PM Shehbaz terms transition to solar energy vital for strengthening economy

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Tuesday that his government has devised a plan to immediately convert all the federal government entities’ buildings to solar power to slash a huge chunk out of the country’s costly fuel import bill hovering around $27 billion, APP reported.

Addressing a solarization conference, the prime minister said under the plan, all federal government ministries, departments, authorities, and their offshoots in the provinces would immediately shift to solar energy.

Unveiling further details, the prime minister said that the procedures for conversion of solar power should be fast-tracked as they had set April 2023 as the timeline for the implementation of this plan.

He said it would be a model for the rest of the provincial governments as the federal government would not make additional expenditures over the solarization process.

The prime minister also urged all the relevant authorities and the stakeholders to complete the required process by the end of April next year and meet the timeline which had been set.

“Consider it as our political, social, national, and religious duty to implement it as soon as possible,” he opined.

The prime minister said with these urgent measures, they would be able to generate 300 MW to 500MW of cheap power, thus reducing the import bill worth billions of dollars each year.

The prime minister assured that the whole process would be conducted through transparent bidding via a third party.

He also urged the provincial chief ministers to emulate the federal government’s launched pattern and introduce solar systems in their respective provinces and assured the federal government’s complete assistance in this regard.

“It is the only option of our survival as a nation,” he added.

The prime minister said the process for the generation of 10,000MW solar power in the country had already commenced and such a conversion of federal government buildings would be the first phase.