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Mission of load-shedding free Pakistan accomplished: PM

HAVELI BAHADUR SHAH (JHANG): Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Saturday said that the government had successfully
Published December 9, 2017

HAVELI BAHADUR SHAH (JHANG): Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Saturday said that the government had successfully accomplished the mission of load-shedding free Pakistan rather it had launched the projects to suffice the country’s power needs till 2030.

Addressing the groundbreaking ceremony of 1263-megawatt Punjab Power Plant here in Haveli Bahadur Shah area of Jhang district, the prime minister said currently there was no load-shedding in the country except in the areas where the cases of power theft were being reported.

Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Minister for Power Awais Khan Leghari and Minister of State for Power Chaudhry Abid Sher Ali accompanied the prime minister as they earlier unveiled the plaque to launch work on the project that would complete in two phases.

Ambassadors of China and Germany also attended the ceremony.

The first phase of the LNG-fuelled project would complete in 14 months and generate 810MW electricity while after completion of the second phase in 26 months, the power production would reach total 1263 MW.

The prime minister said the power project initiated by the Pakistan Peoples Party government could not produce a single kilowatt electricity even after 30 months rather indebted the country by Rs 80 billion. Contrarily, the incumbent government executed four projects in 20 months to contribute around 3600 MW of electricity to the national grid, he added.

He spoke high of the Punjab chief minister for overseeing the execution of four liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plants saying the country could never have overcome load-shedding in the absence of those plants.

The prime minister said it was only the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government that not only launched the development projects but also ensured their completion.

Prime Minister Abbasi was confident to say that as the Punjab Power Plant would start functioning after 14 months, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) would be again in power then. The government had launched the project at a record low price, he added.

He said besides timely completion of the projects, the government also ensured transparency and recalled that a dictator had contracted a power project at double the rate of this project.

The prime minister said the PML-N did not believe in politics of allegations and the language now being used at stage was not even used in the PML-N’s private meetings.

Commenting on the current political scenario, he said such alliances always brought zero results. He said the government would complete the term and it would be the people to decide the future in 2018.

He said he felt that the political opponents wanted to avoid elections as the only PML-N was desiring the timely election. Contrarily, both the PPP and the PTI remained away from Senate when the electoral reforms bill was presented for passage.

“Don’t you want elections in the country? Don’t you want the country to achieve progress?” he questioned the opposition.

He said it was time to move together and it was unfortunate that even political parties wanted the 'bloodshed of democracy' instead of passing the bill required by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to hold timely elections.

He again criticized the notions of technocrat or national government saying that only the governments with public mandate could bring progress to the country.

“What the technocrat government of 1999-2008 had delivered? Did it build any airport or power plant? CPEC could also have been launched in Musharraf’s time also. But why it came only during Nawaz Sharif’s government?” he questioned.

Addressing the ceremony, Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the government had got rid of load-shedding and that would never resurface.

He recalled that the participants of cabinet energy committee had once opposed his idea of new power plants but Nawaz Sharif showed the political sagacity and decided to execute the LNG-based projects for 3600MW realizing the sensitivity of his commitment he had made during 2013 electioneering.

He thanked the Chinese ambassador and Chinese leadership for helping Pakistan achieve this target which was otherwise impossible.

He said the power projects including Haveli, Bhikki and Balloki plants would contribute 3600 MW by February and urged media to also highlight the journey of national development to tell the future generations.

He said the projects had been executed with the fastest pace and at the record lowest price. Contrarily, the public money was looted in Nandipur power project and the Rs 50 billion project was launched without bidding. Even Chichonki Malian project seemed nowhere at the site despite having spent Rs 2.5 billion.

He said the Punjab government had set up self-accountability system and had no objection if the National Accountability Bureau launched probe into 56 Punjab companies. He said he would be ready to face all the consequences if corruption of even a penny was proved during any of his tenures.

But, he said those who had looted money in IPPs (independent power producers), Cotecna and other projects must also be questioned.

Addressing Asif Zardari, the chief minister said the nation would hold him accountable if court or NAB could not do so.

He said Imran Khan showed his political vengeance by wasting 22 months by halting the Orange Line project. Despite the potential of thousands of megawatt in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the provincial government had failed to produce even a single unit of electricity, he added.

 

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2017

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