant from 1,655MW to 2,402MW, equivalent to four billion units of electricity.
He said the three units were part of the Combined Cycle Plant and would generate 747MW electricity to cut down the demand-supply gap.
The premier promised that dozens of power plants would be established in the country with the help of China, adding that all power projects would be completed soon.
He said that the early completion of the project, seven months ahead of schedule, would lead to a saving of Rs 58.6 billion. He said the saving was almost equal to the amount spent on the project. He said he was pleased to see that the efforts of the government were bearing fruits and hoped that with sustained efforts the problem of load shedding would be over soon, and industry and agriculture would flourish.
The prime minister regretted that in the past, the slow pace of work on the projects had hampered progress, but hoped that the measures being taken by the government would bring about a positive change.
He said that the country would not have faced power shortage had the projects initiated in 1999 not been stalled. However, he said that his government had started ‘reconstruction’ with a renewed vigour to make up for the time lost. “We have to speed up work to compensate for the time lost,” he said.
He said the government would ensure that each penny from the national exchequer was spent transparently and on projects that benefited the masses. He said the people of Pakistan were facing long hours of load shedding for the past one decade and it had also seriously undermined the country’s progress in all areas.
However, he expressed the hope that with the initiative of the government, things would change and an era of progress and development usher in.
In this regard, he said, the government through good governance was trying to enhance the efficiency of the existing power plants, speeding up work of ongoing projects and planning for new projects under the public-private partnership.
Nawaz also termed the project as part of the government’s efforts to meet the energy shortfall in the country and gave a detailed overview of the new projects that were underway across the country to make the country self-sufficient.
He said that following the government’s efforts, an additional 21,000MW electricity would be added to the national grid during the next eight years.
He was also appreciative of the Chinese assistance and its company – Harbin Electric International Company – for completing the work on the project seven months ahead of the deadline.
He said that the two countries were jointly working on several power projects, and that China had promised an investment of billions of dollars in different projects in Pakistan.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk