Coal mining: Agreement signed with Chinese company

LAHORE:

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Punjab government and the China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) on Sunday for mechanical mining of coal in the Salt Range.

Minerals Department Secretary Arshad Mahmood signed the MoU on behalf of the government. CMEC Vice President Jingkai signed on behalf of the Chinese company.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was the chief guest at the ceremony held at Model Town.

Under the agreement, the Punjab government and the CMEC will cooperate for development of indigenous coal and its economic use.

The chief minister welcomed the agreement and said the friendship between Pakistan and China had turned into a strategic partnership.

He said a number of Chinese companies were investing in energy and infrastructure in Pakistan.

Relief work in Hafizabad

Sharif said the government would provide jobs to youths of flood-affected areas. He was addressing a joint meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Flood Relief and the Cabinet Committee on Price Control. He said the first instalment of compensation would be paid to affected families by the end of September. He said a third party audit of the survey of losses caused to houses, crops and cattle would follow. The chief minister said a monitoring committee had been constituted to check relief efforts. He said water accumulated in the affected areas should be drained by September 30.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd, 2014.