Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Friday announced his government’s decision to set up a new department to take up power generation projects in the province.
Shahbaz said a separate department was needed following the Council of Common Interests’ decision to authorise the provinces to start their own generation projects.
He was speaking after a meeting of the provincial cabinet at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat.
Earlier, the cabinet approved the construction of a 120 megawatt hydel power project on Taunsa Barrage; the Lahore Rapid Mass Transit System with some amendments to the original plan and several wind power projects identified in the agreements signed during the chief minister’s recent visit to China. The cabinet also reviewed the progress in the ongoing wheat procurement drive in the province.
Sharif said the province needed to work towards resolving its power crisis so that it could strengthen its economy. He said the agreement with Chinese company, Three Gorges, for generation of 120-MW at Taunsa Barrage was a great achievement in this direction. He said the company would also conduct surveys in the province to map the areas fit for setting up of wind power plants.
He said the investment by the Chinese companies would help generate job opportunities.
Sharif said the government’s top priority in the ongoing wheat procurement campaign was to protect the interests of small farmers. He said the government was ensuring that middlemen did not exploit these farmers.
He said this year the government had set the procurement target at 4 million tons.
He issued a directive for setting up of a committee consisting of ministers and secretaries for Food, Agriculture and Commerce Departments, the chief secretary and several elected representatives to supervise the procurement drive. The committee, he said, would be empowered to take immediate measures to solve the problems faced by farmers.
Shahbaz said the government was committed to providing modern and comfortable transport facilities to the people. He said work on the Lahore Rapid Mass Transit System would start soon with the cooperation of a Chinese company, Norincho. He said that 85 per cent of the funds required for the project would be provided by the company. He said the LRMTS would be the first step in transforming the public transport system in the province.
He said transparent execution of development projects was the top concern for the government.
The cabinet decided that work on projects identified in the chief minister’s visit to China should begin immediately so that the province could reap their benefits.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 30th, 2011.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ