Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Friday said transparency and efficiency were the hallmark of his government as in only three power projects, it has saved the nation a whooping Rs 570 billion. Addressing the ground-breaking ceremony of the 1,230 MW Haveli Bahadur Shah power plant near Jhang, the Prime Minister said the country today has the lowest inflation rates, highest foreign exchange reserves and positive rating.
The Prime Minister said his government has bravely confronted the challenges of a deteriorating economy, terrorism and over 16 hours of loadshedding. Today, he said, the economic indicators were good, loadshedding was cut to half and terrorists on the run. He was addressing a large gathering here to lay the foundation stone of a regasified LNG power plant that would be completed in 2017. He said he was really pleased to be part of the ceremony as his dreams of ending the power loadshedding was about to be fulfilled.
The event was attended by Governor Punjab Malik Rafiq Rajwana, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Minister for National Food Security Sikandar Bosan, State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali and Ambassador of China Sun Weidong.
He said today foreign investors were rushing back to Pakistan as situation in Karachi and other parts of the country has improved considerably. He said law and order situation in the port city has improved and now the investors were rushing back to the city with new projects. The Prime Minister dismissed the claims of those who said the government has been unable to make any significant progress and cited various development projects. He said a number of power projects were in different phases of construction across the country that, in the next few years time, would start adding precious power to the national grid.
He said mega projects of roads, highways and motorways were under way that would not only link far off places of the country, but also connect the country with Central Asian Republics, China and the Middle East. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who earlier performed the groundbreaking of the Rs 55 billion 1230 MW Combined Cycle Power Project said it would be one of the cheapest such plants. He said the project to be built at a cost of Rs 93 billion was now being built at a cost of Rs 57 billion, saving billions to the national exchequer.
He said in three similar projects of Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas, the country was saving Rs 110 billion, and keeping in view the 30 years life of the project the total savings would touch Rs 570 billion. He said 3600 MW of electricity would be generated from LNG power plants. The Prime Minister said the Islamabad High Court has also restored the Kissan Package that would greatly benefit the farming community and help the agriculture sector.
He said under the package, the price of DAP would be cut by Rs 500, NitroPhos by Rs 218, Urea by Rs 150 while there would also be special packages for small farmers having land equal to 12.5 acres. He said the package would benefit the farming community across the country, while the growers of paddy and cotton crops would also get Rs 5,000 per acre. The Prime Minister said his government was also building gas pipeline from its ports in South to the power houses in northern and central Pakistan and mentioned the Rs 2 billion agreement inked earlier in the day with a Russian company.
He said similarly a network of transmission lines would also be laid to help distribution of the generated electricity to every nook and cranny of the country. He also mentioned the long term power projects at Bhasha, Bunji and Dasu that would help meet the future requirements of the country and said work was also being done on generating electricity through coal, hydel, nuclear, solar and wind.
The Prime Minister lauded the efforts of Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif and his team for their dedicated efforts in helping build several power projects and cutting down the costs to help save precious foreign exchange. He said all new power projects in the country were being installed at half the cost and would go a long way in taking the country forward. In his address, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said never before in the country's history work on so many power projects was initiated in such a short span of time.
Shahbaz Sharif said the project was part of the ambitious China Pakistan Economic Corridor and help the country's industrial and agricultural sectors. He paid rich tributes to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his team for his dedicated efforts in helping the country meet grave challenges. Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer of General Electric Pakistan Saram Sheik, CEO of national gas-based projects Rashid Langrial and representative of Power China addressed the gathering. They briefed the Prime Minister said the plant was one of the most efficient power plants in the world with an efficiency of 62.44 percent that would be run on RLNG. He was also informed that the project cost had been cut down and would save Rs 18 billion a year.
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