Going green need of the hour, says PM as Pakistan plans to set up 360 MW wind power projects

• The electricity generated from these projects would be less than five cents per unit.
• PM says Pakistan is now on the right path and government now wants to improve the economy of Pakistan.

With the aim to battle global warming, Pakistan would set up 360 Megawatts wind power projects at the cost of $450 million, as the country plans to generate cheap electricity using renewable sources.

“Pakistan has a lot of potential to produce electricity using wind plants,” said Prime Minister Imran Khan at the signing ceremony of the 'Super-6', 360 MW Wind Power Projects in Islamabad.

Addressing a gathering, the PM again praised neighboring China for achieving economic success through implementing ‘long term planning.’ “Unfortunately in Pakistan we were concerned with short term planning, which is a stark difference between Pakistan and China,” said Khan.

The PM said that the current energy dilemma was due to short term planning. “Pakistan had a lot of potential for hydroelectricity, but we opted for building power stations that run on imported and costly fuels. We knew that in the future the electricity would become expensive due to currency depreciation, and gradually our exports became noncompetitive against our neighbors including Bangladesh,” he said.

The PM informed that the electricity generated from these projects would be less than five cents per unit, whereas we are importing electricity for 10-12 cents. “With these projects, the overall price of electricity would go down,” he said.

The PM pointed out that the projects would generate clean energy, which is important as the world faces the threat of global warming. “Pakistan is among the countries, most vulnerable to global warming, our water issues would deepen in the future as our glaciers are melting. So it is very important for us to fight global warming."

Lastly, the projects would not run on imported fuel and would generate energy using winds. “We would not face any problem, even if our currency slips down, our economy won’t be dependent on shocks," he said.

PM further said that Pakistan is now on the right path and the government priority is to improve the economy of country. “We were facing a current account deficit of $20billion, which was a very difficult situation for Pakistan, but now our economy has stabilised,” he said.